A class C4 victory for Peter Smith and Russ Langthorne was the highlight result for XS Racing on the eighth and final round of the Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Trackrod Historic Cup (26 September).
 
The fast and tough Yorkshire stages were the setting for the final BHRC event and once again the XS Racing squad chalked up a 100% finishing record. The Trackrod was the fifth rally of the year when all the cars from XS finished the rally and the statistics for the season make interesting reading.
 
Across eight rallies, XS Racing has fielded 38 entries in the 2009 BHRC, and chalked up a total of 35 finishes. The three non-finishes were all down to cars going off the road, so for 2009 XS can rightly record no retirements due to mechanical problems. Running up to seven cars on some of the toughest and most competitive events on the British rallying calendar makes this an amazing achievement.
 
The Trackrod was a notable day for Smith/Langthorne as Smith celebrated a landmark birthday on his home event. As the day progressed they set some excellent stage times and were fastest of all the category two cars through the final stage, a 14-mile high-speed charge through Langdale.
 
Fourth in class in C3, just five seconds off another top three finish, came Andrew Siddall and Captain Thompson in their Ford Escort Mk1. "We've been a bit slower than normal, but we enjoyed the rally," said Siddall.
 
With Drew Wylie already confirmed as class C3 champion in his XS-entered Ford Escort Mk1, the third car in the XS squad was the Ford Escort Mk1 of Peter Egerton, with Wylie's regular co-driver Howard Pridmore alongside. They had a clear run as Egerton reacclimatised to the Escort and ended the day sixth in class.
 
"Peter Smith's pace on the long Langdale stage was very impressive," said team boss Jon Cropper. "I'm delighted with our reliability record for 2009; that's testimony to the hard work and dedication of everyone in the team."
 
The weekend before the Trackrod, XS Racing was busy at the world-famous Goodwood Revival Race Meeting when the team fielded a hugely valuable Jaguar C-Type for a customer in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy Race. The car qualified second and finished fifth after a trouble-free race.
 
The next major event on the XS schedule is the Roger Albert Clark Rally in November. The team expects to enter a three-car team, including cars for Andrew Siddall and Peter Smith.
 
XS Racing specialises in all types of historic rally preparation and parts supply across a wide range of cars.
 
Issued by Paul Lawrence on behalf of XS Racing (www.xsracing.net).