Tomorrow, on 21 September, the IB Translations team will toe the starting line of the annual Classic Car Rally Finale. Our crew includes Pavel Nadeev (driver), Konstantin Golota (co-driver) and Varvara Ivanova (crew member). Spectators and fans are invited to gather at 10:00 am – 1:00 pm at the Antique Car Museum in Rogozhsky Val Street (Rimskaya and Ploshchad Ilyicha metro stations, http://www.auto-retro-museum.ru/about/scheme/) to support the team. 

Photos from last year’s event: http://classic-rally.ru/archive?id_object=3. As a reminder, last year we finished 31st out of 34 cars in our category. We went off-course and missed almost half of the control points, but for the first time finished the race completely independently. This year, the team aims for a better result (which shouldn't be hard).

So far, the 2014 season has been rife with technical issues. The audience favourite ZAZ is in repairs with burned wiring, so we’ll be driving another car, a Moskvitch-408E manufactured by MZMA in 1966 and painted with one of IB Translations' corporate colours.

Pavel Nadeev, driver: “A season close is a tough race to debut on. Having learned about my participation just before the rally, I didn’t have enough time to test the car. I’ll be learning on the job, and I hope that a new car with an enhanced 50 hp engine (20 hp more compared to Zaporozhets) will prove a competitive advantage.” 

Konstantin Golota, co-driver: “Things will be a little more complicated for us this time, what with having to adapt to a new old-timer car and a new team. The crucial thing about the car is that it has four doors – twice the number we’re used to, so we really need to pay attention. Plus, now we have an extra powerful 50 hp engine to work with – gotta be careful not to miss the right turn. Support from fans is our only hope (since bribing the referees didn’t work).”

Varvara Ivanova, crew member: “The upcoming race brings with it some unforeseen challenges: we have a new crew member, and the Pumpkin Special is in the repair shop. However, we believe that the key to winning is a confident co-driver and, of course, entertaining Twitter coverage that would engage followers and give us strength to finish the season on a high note.”

The opening ceremony will take place on Sunday, 21 September, at 10:00 am at the Antique Car Museum in Rogozhsky Val Street (Rimskaya and Ploshchad Ilyicha metro stations, http://www.auto-retro-museum.ru/about/scheme/). The cars will be starting there at 12:30 pm, leaving in one minute intervals. They are due to finish at 18:00 at the start point.

Everyone is welcome to attend the exhibition of cars and the start of the race at 10:00 am. For live updates, visit our Twitter page @golota82 (http://twitter.com/golota82).

Onwards to victory of communism!