As early as 1908 they had taken 3rd in class with a Shamrock in the RAC 2,000 mile trial and the 3 litre 15 which was active in October 1911 in the form of R.S. Witchell's 'PDQ' running as a 2.8 litre, took the flying mile 21hp record at Brooklands on 25th October 1910 at 95.54 mph and the flying kilometre at 96.67mph.

In 1912 they had class wins at Aston Clinton, Saltburn, Caerphilly and Pateley Bridge. In the shortened 1914 season they took second FTDs at Caerphilly and Beacon Hill.

They prepared two 3.3 litre, four cylinder cars for the 1914 Isle of Man T.T., driven by Witchell and Frank Clement with Witchell taking fourth place after replacing their new but troublesome overhead cam engine with an earlier unit.

Both Witchell and Clement incidentally went on to join Walter Bentley, Clement being known as the professional of the 'Bentley Boys'.

So much for the origins of the Straker-Squire - but who was Bertie Kensington-Moir, the driver of the 115 hp 3,921 cc Straker-Squire X2?

Well, he was a young man who, in the presence of many wealthier drivers entered competition  when his uncle asked him to drive the X2 after the war. In 1920 he took it to Brooklands and picked up the Class F, 2, 5 and 10 mile records at 95.97 mph. Later on 8th November he took the test hill ascent record at 25.41 mph.

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In 1922 he fell into conversation with Walter Bentley on the Liverpool ferry back from the isle of Man T.T., where he had been driving an Aston Martin and subsequently worked for Bentley throughout the twenties both driving and in mangement positions within the company.

He returned to driving towards the end of that decade and was actively involved in motor racing thereafter, being a Brooklands track steward in the company of a number of other famous drivers in 1930, and also on record as managing Sammy Davis pit in the 1934 International Trophy.

Meanwhile the X2 Straker-Squire retreated into obscurity but turned up years later with a Vauxhall radiator, without it's racing body, in the basement of a Maples building which was about to be demolished to make way for the Euston Road underpass.

Bill Boddy recounted a tale in the July 1998 edition of Motor Sport (in which there is an excellent article by Andrew Frankell on this car as it is today, with driving impressions) of how he saw it but did not recognise it all those years later, being thrown off the scent by the wrong radiator and the absence of the correct bodywork which had been stored away.

It subsequently passed through the hands of several owners and was restored by Philip Mann who then raced it in V.S.C.C. events in the 1970s.

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