The DAF TurboTwin II is set to ride once more. 40 years after winning its class at the Paris–Dakar Rally, the legendary truck will compete in the 2027 Dakar Classic.

Jan de Rooy began racing the TurboTwin line of DAF FAV 3600 trucks in 1986. After the first attempt ended in a DNF, he returned to Dakar a year later with the TurboTwin II.

It is capable of going 200 km/h on pavement and 130 km/h on dirt, and is 2,500 kilograms lighter than its predecessor after significant weight reduction such as the use of an aluminum chassis. The twin-turbo DKZ 1160 engines produce 495 horsepower each, with one sending power to the front axle and the other to the rear. The TurboTwin II proved to be a monster as it beat Karel Loprais’ Tatra 815 for the Truck victory by 14 hours and 25 minutes, and even ranked 11th outright.

Two months after the win, de Rooy was asked by a high school in Heerlen to demo the truck. He was eventually arrested for speeding and disturbing the peace after going 109 km/h down Schaesbergerweg (Limburgsch Dagblad reported that a resident called the cops because “some idiot was tearing through the street in a truck without a muffler”), leading to a fine of 600 guilder and losing his license for three months outside of trucking for his company.

De Rooy upped the ante for 1988 with an even stronger behemoth: the DAF TurboTwin 95 X1. This was so fast and powerful that de Rooy was even keeping pace with the overall leaders. Tragically, he withdrew from the race after the fatal accident involving his teammate Theo van de Rijt’s TurboTwin X2 that killed navigator Kees van Loevezijn, marking the end of DAF’s factory team. De Rooy eventually acquired the program’s assets, fielding trucks under the Team de Rooy banner.

The TurboTwin II currently resides at the DAF Museum in Eindhoven, though the Dakar Classic effort—officially named “CDD” (“Classic DAF Dakar”)—means it’s since been extracted for restoration.

Jan’s son Gerard, who won the Dakar’s Truck category in 2012 and 2016, and team head of engineering Corné van Drunen unveiled CDD on Saturday at the museum.

DAF de Rooy Classics, the vintage arm of Team de Rooy, plans to field multiple trucks from its founder’s collection at the 2027 Classic. In January’s race, Tomasz Białkowski piloted the DAF Bull to a ninth-place overall finish and became the first truck to win a stage overall. Białkowski will return to the Bull, which Jan drove in 1985, for next year’s edition.

Featured image credit: Corné van Drunen