Today, on 21 September, the IB Translations team took part in the annual Classic Car Rally Finale. Our crew included Pavel Nadeev (driver), Konstantin Golota (co-driver) and Varvara Ivanova (crew member).

According to the final results, we finished 21st in the overall standing and 17th in the group standing (out of 35 and 28 cars, respectively). As you may remember, last year we took 31st place. Today was our two-year best.

Our of the 37 crews that participated in the rally, two raced out of competition, four were part of a separate programme in the Veterans category (for cars made before 1946), and tree competed in the Young Timers category (for cars manufactured in 1971–1981). The IB Translations crew ranked 17th out of the remaining 28 cars, having outscored eleven famed competitors. We firmly planted our wheels in the top 20.

Pavel Nadeev, driver: “We were driving fast, streets were flashing by. The Moskvitch did very well, and we did finish. Though the crew was unfamiliar with the car, we managed to complete the route on time. We really made light work of it!”

Konstantin Golota, co-driver: “The organisers came up with new tricky points on the route, most of them in the first stage. It took us five circles around one point to figure it out. Other things that gave us grief included a street through a building whose arch resembled a driveway to a courtyard; were it not for the road sign we spotted last minute, we would've missed it. So, we completed the entire route, exceeding the perfect time by only half an hour. The next step would be to meet all the times on the route, so that's what we'll be working on.”

Varvara Ivanova, crew member: “We will remember this season's closing race as our biggest success in two seasons. Even things like a change of car or driver did not deter the team. A bare five circles around the same spot in search of a turn, and the driver and co-driver were able to sync up. After that admittedly rocky start, we were heading to the finish line with nary a mistake or slowdown. Moskvitch-408E impressed us with its powerful engine and good brakes. Maybe we should include it in our team as a backup car and name it something like Jet Squash LE. We hope that the next season will be even more exciting.”

For live updates, visit our Twitter page @golota82 (http://twitter.com/golota82). 

The 2014 season is over. We got into the top 20, which is a pretty good result as it puts us ahead of around 40 other crews. We hope for even more achievements next year and bid our supporters goodbye until spring. We’ll try to have our Zaporozhets fully repaired during the winter and make it more reliable for the new season.

Onwards to victory of communism!