Taklimakan Rally: TTSPORT Liquid-Cooled Brakes Score a Top-10 Finish

The 2025 China Taklimakan Rally covers more than 2,700 miles (4,377 km) across 10 stages through a desert nicknamed the "Sea of Death." A single TTSPORT-equipped rally truck ran the entire event on a liquid-cooled brake system and came home 8th overall.

Think of the Taklimakan Rally as China's answer to the Dakar Rally or the Baja 1000. Fifty teams entered, ambient temperatures topped 120°F (49°C), and the terrain gave trucks nowhere to hide from the heat. Standard air-cooled racing brakes typically don't survive this event — you can't cool a 5,000 lb (2,268 kg) truck with air that's already hotter than the metal it's supposed to cool.

10 Stages, One Truck, No Margin for Fade

The team ran a single-vehicle entry with veteran driver Huang Weizhi and co-driver Fu Qiang, going up against a field stacked with factory-backed programs. Over 10 stages and 2,700-plus miles, the truck's brakes were on the clock in every dune crossing, every washboard section, and every hard stop after a flat-out run across open desert. That's exactly the kind of repeated, high-energy braking that cooks a standard system down to a soft, fading pedal by the middle of the stage.

The Tech: TTSPORT's SUPER COOLER Liquid-Cooled System

Bigger rotors alone weren't going to solve this. Instead of relying on ambient airflow, TTSPORT built the truck's calipers to actively reject heat: coolant circulates directly through the caliper body, pulling thermal energy away from the pistons and brake fluid before it can boil the fluid or cook the pads. It's the same basic idea F1 teams have used to fight thermal degradation for years, applied to a desert rally truck.

• Hardware: TTSPORT liquid-cooled 6-piston calipers
• Friction: M-05 high-temp endurance race pads
• Rotors: Competition-grade slotted 2-piece rotors
• Goal: Zero fade and a consistent pedal, regardless of how hot the sand gets

The Result: Stable Temps, Top-10 Overall

TTSPORT's engineering team monitored brake pressure and caliper temperature in real time throughout the event. While rival trucks reportedly dealt with soft pedals and overheating fluid, this truck's brake temps stayed inside the operating window stage after stage. That consistency let the crew push hard late in the rally instead of backing off to protect the brakes, and it added up to an 8th-place overall finish in the truck's debut with the liquid-cooled system.

Why This Matters Beyond the Desert

A rally like this is really a brake torture test with a truck attached. Heat is the enemy of every friction system — enough of it boils brake fluid, glazes pads, and turns a firm pedal into a mushy one right when you need it most. Actively pulling heat out of the caliper instead of waiting for airflow to do the job is the difference between fading out on stage six and finishing the rally with margin left. The data from this run feeds directly back into how TTSPORT designs thermal management on its street and track big brake kits.