Write In The Driving Seat

Paul Shea, Manchester

If your knowledge of chemistry is as sketchy as mine, you may share the accepted wisdom that the fuel that you put into your car is pretty much identical, regardless of its source.
Inevitably, this common misconception can easily be proved wrong.

Having been lucky enough to spend a day at the Shell Technology Centre in Thornton, I can confirm that while I will never understand how it’s done, the benefits of premium fuels are clear – even for someone with my humble scientific background.

The V-Power super fuels are the pride and joy of the 700 ingenious people of the Global Solutions team. Both petrol and diesel variants are designed to exploit the potential of any car. Enhanced octane levels maximise the grunt available in high performance beasts, while improved cleaning additives and friction modification technology ensure that even the most modest runabout runs as cleanly and smoothly as possible, for as long as it can.

The advantage of Shell’s collective expertise is evident in the record books, with multiple successes at Le Mans (first diesel powered winner with V-Power diesel), Superbikes with Ducati (7 World titles) and Formula One with Ferrari (12 Drivers’ and 10 Constructors’ titles).

The long standing technological partnership with Ferrari, which dates back to the days of Enzo Ferrari the racer, provides the ultimate test laboratory for future generations of V-Power and ensures that the Formula One technology of today makes it into the cars of tomorrow.
So while the accepted cliché may be that all fuels are created equal, the results on the track and the tests in the laboratories show that Shell V-Power is considerably more equal than others.

It’s clearly no coincidence that when a Prancing Horse leaves Maranello for the first time, it’s fuelled by Shell’s V-Power.

Paul Shea, Manchester1.85487