I apologize to anyone whose ears are bothered by the incorrect pronunciation of DAF. I'm still learning to voice with the help of AI, and sometimes it's very difficult to find the right pronunciation, intonation, and so on. An attentive viewer might have also noticed issues with the stress in the surname of the great racer Ari Vatanen. I'm already working on a new series and will try to achieve better pronunciation quality.
Racing in the 80's was like watching gladiators: Insane, deadly and I imagine exciting. Current day racing is like watching UFC. Very skilled, well thought out and still exciting but safe(er).
Not just racing, cars in general seemed like every car company wanted to flex with what they can build. These days it feels like a competition how big of a screen they can fit inside...
There's a Dutch documentary called "Daf in Le Dakar: De woestijn bleef leeg" (the desert remained empty. It is about the crash and the aftermath. There are interviews with quite a lot of DAF higher ups, other people involved, and Theo van de Rijt. His interview is heart breaking. He says he doesn't, but you can tell he blames himself. He rides his bicycle for 20 km's daily to clear his mind. There's a lot of guilt there. The dune section it crashed, was more of a series of ruts, not big dunes. It was right at the end of the fast run, so they were doing 160 to 180 km/h. It rolled several hundred metres in distance. Theo van de Rijt was still in the cab, Chris Ross was right in front of it and Cees van Loevezijn was 30 to 40 meters from the cab. In the rules, the seat mounts weren't mentioned and nobody thought to reinforce them. They were the same as the production truck. There is some pretty grim footage from a French TV crew. Their helicopter was commandeered as it had flown ahead of the race he night before the crash. A sandstorm at the start grounded all helicopters, including the rescue team. The TV helicopter was the only one able to fly, so it acted as rescue. It was first on the scene and the cameraman runs up to the cab and films everything, close up. He walks over to Van Loevezijn and films him for a short while.
Great to see you including how the truck category and DAF ended up in the Dakar in the first place, as it provides a basis for understanding how "unlimited" class competitions in motorsports push the boundaries of engineering. In a similar vein, current rally cars are pretty much just as if not faster than the legendary Group B cars but that too is only possible thanks to the lessons learned in that era. Despite being a completely different field of competition, bicycle racing is currently facing the same dilemma of rally races in that they have no control over spectators and course interventions leading to many of the best athletes being knocked out of races or injured. Sadly, just as with motorsports, it might take a complete and utter disaster for them to learn from experience rather than history.
Danger was always being a big part of motoraces, it's about pushing the limits and fearlessness. And rallyes are most dangerous, all crew members has to take it or shouldn't race.
The problem with bicycle racing is more likely that you can't put a barrier both sides of a 150km race. So they guess how much people will come and where they're most likely to be. It sucks but no one has had a better idea for now.
Yeah that was quite a sight to see, a Peugeot getting overtaken by a Daf Truck, just horrible that this iconic image is overshadowed by a horrible crash. Just some side information for the people that haven't heard it yet: Jan De Rooy, the driver mentioned in this video: passed away January 30th this year at the age of 80. Lovely to see that his legacy is is still remaining and people world wide still talk about this Dakar legend. Rest in peace legend.
Reminded me of the Dodge Monaco 'Blues Mobile' being overtaken by the RV Motorhome in The Blues Brothers while the Dodge was being chased by the Police!
A poor decision by DAF itself to put a low experienced 'office staff crew' in one of the fastest rallytrucks of it's era! Victim was Jan De Rooy, who missed out on a victory, caused by poor leadership of DAF's executives.
@@baeruuttehei1393 Theo van de Rijt rode with Jan de Rooy in the first years, helping him win. He was not a pencil pusher. The fact you think Jan de Rooy is the vicim and not Cees van Loevezijn, who died, and Ross and Van de Rijt who were seriously injured. is insane.
