For some drivers it's a twice a week ordeal, for others it's a late night adventure, but whatever your routine, filling a car with fuel is a regular part of most motorists' schedules and probably will be for the foreseeable future.
But how do fuel companies improve their blends and make the end product burn cleaner and more effectively for motor vehicles? One such method is to use some of the most advanced (and powerful) vehicles on the planet as test beds -- Formula One race cars -- and that's exactly what Shell has been doing with Ferrari for more than 60 years.
During the Australian Formula One Grand Prix the Carsales Network was invited to see how Shell contributes to the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team's ongoing engine development and search for pace via its fuel research, and it was an eye-opening experience...
FUEL FOR THOUGHT
Ferrari is the only team in the F1 paddock to have a dedicated fuel lab at every F1 round, which is currently headed up by Dr. Cara Tredget (pictured), Shell's technology manager for Ferrari. She took us on a guided tour of her somewhat cramped but high-tech office laboratory, which is festooned with centrifuges (which were constantly whirring away during our tour) and other high-end chemical analysis equipment.
When my car runs out of fuel, I simply go to the petrol station, fill up about half a tank, grab a Twix and drive off, but for F1 racing teams it's a very different story. FIA regulations stipulate that fuel must be tested and analysed prior to events, and Ferrari regularly ships around 2000 litres of fuel in sealed containers months ahead of each race.
"The F1 fuel is blended in Thornton outside of Chester in the UK," explains Dr. Tredget. "That's also where we do a lot of development work, where we do the engine oil development and we also have some facilities in Germany."
Shell ensures that at least three people are working at each F1 race inside the fuel lab, and will analyse around 30 samples of fuel per race, but Shell trackside analyst Gareth Lowe says the fuel lab technicians are only a small part of the operation.
"We are only the tip of the iceberg. We are the lucky ones," says Lowe from inside the high tech fuel lab. "There are around 50 scientists and chemists working at the blending plant. [There's] so much effort that goes into this, with around 21,000 hours of research and development per year.
"We send about 2000 litres of fuel to every race from there, approximately 200,000 litres of fuel blended per year for the race programme and also sent to Maranello. About 40,000kg of lubricant [is used annually] as well," added Lowe.
To put that into perspective, the 200,000 litres of fuel that is used by Ferrari F1 cars in one year is enough juice to power an average passenger car for 50 years.
FUEL FINGERPRINTS
Similar to a toxicology lab test on human blood, gastromatigraph and gas chromatography tests are carried out on the lubricants and oils to discover which metal particles are floating around within the Ferrari F1 engine; a consequence of metal components moving/grinding past one another in the race car. Interestingly, this gives Shell a heads up on which components are wearing quickly, and in turn can provide an early warning system for possible component failures in the race cars.
"It's like taking a fingerprint of the fuel," explains Gareth Lowe. "What we're able to do is to see if there's abnormal levels [of metals], so for example if we see an increased level of titanium, we share this data with Ferrari engineers and they know which components are made from particular metals and are able to predict a failure before it happens.
"This analysis has become more important over the last few years, because what's happened is now we've got eight engines per driver per season. The engine life has been increasing year on year and now the engine life is approx 2500km, which doesn't sound a lot compared to my car or your car, but when you do that distance driving at 18,000rpm [it is].
"It has been a real challenge for our guys to develop fuels that provide that protection but without losing any horsepower benefit," he added.
But the Shell Ferrari fuel lab represents more than just a high-tech detective agency for Ferrari. The results of the lab work and trials of new blends have real-world ramifications, as the fuel that ends up in your car is influenced by the advancements and discoveries made at the race track.
Lowe explained that much of the analysis and research undertaken for the Ferrari F1 team makes its way into the end retail product, including the Shell V-Power petrol that is found at fuel stations right across the globe.
"For Shell, all the results we have here we send back to the research centres in Europe, and it's the same guys that develop the racing products that develop the retail products like [Shell V-Power]."
But how similar are the fuels that power F1 cars and regular passenger cars?
"The formulations are very very similar," revealed Lowe. "The difference is, the V-Power Racing fuel - we tweak the blend slightly to get the most horsepower out of the Ferrari engine. But we've done events in London where we filled Felipe [Massa]'s race car with V-Power from the forecourt [petrol station] and he's driven around the streets and the car was fine."
So next time you fill up with fuel, bear in mind that dozens of race technicians, chemists and other boffins have been fine tuning the fuel with a little help from the world's most expensive (and fastest and loudest) Ferrari.
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