Driven to the limit
The 5,500-kilometer Taklimakan Rally is the longest annual off-road endurance race in Asia
They came from far and wide in pursuit of adventure - and the competitors in the annual 5,500-kilometer Taklimakan Rally got that and a lot more, not least of which was the exquisite beauty of the ever-changing landscape of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The route for the rally, held over 13 days from June 10, stretched from the region's north to the south, taking in the Taklimakan Desert, Tianshan Mountain, the oasis of the Junggar Basin with its abundant rain, and the Altai Mountains. First held in 2005, the rally is the longest annual off-road endurance race in Asia. The Taklimakan area covers 330,000 square kilometers, and temperatures there can reach 67 C, with a day and night temperature difference of 40 C.
China Daily
| Clockwise from top left: Su Haotian drives his car across a quagmire on June 11; French contestant Pascal Thomas' windshield was damaged on June 11; Zhou Xiaoqiang from China suffers a breakdown on June 20; during the 374-km gravel road event, the fourth stage of the rally, Liu Kun and Fang Ming from China head all the way. Photos by Jiang Wenyao / Xinhua |
| A car overturns in the sand on June 18 during the seventh stage of the rally in the Kumtag Desert in Shanshan county, Xinjiang. |
| Zhou He rides a motorcycle through a waterway on June 11. Slippery roads and foggy weather made the race more challenging. |
| The rally concludes in a typical Yadan landform on June 20; Armand Hernandez of Spain drives through Populus euphratica shrubs. |
(China Daily European Weekly 06/30/2017 page4)
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