@@Yvolve nice insinuation there! I was 27 years of age when this all happened and remember it quite well. Jan De Rooy was, of course, the competitional victim in this story because DAF bowed for the negative media attention and stopped right away, although the team in Africa had another agreement in case of an accident: continue in honour of those who cannot drive anymore! Then: Theo van de Rijt did NOT have driver experience in Africa; before he was navigator/technician beside JDR. Chris Ross was the technician, as far as known to me without rally experience. About Kees van Loevezijn I know, from a friend working at DAF's marketing department at that time, he was active in sales and had no rally experience. God rests his soul. Enough explanation like this?
A good thing you got the power correct! Some online articles go as far as to claim 2400 horsepower for the ultimate 1988 TurboTwin but this is the result of someone confusing the total combined output for a _per engine_ output and assuming that it still had to be doubled. The truck had a pair of compound turbocharged 600 horsepower (or 610, depending on the rating standard) engines for a total of 1200 hp (or 1220).
I remember watching the Dakar Rally during the 80s. It was broadcasted in South Korea because a South Korean car company, SsangYong (If I remember correctly), joined it. This rally was diverse in a sense that even the motorcycles joined. Unfortunately, I remember seeing the crashed truck when the Ssangyong SUV stopped by.
I'm going to argue one thing about this so called danger of "unlimited engineering", the 80s were a beautiful time for these engineers to shine but what should've been asked for them is for the safety of drivers to keep up with that. This conversation wouldn't be happening if those harnesses had been bolted to the cage instead of the seats, which doesn't make any sense.
Group B was amazing. I think the main problem was spectators would not stay out of the road. I say if someone stand in the road during a road race, they get what they get. No reason to end the races. The Turbo Twin was amazing. Any time there is a new type of racing there will be fatalities. Safety rules are written in blood after all. I wish they had just made a rule change stating that seat belts must be anchored to the roll cage.
and who would you say spoiled the fun for every one? Daf for following the ruels as writen or the rally organicers for not realicing the fatal flaw in their struck specifikations from the start? no one is perfect and accidents happen if we didn't get these accidents to help these beloved motorsports evolve we would not have as "safe" a motorsport scene as we have today. its far safer now then heck even just ten years ago.
@@KristofferEk it's the rally organizers that ruined the fun by enforcing the speed limits when the tragedy was obviously not due to the speed but to the seats getting detached and seat belts being not fixed to the cage.
@@Chamieiniibetit was an excuse, there's a global war on speed because speed = freedom to do whatever you want with your property. This leftist ideology permeates all levels of Motorsport down to the average Joe on the street.
@@Chamieiniibet in defense of the organizers, thos trucks are not exactly light. They sure as hell are tons bigger than any of the other competing classes both in weight and size, and sand is a fair bit harder to get traction in than on an Asphalt road, most highway trucks are normally limited to go around 80 mph for the exact same reasons despite more traction. If one of them were to hit another vehicle in the dakar rally, that other vehicle would still be totaled because of the sheer mass of these machines. Its as simply as conservation of energy and forces will have equally opposing reactions.
I belive Subaru had a couple buggies before buggies were a thing in dakar I'd love to hear about those insane things it was my favorite to watch when ever I saw it on Eurosport back in the day.
So instead of using what was learned from the truck crash to mandate that seatbelts for trucks must have their seatbelts attached to the roll cage they instead decided to limit the power of all competing trucks. Makes no sense. Who makes up these rules?
Have you driven a truck with seatbelts attached to body or rollcage? If these trucks have suspension seats fitted, the seatbelts will damn near tear you in half. We all found that out the hard way.
I see the Pinzgauer racer with the retro livery @1:22 - @1:32 and it got me thinking: if you know BeamNG, there is a vehicle named the Autobello Stambecco. It's inspired by the Pinzgauer and it's had a long production span according to the lore (1971 - 1988 with an air-cooled 2.6 I6 and 1989 - 2007 with a water-cooled 2.8 I6 Turbodiesel). It has a dune racing version but it's based on the newer version (1989 - 2007) and its livery seems too modern. So, what if there was a dune racer with a retro livery based on what we see here and also based on the older version (1971 - 1988)? That would be great!
