During the 2026 Taklamakan International Rally, deep in the hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert in China, the co-driver of truck No. 509 from the Jiye Racing Team was on high alert, his hands trembling uncontrollably. Just minutes earlier, their racing truck had charged across a long, steep side slope of a sand dune at high speed, tilting at an angle of nearly 45 degrees. Outside the window was a dizzying tilted view, and beneath the chassis was soft, shifting sand that could trap the wheels at any moment.

“He was already starting to get nervous," recalled driver Mao Qi regarding his co-driver's reaction. "I told him it was fine, don't worry, we can make it." The confidence behind that "we can make it" stemmed from a core powertrain solution that delivers Continuous Power under extreme conditions—the Allison 1000 Series™ fully automatic transmission.

Extreme challenge: Continuous Power Technology™ is the answer

The 2026 Taklamakan International Rally spans a total distance of approximately 7,500 kilometers and features 13 stages, including 3,400 kilometers of special stages. The route traverses the Tianshan Mountains and plunges deep into the desert, confronting surface temperatures of nearly 50°C and severe sandstorms. It is widely known as the "Dakar rally of the East." As China's first professional truck racing team, the Jiye Racing Team made its debut this year. Their three racing trucks—Nos. 508, 509, and 510—compete in the T5.2 production truck category. Equipped with custom-tuned Yuchai engines (410HP/1600Nm), the vehicles are purpose-built for highly mobile off-road racing, with the Allison 1000 Series™ fully automatic transmission serving as the central hub of the entire powertrain.

The scoring rules of the rally are extremely strict. Rankings are not determined merely by start-to-finish times, but rather by checking in at GPS waypoints scattered throughout the stages; missing a waypoint results in a time penalty. This means vehicle reliability is far more important than instantaneous bursts of speed, making continuous power output the key to victory.

Stage 8 (SS8) was the quintessential watershed of this year's event. Drivers had to navigate upstream along a river at the desert's edge, check in at an ancient village waypoint deep in the Taklamakan, and then traverse a 30-kilometer stretch of pure desert terrain. The roadbook marked multiple highest-risk Level 3 sections with frequent and unpredictable terrain changes, such as continuous sharp turns immediately adjacent to deep ditches and pools. This not only greatly increased the risk of vehicles losing control but also made rescue operations extremely difficult.

Among them, one massive side slope left a deep impression on Mao Qi. After cresting a large sand dune, they were immediately faced with a giant side slope with a visual tilt angle of nearly 45 degrees. The rutted tracks ahead split into two routes—either detour to the bottom of the sand pit and climb back up, or charge directly across the slope. For passenger cars, taking the detour might be worth a try; but for heavy trucks, plunging into the sand pit meant losing all momentum. Attempting to restart from a standstill at the bottom of a soft pit almost guaranteed getting stuck. The only reliable strategy was to maintain high speed, hug the slope, and rely on centrifugal force to stabilize the vehicle.

However, there was a fatal challenge: charging the slope required the transmission to downshift instantly and increase torque. A manual transmission requires stepping on the clutch and disengaging gears, cutting off power for over a second. Automated Manual Transmissions (AMTs) also require 1 to 1.5 seconds to respond. On paved roads, this is negligible. In shifting sand,  this brief interruption causes the vehicle to drastically lose speed to the soft terrain. Centrifugal force vanishes, and the truck immediately slides sideways out of control. 

"In the sand, the moment power is interrupted, your speed drops drastically, and all momentum and centrifugal force disappear," said Mao Qi. "Allison gave us the confidence of continuous power output, which is the fundamental prerequisite for pulling off this demanding driving maneuver."

Approaching the side slope, Mao Qi pressed hard on the accelerator. The transmission responded instantly, RPMs surged, and driving force remained consistently applied to the wheels. The racing truck hugged the slope and sped across with exceptional stability, navigating it with strong vehicle control.

Reliability reshapes racing strategy

The value Allison delivers extends beyond overcoming a single dangerous moment. Before the race, the technical team completed custom software calibration tailored to the rally's extreme conditions, optimizing the power output logic for high-temperature desert environments and heavy-duty off-road operations. This robust capability directly reshaped the team's racing strategy. Mao Qi admitted: "If we were worried about the transmission overheating, our tactical planning would involve thinking about 'which deserts we can't enter,' which is ultimately giving up on a stage. But with Allison performing flawlessly throughout the race, we dared to take paths others wouldn't, focusing all our energy on achieving top results."

The race results validated this strategy. The 2026 Taklamakan Rally has concluded, and the Jiye Racing Team completed 9 stages, capturing 6 stage championships. Trucks No. 508 and 509 swept the top two overall positions for the first four stages and secured victories in stages SS3 and SS4, respectively, with the transmission running faultlessly from start to finish. As a debut domestic truck team, they competed on the same stage as the Kamaz Master team, a 19-time Dakar Rally champion, delivering a spectacular performance.

Behind these stellar results was Allison's round-the-clock event support. Because the trucks entered the race with almost zero break-in mileage, the technical team followed the vehicles throughout the SS1 qualifying stage and the SS2 official stage, conducting daily pre-race preparations and post-race inspections. It wasn't until stage SS4, when the vehicles' operating conditions stabilized, that they transitioned to remote technical support. "This level of support gave us tremendous peace of mind," said Mao Qi.

Continuous campaigns: Jiye sets its sights on Dakar

Following the successful conclusion of the Taklamakan Rally, the Jiye Racing Team has set an ambitious goal to challenge the Dakar Rally within three years. Their third-generation racing truck is already in the design phase. "Next time I encounter a similar massive side slope, I still won't hesitate," said Mao Qi. "Because I know that as long as I press the accelerator, we will have Continuous Power."

In the ultimate test of extreme operating conditions, Allison used its Continuous Power Technology™ to write a memorable chapter of breakthroughs for Chinese motorsports.