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DAKAR LEGEND: When A TRUCK overtakes the FASTEST among CARS

There have been many epic moments in the history of the Dakar Rally, but one of them stands out nonetheless.

Do you remember how the mighty DAF at more than 200 km / h overtook the then invincible Peugeot 405 T16, which was driven by Ari Vatanen? It was 1988 and we witnessed one of the highlights of the crazy decade, which served with many surpluses in the field of motorsport, but also with many tragedies, which were the result of extremely creative ideas and unlimited use of power. Let's just remember the fearsome group B in the World Rally Championship, group C in endurance races and of course trucks at the Dakar Rally.

The most extreme among them was DAF Turbo Twin X1, a project of a wealthy Dutch businessman Jan de Rooy, the owner of the largest Dutch transport company at the time, which had a very unusual goal, to beat the car with a truck at the Dakar Rally.

The Dutchman attended the rally for the first time in 1982 and then improved his concept every year until in 1988 he appeared with the already mentioned DAF Turbo Twin X1. The truck, which weighed less than ten tons, was powered by two engines, each with 600 hp of maximum power, which was obtained with the help of six turbochargers. The power of both engines was transmitted to both axles via two automatic synchronized transmissions, which could be operated with a single lever, which allowed the truck to accelerate to 100 km / h in 8,5 seconds, and the top speed was electronically limited to 220 km / h.

The De Rooy Team started the Paris-Dakar XNUMX with two such trucks (one driven by Jan de Rooy himself and the other by Theo Van de Rijt) and the famous overtaking of Peugeot XNUMX TXNUMX,driven by Ari Vatanen was captured form the chopper. Legend says that Vatanenpounded furiously on the steering wheel of his Peugeot at that moment. The Finnish ace, who led the overall standings, didn't finish the race, since his car was stolen in Bamako, but that’s another story.

The story of beating cars with trucks, however, ended tragically for Jan de Rooy and his team. A few days later, his colleague jumped over the dune on the edge of the Tenera Desert. Van de Rijt and his teamsuffered a serious accident while jumping over a sand dune at XNUMX km / h. The truck overturned as many as six times, catapulting his co-driver Kees van Loevezijn out of the driver’s cab. The co-driver died instantly from impact.

Consequences of the severe accident of Theo Van de Rijt and his crew.

After the accident De Rooy teamdecided to withdraw from the rally, and the organizers banned it category TXNUMXand limit the maximum speed of trucks on the rally.

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