Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 racing fuels and lubricants fit for road cars

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A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of visiting the Shell Eco-Marathon Race being held at the Quirino Grandstand Complex. It was exciting indeed in a nontraditional way, but it was still a competition, albeit in a different manner: finding the best in efficiency.

 

This is an important exercise, a way to move the goalpost forward for fuels, cars and the motoring industry to a better, cleaner, greener tomorrow. I left the event with much appreciation and respect for what Shell is trying to promote and achieve.

 

But when we think of Shell and motorsports, it is obviously fast, screaming and furious race cars, particularly scarlet red prancing ponies from Maranello, that we think about. Well, they say one good turn deserves another.

 

Shell recently invited media from across South East Asia and Central Europe to experience what they call the Science of Driving Excitement. It was essentially an experience to get a shotgun ride inside Ferrari’s latest entry-level model, the California T, a two-seat, front-engined grand tourer or GT car packing a twin-turbo, direct-injected 3.8-liter V8 engine producing 553 HPand 754.33 Nm of torque driving the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual clutch transmission.

 

Caron Ceramic brakes from Brembo, another long-time Ferrari partner, deliver the squeeze when slowing down. But the best part? We’ll be driven around the small handling track by Marc Gene and Esteban Gutierrez, both Scuderia Ferrari F1 test and reserve drivers, respectively.

 

Marc is, in fact, a veteran F1 driver, having competed a decade ago. To make things interesting, we were to wear a special supertight vest that monitors our heart rate, pulse and other body statistics to see just how excited we will be.

 

Vest on and strapped tight inside the California T, my driver, Esteban, smiled and politely asked me if I was ready. Admittedly I was thinking that I’d be more excited driving the California, but when an F1 driver is your chauffeur, it’s probably even more exciting.

 

Esteban babies the California T at launch and we hit a wide sweeping corner doused with water. Esteban takes a safe line, drifts the California T with a bit of tailout action, and we enter the slalom where the California T handles quick left-right transitions with ease.

 

We enter a makeshift tunnel made out of a large tent and the bright Malaysian sunlight is covered in pitch-black darkness. It takes a while for me to adjust, but suddenly, flashing lights illuminate the narrow path and house/disco music blare from within. It’s enough for me to lose focus and panic while Esteban, who senses my confusion smiles and gives the California T a good shove as we barrel past the tunnel, onto another set of chicanes, then round back into the tunnel for more excitement.

 

By the time our 60-second or so ride ends, my smile is from ear to ear. I’m breaking into cold sweat and my heart rate is at its maximum.

 

Shell technicians have me remove my vest and connect to a computer. My maximum heart rate was at 118 beats per minute, and my average was 110 beats per minute. That’s like an intense cardio workout.

 

Afterwards, we meet Shell fuels scientist and fellow Filipino national Mae Ascan, who explains the various attributes that makes Shell fuels superior, how it makes more power compared to other fuels, and how certain regions require small tweaks versus fuels in, say, Asia.

 

Mae works in the Malaysian R&D center, and there are other R&D centers in Germany, Middle East, the United Kingdom, and United States that work on fuels for Shell’s motorsports program (FIA F1 GP, FIA World Endurance Championship/Le Mans, FIM Moto GP, German DTM Touring Cars and FIA GT3 competition, to name a few) as well as custom-tailored fuels in specific regions with slightly different needs.

 

Shell scientists also hooked up a Volkswagen Golf 1.4 TSI on a Rototest rolling road hub dynamometer. Half the cylinders utilize regular fuel, while the other half utilize Shell V-Power fuels.

 

Pressure sensors inside the engine measure in-cylinder combustion pressures. Combustion pressure determines how much power a fuel is making, and the cylinders which were being fed with Shell fuels produced significantly higher (as much as 15 percent more) combustion pressures, proving that on their own, Shell V-Power fuels make more power.

 

Guy Lovett, Shell’s technology manager for Ferrari Formula One, took the time to sit down with us and explain how Shell produces fuel for their road cars. It is essentially a mix of chemicals but requires a very slim balance of ingredients: Put too much of power-adding chemicals and the fuel becomes dangerously explosive and corrosive, and its exhaust emissions become highly toxic.

 

The FIA also dictates minimum content for certain ingredients to ensure that the Formula 1 fuels are as close as possible to road-legal fuels you and I can buy at our local gas stations. This is the trickle-down effect racing teams, car manufacturers, suppliers and technology partners want to enact to make motorsport more relevant to road-going production cars.

 

While the highlight for everyone was to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix (which Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel won in stunning fashion, of course), it was the pitwalk and visit to the Shell Trackside Laboratory which was surprisingly exciting.

 

After watching Open Practice Session 1 on Friday, we were herded into small groups into Ferrari’s pit garages and inside the tiny booth that is the Shell Trackside Laboratory. No bigger than a typical hotel room toilet, it was packed with so many high-tech equipment.

 

The Shell scientists take a small quantity of fuel and oil from Sebastian Vettel’s and Kimi Raikkonen’s F14 T F1 cars. Since F1 now mandates a maximum of 100 kilogram of fuel to be used for the entire race, the respective fuel manufacturers who have varying specific fuel densities guard their specifications well.

 

We were allowed to sample a test for determining wear-metals found in Sebastian Vettel’s car. Shell heats up the fuels inside a small device to burn up the fuel. The different metal particles inside the fuel reflect and refract light at different intensities. A computer takes note of this, which helps scientists determine which metals wore down faster while using the engine oil.

 

The fuel and oil are interesting. The fuel is, Shell claims, 99 percent similar to what can be found in Shell V-Power road-car fuels. The 1-percent difference is down to some specific needs: more power, better combustibility at elevated RPMs and high turbo boost pressures, and lower fuel density which allows Ferrari more leeway to meet the 100-kg maximum fuel load per car per race.

 

Shell have actually tried to use regular V-Power on an F1 car in a media event last year in Spa-Francorchamp in Belgium, Shell’s home race. The F1 car was slower and slightly less responsive, but not by much, operating almost still within race-pace. Impressive stuff indeed.

 

The oil is also new. Shell’s Helix oils with Pure Plus technology is the first commercially available oil made from natural gas instead of crude oil. It’s cleaner and is able to better cope in cooling the engine and turbo assemblies, which can reach 300 degrees Celsius underneath the pistons, and close to 1,000 degrees Celsius for the exhaust manifold and turbo assemblies.

 

The Shell Helix with Pure Plus Technology can easily withstand the constant 150-degree temperature it is subjected to, almost 50 percent more than what typical road car engine oil temperatures reach.

 

In the end, I learned a whole lot of things. Many of the data was top-secret/highly confidential/they-can-tell-me-but-they-would-have-to-kill-me kind of stuff. But rest assured, if it’s good enough for Ferrari’s Formula 1 team, which has won 10 driver’s titles and 12 manufacturer’s titles with Shell as their partner, it’s good enough for you and me.

 

Overall, a great event to see and experience first-hand what Shell does to improve performance and efficiency in a most exciting manner.