1988 was the peak of the development of twin-engine racing DAF. The team prepared two twin-engine vehicles – DAF X1 and DAF X2. X2 was last year’s TurboTween with a different aerodynamics, but X1 was a completely new project. Two 11.5-liter diesel engines were installed on this truck, each of which was equipped with three turbochargers. The power of one such motor was 600 hp. The 11-ton hulk accelerated to 240 kph. In the race X1 was driven by Jan de Rooy, and X2 by Theo van de Rijt. Jan De Rooy in X1 raced through the desert on an equal footing with the leaders of the Paris-Dakar 1988 overall standings. One of the cameramen was able to shoot from a helicopter how the DAF X1 overtakes the Peugeot 405 Turbo 16 of the leader of the car category Ari Vatanen at full speed – this video is still shocking. However, it was in 1988 when era of the “Dutch dinosaurs” ended.
The crew of the DAF Turbo Twin X2 van de Rijt / Loevezijn / Ross started their last special stage Djado-Arlit-Agadez taking the 15th position in the overall standings of the rally raid. On January 8, at about half past eight in the morning, a car at a speed of about 160-170 kph drove into a site with small dunes and began to bounce on them. On the first two, she took off and landed on all four wheels, but on the third DAF suddenly flew with a slight roll and crashed into the ground with the right front wheel. After the impact, the truck rolled somersaults, making six full revolutions. The crew, of course, was fastened with seat belts, but they were attached directly to the seat itself, and the blow was so strong that the fasteners could not stand it and the seats came off. Van Loevezijn was thrown out of the truck and died instantly. Van de Rijt and Ross were taken to a hospital in Agadez and airlifted to the Netherlands where they recovered. DAF withdrew the team from the rally and later terminated all motor-sport activities, selling the trucks and spare parts to factory driver Jan De Rooy’s team. De Rooy re-entered the rally in 2002, at the age of 58.
| Season | Series | Event |
| 1988 | Rally Raids | Dakar Rally (Paris-Alger–Dakar) |
| Truck | No. | Entrant |
| DAF FAV 3600 TurboTwin 95 X1 | 600 | De Rooy Transport |
| Driver | Co-Driver | Co-Driver |
| Jan de Rooy | Yvo Geusens | Hugo Duisters |
| Scale | Manufacturer | Collection |
| 1:50 | Portegies | |
| Cat. No. | Quality | Rarity |
| 
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