Eighties Contest Entry: The 1988 Dakar's Vatanen killer: DAF 95 Turbotwin X1

[RallyFanatic]

This is the scene imprinted on every Dutchman's retina: Ari Vatanen in his brand new Peugeot 405 T16 Grand Raid driving at top speed on a flat piece of desert, whilst being overtaken at 240 km/h by Jan de Rooy in his 95 X1 Dakar truck.

This aluminium-spaceframed 10500 kilogram monster, was powered by two mid-mounted 11.6 liter diesel engines, with 3 turbo's each, puts out 1220 soot-belching horses, and 4700 Nm of torque. This was the fastest truck ever rallied.



Sadly, on the ninth day of the event, the X2 (the X1's 995 HP twin) started lurching at speed, rolled numerous times and killed one of its occupants. DAF decided to pull out of the rally, and rallying in total. The X1 came in third overall that day, climbing up to a sixth place in the general standings. With only high speed stages after that day, the X1 would have had a podium place well within reach.

Now about the model:
After the tragic demise of my other eighties contest entry, the Delta 4WD (which i maybe will repair and build eventually), and after finally obtaining the reference photo's I needed, I decided to replace the Delta entry with this one.

I bought two Italeri DAF 95s, and started to tranform their cabs from ultrabig Super Space Cabs, to the shortened daycabs used on the X1. I also bought two engineblocks from a Italeri DAF 3300, to be mounted amid the spaceframe. These are about the only parts i can use from these kits, so a lot of scratchbuilding is required.
I decided to make a computermodel of the spaceframe first, to find problems when they can still be fixed easily. This is how far I am now:



I'll post some pictures of how far i am with the cab in the weekend.

[migper]

Hi,

I will follow this post with very attention.
Keep up the good work.

Miguel Pereira

[Marco_Wrc]

If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much (;

Good luck with this interesting project.
Looking forward to the progress pictures.

[klutz_100]

I'm almost glad you had problems with your Delta
Super project

[globetrotter]

Absolutely crazy shit

[sportracer02]

Great idea, I´ll stick to this thread ;-)

[NissanSkylineGTR98]

Very cool project! Can't wait to see some more of this amazing truck

[SteveK2003]

Awesome project. That's a wild piece of video, watching that rig fly by the 600bhp/950kg Peugeot. Even wilder is the footage of the crash: It looked like an airplane wreck.

[Mr. Me.]

Kamaz-Master is the best truck in world for some years already!
and about model: where are fotos?

[Hyperkinetic]

Oh yes! Those were the days. I still remember them well.
Probably the last chance ever for a truck to (almost certain) reach a top-3 position in a race, whilst competing with top-of-the-bill rallycars.

I will follow your thread closely. Love the idea!

[RallyFanatic]

Shown below is a picture of how the X1 was constructed, and basically wat I still have to do



Now for some progress:


This is the left side of the cab prior to its last filling sanding and priming stages. The photo on the right is the Italeri part. The red lines are cuts, and everything between blue lines was filled. The door still has to be extended downwards, new panellines need to be scribed, and the rear panel still has to be fabricated.


On the left is the shortened roof, with some holes and a line filled. The two raised parts next to the hatch need to be extended to the front. The Italeri part on the right is narrower at te top than at the bottom, so my roof still needs to be widened. And shortened of course.


This is the front fascia. I just filled some holes, and opened up the topmost opening (not the window frame ). So it still needs 3.5 mm of shortening...


This is the kit's tire and wheel, next to the Revell Unimog tires I'll be using. The Unimog has Dunlops, whereas the X1 sports Michelins. The tread pattern is amazingly accurate, although the tread has to be sanded down considerably to go from mud to dest tires. The inside also needs to be widened to accept the 24" alloy wheels.


This is one of the 11.6 liter engines to be used, next to a rather puny 1.6 Renault engine . The gearbox needs to be modified (the roadtruck uses a 16-gear splitter 'box, whilst the X1 uses an 8-speed ZF one), the injection pump needs wiring, and it of course needs new manifolds and turbos, and new cam covers.


This is one of the sumps, which are completely different on the X1. I'll only be using the bolted ring and scratch the rest.

What you can't see is how much work has gone in removing the paint and huge gluespots the previous owner left me with. But I hope to get the cab done soon, so i can start building the actual spaceframe.

[RallyFanatic]

Oh, and Mr. Me, as soon as you show me a spaceframed midengined Kamaz-Master, with more than 1220 Hp and 4700 Nms of torque, I completely share your opinion!

[cinqster]

A fantastically nuts project...good luck with it!

Was that picture taken at Goodwood - the straw bales look familiar!

[SeanyG]

its so nice to see something different being built - looks like its gonna look great too - will watch this with interest - best of luck with it mate.Sean

[RallyFanatic]

Originally Posted by cinqster

Was that picture taken at Goodwood - the straw bales look familiar!

Your uncanny powers of straw-bale-recognition haven't failed you, it's a picture of Jan de Rooy's son at the Festival of Speed.
Seriously, how do you do that!

And thanks to everyone for the replies!