Smith wins in Belgium for XS Racing

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A tremendous drive from Steven Smith in sometimes challenging conditions netted victory on round seven of the 2008 Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Tour of Flanders in Belgium over the weekend (13/14 September).
 
Smith and co-driver John Nichols were competing in their regular Porsche 911RS, which is prepared and run by Chesterfield-based XS Racing and they emerged as top British crew after two days of tough competition on closed public roads in the Flanders region of Belgium.
 
To complete a great weekend for the team, Peter Smith and Russ Langthorne had a great run in their Ford Escort Mk1 to win class C3 as Smith contested the event for the first time. For much of the rally they were battling with the Escort Mk1 of fellow XS team members Andrew Siddall and Captain Thompson, but a late engine problem slowed Siddall and dropped them to third in class.
 
In total, the XS team fielded five cars on the rally and team boss John Cropper was delighted with the team's performance on one of the toughest rallies on the calendar. "The team has worked like clockwork all weekend and the lads have been superb," he said of the major operation.
 
Smith/Nichols had to push very hard to battle ahead of the Ford Escort Mk1 of Frank Cunningham and rain towards the end of the opening day gave Smith the chance that he needed to move ahead. Cunningham went on to finish second, in the car that XS Racing built for him in 2007.
 
Smith/Langthorne had a trouble-free run to score a great class victory, despite a scare on Sunday morning when they slid through a barbed-wire fence and into a field. However, they quickly got going again to bag class success, while Siddall/Thompson were unlucky to lose second in class C3 on the penultimate stage due to a broken rocker in their engine.
 
There was also late disappointment for Peter Egerton and Jamie Edwards, who were on target complete an XS clean sweep in class C3 until the head gasket in their Escort Mk1 failed on the penultimate special stage of the rally. The fifth XS Racing entry was the Porsche 911RS of Jim Sutherland/Howard Pridmore, which was running strongly until they slid into one of the unforgiving Belgian ditches on Sunday morning.
 
While the team is now preparing for a four-car entry on the final round of the British Historic Rally Championship on Saturday 26 September, this weekend (20/21 September) the team is also busy fielding a classic C-Type Jaguar in the Goodwood Revival Race Meeting for an American customer.
 
 
XS Racing specialises in all types of historic rally preparation and parts supply across a wide range of cars. XS Racing can be contacted on 01246 233777.
 

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