When I was growing up, Russia and The West were at loggerheads over issues that I had no understanding of at the time. The Cold War was what it was called, which I suppose referred to the fact that each “side” was not actually blowing each other up. It was a chilling time if you thought about it too much as there was, I remember, a lot of “The End of The World is Nighing”!! Around this time in Portsmouth my friends and I actually saw one of those surreal much cartooned subjects: a man walking around with boards draped over his shoulders declaring the fact that our days were actually numbered.

On television there was a lot of posturing with spy ships, they shadowed fleets wandering around purposefully in the North Atlantic exercising for the big day. One event that always left a lasting impression in my mind was the sight of The Russian Army marching through Red Square in Moscow. The square looked absolutely enormous as the battalions of soldiers and their missile carrier’s passed the Kremlin in seemingly endless lines, over a long period of time.

Red Square was a powerful symbol of the strength of The Great Bear and I visited this hallowed ground in 2007 with my Transyberia Porsche and was astonished – not because of the size of the square but because in reality Red Square is small, very small.

This misconception just shows you how powerful propaganda and some skilful use of the camera can breed a lie that would not have changed if I had not visited Russia in 2007.

This picture is of our car at the start of the Transyberia Rally. We roared way from Red Square at 2 minute intervals solely for the publicity machine as within 200yds the competitors formed up into a convoy with a police escort all the way to the outskirts of Moscow which took an hour or two, such is the enormity of the city.