Every year, Bakker Bedrijfswagens -a multi-location DAF dealership- presents a special edition of a heavy DAF tractor under the High Performance label.
Two years ago, they paid tribute to the 1984 DAF 3300 Turbo Intercooling 4×4 rally raid truck, nicknamed ‘the bull’. It won the heavy truck class (as in more than 10 tonnes vehicle weight) in the 1985 Paris-Dakar rally raid, the mighty off-roader was driven by the late Jan de Rooy.
Bakker’s special treat for 2024, a DAF XG 530 FTG tractor with a 6×2/4 drivetrain. It’s powered by a 530 DIN-hp, 12.9 liter MX-13 inline-six turbodiesel.
The tractor is rated at a gross vehicle weight of 27 tonnes (59,525 lbs), its registered curb weight is 9,364 kg (20,644 lbs).
Short wheelbase, a 6×2/4 drivetrain, more than 500 hp from a 13 liter engine, an automated manual transmission (a ZF TraXon, in this case), and a walk-through tilt cab. A quintessential, heavy-duty Euro tractor right there.
As an aside, the DAF XF/XG/XG+ trucks and tractors, introduced in June 2021, are not even offered with a manual transmission.
Since September 2025, the tractor is working for Beens Transport from the Netherlands. An outstanding flagship for sure!
And this intimidating diesel monster is the real thing, no tribute or replica, although it was partly restored several years ago. Rally raids are extremely rough and demanding trips, you know.
A king-size 4×4 with planetary drive axles. But that’s not the whole story, as the bull is twin-engined. Two 11.6 liter DAF turbodiesels are taking care of business.
The front engine’s power is directed to the rear wheels…
…whereas the power from the rear engine goes to the front wheels. These days, the transmissions are Allison automatics, they replaced a duo of ZF 16S130 synchronized, 16-speed manuals.
Speaking of synchronization, a pneumatic system controls the rear engine and transmission; what the front runner does, the power unit in the back does too, in real time.
Originally, the twin-engined DAF was good for a grand total of 820 hp and a top speed of 200 km/h (125 mph), so I’ve read in some old magazines I still have. More than 40 years after its debut, the truck is still competing in rally raids for classic vehicles.
Back in the eighties, DAF driver Jan de Rooy (1943-2024) was given the nickname ‘L’Ours’ by the French. The Bear, because of the man’s physical appearance and his dauntlessness (he was a chain-smoking anti-athlete to boot, just perfect!). Numerous videos featuring De Rooy and his Paris-Dakar DAFs can be found on YouTube, here’s some bullish and bearish footage from January 1985.
Amazing machines. Two 11.6 liter motors….being DAFs, I was expecting Variomatics, LOL.
…the belts would have become too long.
Very interesting drivetrain. Hard to beat Allison automatics for off-road service.
If you have any rally raid plans, the bull is for rent, as far as I know. I guess that’s the main reason the ZF manuals were replaced by the Allisons. Earlier this year, a Polish crew drove it.
Detroit Diesel powered FTFs were offered with an Allison, especially the heavy-haulage tractors with a DD V12 (the battle tank transporters for the Dutch army included, known as the FTF 4050).
I suppose “The Bull” is the Dutch cousin of the Kenworth W900 Legacy edition, which features the high hood and various classic pain options https://www.kenworth.com/trucks/w900-legacy-edition/
I remember reading about Jan De Rooy and seeing the twin engine DAF on TV. The twin engine DAF was like a supersized Group B car, and unfortunately equally dangerous. A single engined sister truck suffered a fatal rollover.
Paris-Dakar 1988, Jan de Rooy drove the DAF 95 TurboTwin X1, the X2 sister truck (also twin-engined, BTW) crashed.
Holy Heinekens! Indeed, possibly an entire factory of them in one night to come up with that Dakar truck. That is just nuts. As we say hereabouts, what an absolute bloody ripper. (That’s good, btw).
It does slightly resemble the rubbish trucks we have in this area, which immediately conjures an image of all the the suburban bins lining the street on bin day flying off over houses and trees as the mad Flying Dutchman does his rounds at 200km/h. Like the truck itself, very fast, possibly not so efficient.
All in all, the bull is slicker than De Rooy’s first twin-engined DAF truck (for the 1984 Paris-Dakar edition). The picture is not AI-generated, for the record.