Road Fuel vs. Racing Fuel: F1 Comparison

PaulZ370

I work for a major Oil Company (ok, once you read the Article it will be apparent to you which- Not BP) and I found this article on our internal website - no secrets or anything, just food for thought.

DISCLAIMER: I am not advocating nor promoting any brand name, this is information that could possibly apply to all Premium fuels no matter which Oil Company's flag it is found under

Note: Lap time for the Racing Fuel is listed at the beginning of the Article. They leave you hanging till towards the end when they reveal the Lap time on Road Fuel. You can judge the result then...

Here is the article:



Can a Formula One car run on road car fuel?
02-Aug-2011
What happens if you fill up an F1 car with Shell V-Power from the forecourt? Scuderia Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso found out, and he was pretty surprised at the result.
________________________________________

Shell’s technical partnership with Ferrari is one of the longest and strongest in the Formula One paddock with over 60 years of innovation and shared passion for performance. The technical partnership is key to developing better road fuels for our customers – from track to road.

In fact, the FIA regulations stipulate that Formula One race fuels must be composed of compounds normally found in commercial fuels, meaning that Shell V-Power race fuel and Shell V-Power road fuel are by definition very similar.

Despite that, many customers on Shell forecourts around the world may not be aware of just how closely the Shell V-Power formulation they put in their cars actually matches the one powering Scuderia Ferrari cars in Formula One.

Cara Tredget, Shell Technology Manager for Ferrari, says, “One of the things I always get asked is, ‘How similar is the Shell V-Power racing fuel that we deliver to Ferrari to that of the Shell V-Power Unleaded fuel that everyday motorists use?’

“We decided to answer that question by fuelling the 2009 F1 Ferrari car with Shell V-Power road fuel from a Shell service station in order to show that it’s really very similar to the racing fuel that we provide Scuderia Ferrari.”

To demonstrate it, Fernando Alonso, official Scuderia Ferrari driver was invited to post a lap time of Ferrari’s Fiorano test track in Maranello, using Shell V-Power road fuel in his Formula One car. The run also was filmed by the BBC.

Having driven four intense laps of Fiorano using his familiar Shell V-Power race fuel, setting a fastest lap time of 1:03.950, Fernando then returned to experience how the Shell V-Power road fuel fared with the extreme demands of his 2009 F1 Ferrari race car. He was somewhat surprised by the results, saying: “The Shell V-Power road fuel felt just as quick as the Formula One fuel.”

What supported his observation was the fact that the road fuel, formulated with unique Shell technology, actually managed to produce a higher top speed at the end of the straight when compared to Shell V-Power race fuel. The race fuel pulled off a noticeably better performance.

Fernando was still clearly delighted with the results, saying, “I think it’s very exciting to be able to stop in the service station and know that you are refuelling with the same kind of fuel that the Ferrari cars are using in Formula One,” he said. “It’s really great that through using Shell V-Power fuel, people can be very happy and content that they are putting a very special fuel in their cars.”

With Fernando’s lap time on Shell V-Power road fuel registering at 1:04.850 in the telemetry readings, the difference between the two fuels was only nine tenths of a second.

On the close outcome, Cara says, “I think the fact that the results were roughly within a second per lap of each other is an absolutely fantastic result, and a real testimony to how incredible the Shell V-Power road fuel is.”

The technical partnership with Scuderia Ferrari gives Shell an extreme, yet controlled, test environment in which to develop advanced fuels and lubricants for road users. Each year, Shell invests more than 21,000 working hours in a partnership that’s seen Ferrari achieve 10 Formula One Constructors’ World Championships and 12 Formula One Drivers’ World Championship titles.