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The Operation Dragon : 1988
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Operation Dragon
After the Africa Rallye, there were many at Citroën who longed for the great rallyes of the past and couldn't wait to renew with tradition. They had to wait until 1986 for a new project to come off the drawing board. The destination this time was China, a great country conjuring up both difficulty and mystery, in keeping with Citroën's business ambitions and already very much a part of the marque's history. The itinerary was Shenzen to Beijing, i.e. 4,500 km of roads, fords and miscellaneous adventures.
The 2CV was replaced by the AX and the rallye was open to all young Europeans between 18 and 30 years of age. More than 7,000 applications flooded into Citroën's head office, of which only 140 were selected.
Did you know ?
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Operation Dragon
...where the name "Operation Dragon" comes from ?
Quite simply from the nick-name the Chinese have for Citroën : "Suay Tiay Long", meaning "Snow-Iron-Dragon".
... the nationalities of those taking part ?
Operation Dragon has stuck in the memories of young Europeans, and for good reason. Indeed, the caravan was made up of 40 French, 20 British, 20 Spanish, 20 Italian, 12 Belgian, 10 Dutch, 8 Portuguese, 6 Danish and 4 Norwegian participants...