The secrets of Castrol's oil tech

WHAT IS AN ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE? 

The beauty of marketing is that you get the chance to describe a product creatively. Oil, for example, becomes 'the lifeblood of an engine, coating moving parts in a viscous, slippery substance'. And so on...

But talk to Brian Utton, an expert technologist for Castrol, and he tells it straight. "Without oil, the engine blows up." 

The thing is, most of us know this, and yet one in three cars is low on oil according to a report by SMMT in 2014. This is potentially a big mistake. 

"The difference between maximum and minimum could be as much as one litre," continues Utton. "In a car with a five-litre capacity, that's a 20 per cent difference. When your car or your dip-stick tells you it's time to top up, it really is." 

Perhaps we are lulled into a false sense of security because of the performance of a product such as Castrol EDGE with Titanium Fluid Strength Technology. The unique TITANIUM FST in Castrol EDGE physically changes the way oil behaves under extreme pressures.

Modern engines are smaller, lighter but more powerful than ever before. To achieve this improved performance they operate under much greater pressures and in an out-and-out sports car like the 542bhp Jaguar F-Type R, the tolerances are even tighter. 

To develop an oil capable of meeting these demands, Castrol conducts tests that include running engines for the equivalent of over three years. This is hardcore R&D, and the result is an oil that produces up to 45 per cent less metal-to-metal contact than a major competitor's product and gives up to 15 per cent lower friction than the same Castrol oil without Titanium FST.

"For Castrol EDGE with Titanium FST, the pressures we tested at were higher than we have ever tested before," continues Brian. "It is the oil that will be in Bloodhound SSC when Andy Green attempts to set a new land speed record. And we know it is up to the task because we've conducted over 1000 days of engine testing."

Extreme, indeed, and a brilliant combination of marketing metaphor and technological fact to illustrate just how strong Castrol EDGE boosted with Titanium FST is...

A few facts about Castrol oils...

FACT #1
With Castrol, the land speed record has been broken an amazing 21 times

FACT #2
The latest range of Castrol Edge oils were engine-tested for an equivalent of 1.9 million miles

FACT #3
During development of Edge with Titanium FST, over 2,400 unique formulations were tested