Tracking analysis

Shell V-Power fuel and Shell Helix Ultra oil. The brands are familiar on and off the track. But put the racing hype aside for a moment and consider: how close are the products we buy off the shelf at the local garage to those used in a Scuderia Ferrari F1 car? You'd be surprised… And for good reason – the products are developed literally at the track.

The Shell Trackside Laboratory travels to every round of the Formula One season, and is nestled at the back of the Ferrari pit garage. The scientists who make this mobile lab their home take dozens of samples over a race weekend, ensuring not only F1 drivers have an all-important winning edge, but that the products we use in our own cars are at a technological cutting edge.

Since the FIA ‘engine freeze’ regulation introduced in 2007, constructors have had few options in developing their engines. But it’s not all bad news, as Shell Formula One Technology Manager, Dr Cara Tredget explains:

“The freeze on Formula One engine design provides a great opportunity for Shell. The [fuel and lubricant] products are a key differentiator for performance, and we are focusing on providing Ferrari the best Shell Helix engine lubricant to help it maintain a competitive edge,” explains Dr Tredget.

“This, in turn, will lead to a greater diffusion of this knowledge into Shell Helix Ultra road oil, giving our customers access to the latest technological advancements.”

Dr Tredget explains that striking the right balance between protection and performance is crucial to gaining the most from a car’s engine. The lubricants used in the Scuderia Ferrari F1 cars are designed specifically for the engine, and can even be tailored to meet the demands placed on them by individual tracks.

It comes as no surprise that an F1 engine is exposed to some pretty demanding conditions. Connecting rods actually stretch at high revolutions when the pistons are traveling in excess of 40 metres per second! Add to this internal temperatures of more than 300 degrees Celsius, and it’s easy to see why Shell and Ferrari invest so much time with one another.

“Shell is an absolutely integral part of Scuderia Ferrari at a race weekend,” reiterates Dr Tredget.

“Shell takes three technical professionals [scientists] to every single race of the F1 season – a fuel analyst, a lubricants analyst and a technology manager. We have a laboratory set up in the heart of the Ferrari garage and the fact that Ferrari gives Shell valuable space at a Formula One Grand Prix clearly illustrates how important our role is.”

The teams spend the entire race week analysing fuel and oil samples, as we’ve touched on earlier. Tredget likens the information found in the lubricants to a forensic investigation, or drug testing for athletes. Engineers use the knowledge Shell scientists pass back to determine which metal traces are found in numbers significant enough to know if a particular engine part is wearing more quickly than it should.

But it’s good news for us on the road, Dr Tredget explains:

“One of the values that Shell and Ferrari share is the commitment to achieving technological excellence. In Formula One winning is everything… That drives us to create the best products possible. We can also take those learnings and that drive for technical excellence into our everyday products consumers buy.”

This is an important consideration as engine technology improves. Our cars are now more finely tuned than ever before, yet the demands we place on them are incredible. No longer do we warm up the engine, and our service intervals are further apart – meaning the lubricants at the heart of our car must work harder, for longer, and across a wide range of temperatures, altitudes and atmospheric conditions.

And still, the work goes on.

“Our Shell scientists are already working on new oil formulations, testing them in our labs and providing samples to Ferrari for evaluation,” Dr Tredget says, proudly adding that her team considers Ferrari’s F1 cars as “the world’s most advanced test bed for our products.”

Next year, Formula One engine regulations will see what Dr Tredget says is “one of the most radical changes the sport has ever seen”. Adding that Shell is already considering just what properties the new lubricant will require.

“The V8, 2.4-litre engine will be downsized to a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine and as such the lubricant appetite will be quite different,” intimates Dr Tredget.

“At Shell, we’re working extremely hard to ensure we’re ready for this change and we’ve already been collaborating with Ferrari – providing samples, thinking about the properties that these engine oils will need to have and carrying out tests with prototype engines.”

TRACK LAB ON THE ROAD
Wednesday: The Shell Trackside Laboratory packs into a very small volume, maximising space on Ferrari's trucks for other parts of the team’s kit. Once the trucks have arrived at the track and been precisely positioned, the set-up for the Track Lab can begin. By Wednesday evening, the Shell scientists will have set up and tested the instruments and prepared everything for the race.

Thursday: By Thursday, the cars are prepared and ready to run, even though there in no track action. Shell takes samples of fuel from the cars, the ‘carlotta’ (the machine used to transfer fuel in and out of the cars in the garage) and the drums to ensure the fuel is still in the same condition in which it left Shell HQ at Chester in the UK. At the same time, the oil analyst will run samples from the car’s engine and transmission.

Friday: Once the cars are on track, a fuel sample will be taken from each car or the ‘carlotta’ before it runs, double checking everything is in order and that no contamination has occurred. After each practice run, Shell will take an oil sample from the cars and measure the wear metal in the sample. This gives Ferrari an in-depth look at the condition of the engine’s internals.

Saturday: Tests are run on the fuels and lubricants throughout the morning, and the samples taken before the qualifying sessions are among the most important. Ferrari needs to be confident that the fuel is in optimum condition for the race and qualifying session. Equally, knowing the result of the oil analysis and the condition of the engine will give the team an indication of just how hard it can push the engines during upcoming sessions.

Sunday (race day): Once the cars are in Parc Ferme [the secure area in the pit paddock where the cars are weighed and scrutinised by race officials] there is little more the teams can do. Shell can still take fuel and oil samples from them, as a final fail-safe. If the FIA decides to randomly sample the fuel in a Ferrari car at the end of the race, Shell also takes a sample, to make sure the results are consistent. When the cars return from Parc Ferme following the race, the oil is sent back to Shell labs for full analysis – the result of which are then shared with Ferrari.

SIGN OF THE TIMES
Shell's Pecten has a history all its own

Shell's iconic Pecten logo can be traced back as far as 1833 when a trader named Marcus Samuel opened a small store in London selling, among other things, sea shells.

On a trip to the Caspian Sea coast to collect specimens with his son, the younger Samuel recognised an opportunity for exporting lamp oil from the region. By 1882 Samuel and Company had commissioned the world’s first purpose-built first oil tanker, the Murex (named after a type of snail shell).

In 1897 the Shell Transport and Trading Company merged with Dutch rival, the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, to become the Royal Dutch Shell Group. Depending on whose version of events you choose to believe, the Pecten logo was selected to represent the amalgamated company.

Replacing the scallop shell used previously, the shell of the giant scallop (pecten maximus) was mated to the colour red for the first time in 1915. The colour was derived from the red-painted kerosene shipping tins Samuel and Company first used to ship lamp oil to the Far East.

When the Shell Company built new petrol filling stations in the US state of California, the logo was changed to adopt the colour yellow. Some say this was to appeal to the many Spanish settlers (California was an early Spanish colony), drawing on the appeal of that nation’s flag, while others say it was a throwback to one of the companies early founders Mr Graham’s Scottish heritage. Red and yellow are the basis of the Royal Standard of Scotland.

The logo was simplified over the years, following trends in graphic art, and to assist its conveyance through technology (many of the smaller details would blur on a fax machine, for example).

A simpler logo also helps with recognition and recall.

Today’s clean and stylised version of the Pecten can be traced back to the 1971 logo, designed by Raymond Loewy.

Instantly recognisable, vintage Shell-branded oil tins, enamel signage, petrol bowsers and merchandise are highly prized among collectors of motoring memorabilia.