Trucks are now safer and with better suspension and engines, they could remove the limiters and easily reach 260, but no, they had to limit them for something that happened 40 years ago
Duf….Duf….DUF?!?! Who is Duf Trucks. DAF - Dee Ahh Ffff - DAF…like “Daffy Duck” minus the fy at the end. No “U” in it, and the aren’t Springfield’s finest beer 😂😂
This reminds me of the RV Motorhome overtaking the Dodge Monaco 'Blues Mobile' while the Dodge was being chased by the Chicago Police in The Blues Brothers!
In the city of Eindhoven, where DAF originates from, is the DAF museum. There they have the original driven X1, it's predecessors are also there. Very cool to see the inside and the 2 engines with 3 turbos each. Also a lesser known fact about DAF, they invented the CVT transmission, it was once tested in formula one on the Williams Renault team. This car is also on display there. Very cool museum.
A sad side note to this story is, like @baeruuttehei1393 already noted here below, a lot of knowlagable people at the time said only Jan de Rooy could controll these monsters, and he did in the first race with the turbo twin. Another not so funny fact is that Jan de Rooy would have won the overall Paris Dacar in the turbo twin, but since it was a French race, the race leadership could not let this happen of course. A pays-Bas person, beating the French, sacre blue, non non!!! So Jan was hit with one questionable rule "violation" after the other and got a ton of time panalties and was basically sabotaged by the race organizers (all French of course) so that in the end the french won the race. What a surprice!!
Just like Group B, things should be unlimited with personal responsibility. If racers & engineers want to risk their lives for 1st place, let them. That drive, and innovations, are the most entertaining.
Except Truck Racing Drivers thats kind of niche sport i think there nobody that truly could handle such a rally truck. The weight and power development combined with slippy surface needs a master class driver.
Loved this video, truly an astonishing machine in wild motorsport of 80s. Maybe you could make a video about Volkswagen Iltis Dakar run and how it helped in creation of Audi Quattro
You're reading my mind! I just started thinking about the history of the Audi Quattro S1 today and was considering starting with the story of the development of the quattro all-wheel-drive system, Jörg Bensinger, Ferdinand Piëch, the Iltis, and the Dakar. I'm thinking about how to harmoniously bring it all together))
I was a kid when DAF reached their peak and followed every second of it. I, and the rest of the truck-Dakar loving world, was gutted when the news of the crash broke. Rumors back then were that they crashed at over 220km/h. They apparently missed a sand-drift because of the angle of the sun. I'm still sad thinking back to it...
thanks to Jan de Rooy Daf whas groing to the king off Dakar for him this rally whas vacantion no training just drive and enjoy the ride he whas born for this a naturel talent .we lost a big man with a big talent.
Unlimited Production, no limits, no restrictions desert racing still exists to this day but its not in Dakar. It's in Baja. Trophy Trucks will go 140MPH+ and will race for 24 straight hours. There is truly nothing else like it.
The trophy trucks run in Dakar, but in the steep loose dunes, they are not in advantage, and not agile enough in the goat track hills. Too big too heavy.
@@kennethprocak5176 the trophy trucks do not run in dakar. the last one that did was piloted by robby gordon and the organizers banned it mid rally for being too fast
SCORE has a 14-page set of general regulations, a 19-page set of competition regulations, and a 3-page set of rules specifically for Trophy Trucks; however, the Trophy Truck Unlimited class does allow unlimited engine displacement, and is generally free of performance-limiting restrictions.
So disappointing you're using AI to narrate. Don't let the machines replace human creativity and art. If you're not good at narrating, just keep going and hone your skills instead of letting a machine do a crappy job trying to mimic humans.
I think the bad decision was not to make these monsters safe for the crew. If you redesigned everything the way they did on these trucks, it would have been possible to attach the seats to a roll cage and even move the crew further into the middle of the car. Maybe these cars had looked a bit more like Bigfoot or Gravedigger. The next question would had been to make these monstres safe for the people outside these cars.
