Gale wins on Isle of Man for XS Racing

News from XS Racing (Chesterfield)

Jonathan Gale and James Whitaker scored a resounding victory for XS Racing on round five of the 2010 Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Isle of Man Historic Rally (9/10 July, 2010).
 
On what is widely regarded as the toughest rally on the calendar, the Sunbeam Tiger of Gale and Whitaker had a major battle with the Porsche 911 of Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride as rain and thick fog made conditions truly demanding over the closed public roads of the island. However, Gale never put a wheel wrong and was able to build his lead on day two of the rally to win by 1m10s after more than two and a half hours of competitive rallying.
 
Meanwhile, Peter Smith and Russ Langthorne were on target for class C4 victory and third overall in category two when their XS Racing Porsche 911 slid into a ditch late on day two and was too badly damaged to continue.
 
With nearly 150 miles of rallying on the challenging island roads, the Isle of Man Historic Rally is the toughest of the year for both man and machine and both of the XS Racing entered cars performed superbly. However, tackling some of the bumpiest asphalt roads imaginable did take a toll on the 45-year old Tiger. On Friday, the crew spotted a cracked shock absorber mounting on the rear axle and managed to fix the problem in a brief service halt. On Saturday, the Panhard rod broke, but the XS team took it off, repaired it and re-fitted it all within 20 minutes.
 
Through the opening day, Gale and Nutt traded times as the weather conditions changed constantly, but a big attack on the flowing Marine Drive stage on Friday evening put the Tiger ahead overnight by 28s. Saturday started dry, but soon turned very wet and there was thick fog on the higher parts of the island. Despite the conditions, Gale was able to extend his lead and returned to the finish in Douglas with a significant advantage over Nutt, who had won the rally six times previously and four times in a row up to 2009.
 
"I'm very happy with that result," said Gale. "It has been an incredible event; it always is, and we had an incredible battle with Dessie. I really thought the wet weather would favour him on the second day because the Porsche is good at getting its power down in the wet. It's been a fascinating event and I've never looked at the weather as much! The guys at XS Racing have done a brilliant job with the car."
 
However, there was late disappointment for Smith and Langthorne when they slid off on a right-hander 100m before the finish of the Corlea stage, with only three stages left to run. The Porsche slid into a ditch and then hit a tree, which did enough damage to put them out of the rally.
 
Before the Isle of Man event, the team was busy running the newly acquired Triumph TR7 V8 of Steven Smith on the Ypres Historic Rally in Belgium. This was the first rally for the car and Smith finished 13th overall, having set some top 10 stage times. A major problem with the gearbox developed early in the rally, but the XS crew took the 'box out, rebuilt it and got Steven back in the rally. The following weekend, Smith ran his Porsche 911 on the rally stage of the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
 
This coming weekend (17/18 July), XS will be tending the Chevrolet-powered Firenza of Mick Strafford in the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power in Cheshire.
 
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.