Castrol

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Castrol is a brand of industrial and automotive lubricants which is applied to a large range of
oils, greases and similar products for most lubrication applications. The Castrol brand is part
of the BP Group of companies, but has retained its separate identity.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 History
• 2 Products
• 3 Sponsorship
o 3.1 Motorsport
 3.1.1 Formula One
 3.1.2 Australian Touring/V8 Supercars
 3.1.3 World Rally Championship
 3.1.4 Sportscar Racing
 3.1.5 NASCAR
 3.1.6 Other Motorsport Categories
o 3.2 Football
o 3.3 World Wrestling Entertainment
o 3.4 Other Media
• 4 Speed records
• 5 Advertising
• 6 References

• 7 External links

[edit] History
In February 1899, Charles Cheers Wakefield took what was perhaps the greatest risk of his
working life: he resigned from the Vacuum Oil Company over a disagreement with the
management regarding Vacuum Oil's foray into the railway lubricants sector, and set himself
up as competition. The firm he left behind would go on to become Mobil Oil.
Wakefield rented three small rooms on the third floor of 27 Cannon Street in the heart of
London, and it was there, on Thursday 9 March 1899, that the firm of C.C.Wakefield & Co
opened its doors for the first time.

In 1909, the company began production of a new automotive lubricant named "Castrol" (a
contraction of castor oil, from which it was made). The company developed specific oil
applications for various applications of the new internal combustion engine, including cars,
motorcycles, and aircraft. The original 3 grades of oil being CW for cars, C for motorcycles
and R for aircraft and racing engines, the castor oil being responsible for the noticeable
exhaust odor of early aircraft rotary engines.

In 1966, Castrol was acquired by British oil company Burmah, which was renamed Burmah-
Castrol. In 2000, Burmah-Castrol was acquired by the then BP Amoco plc (now renamed BP
plc). Castrol branded lubricants continue to be sold around the world and are, in many
countries, market leaders.

[edit] Products
Castrol offers lubricants for virtually all domestic, commercial and industrial applications.
For automotive lubrication (including motorcycles 2-stroke and 4-stroke engines, car petrol
and diesel engines), their products include an extensive range of manual and automatic
transmission fluids, chain lubricants and waxes, coolants, suspension fluids, brake fluids,
greases, cleaners and maintenance products. Castrol also produces products for agricultural
machinery, plant, general industry and marine engineering uses.

Castrol products include:

• For passenger cars: Edge, Magnatec, Syntec and GTX; less commonly, XL, GTD,
Formula RS, Synt and SLX
• For motorcycles: Power1, PowerRS and Act>evo; less commonly, TT, TTS, GP, GPS
and Go!
• For heavy duty vehicles: Elixion, Enduron, Hypuron, Tection, CRB and Agri
• For ships: Cyltech and TLX Plus
• For industrial applications: Hyspin (hydraulic), Aircol (compressors) and Alpha
(industrial gears)

[edit] Sponsorship
[edit] Motorsport

The most prevalent display of the Castrol brand is to be found in sponsorship of varying
motorsports (mainly as a "technical partner"), currently in the World Rally Championship,
MotoGP, World Superbikes and World Supersports. Castrol have previously been formally
involved in Formula 1, World Touring Cars, British Superbikes, British Rallying, DTM, V8
Supercars, Dakar Rally, Drag racing, Sidecar racing - and more. Castrol also have sponsored
the Castrol Driver Rankings since January 2010.

[edit] Formula One

The brand has been involved in Formula One for many years, most visibly as the title sponsor
of Team Lotus for the 1993 season. Prior to that, Castrol had provided lubricants to a number
of other teams, including Jaguar, McLaren, Brabham and Walter Wolf Racing.[1]

Following the temporary withdrawal of Elf from the sport at the end of 1996, Castrol forged
an alliance with the Williams F1 team as a technical partner.[2] As of the end of the 2006
season, when the relationship ended, this partnership had yielded both Formula One World
Championship titles in 1997 and 17 wins.

[edit] Australian Touring/V8 Supercars

Castrol is one of the most popular oils used in the Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar series.
For many years, Castrol was the title sponsor of the Perkins Engineering Holden team, the
relationship ending in 2006. Latterly, Castrol has been one of Ford Performance Racing's title
sponsors, backing the Falcon of Steven Richards. Castrol's 2010 program will see Paul
Morris Motorsport run a Castrol Racing Commodore for Greg Murphy, alongside its existing
FPR Ford entry. [3] Castrol is the title sponsor with Team Bray, owned by Australian drag car
legend, Victor Bray for 17 years.

[edit] World Rally Championship

The Toyota World Rally Championship team was supported by Castrol until 2003. Since
then, the works Ford team has been supported by BP and by extension, Castrol lubricants.

[edit] Sportscar Racing

During the 1980s, the Jaguar entries for the Le Mans 24 hours race were sponsored by
Castrol, along with the tobacco brand Silk Cut. The company also supported the Sauber
Mercedes sportcar team.

[edit] NASCAR

The company sponsored the Brewco Motorsports #27 car in the NASCAR Busch Series,
driven by Casey Atwood from 1999 to 2000.

[edit] Other Motorsport Categories

In North America, Castrol has been an active sponsor of NHRA drag racing, especially with
John Force's funny car under the GTX brand since 1987.

[edit] Football

Castrol sponsored Swindon Town Football Club from 1995 to 1997. In the first season of this
two-year deal, Swindon were Division Two champions.

Castrol also sponsored the UEFA Euro 2008 football tournament and will sponsor the 2010
and 2014 FIFA World Cup tournaments.

Castrol sponsor the Castrol Performance Index, a player performance rating system.
[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment

Castrol sponsored the 2009 Royal Rumble

[edit] Other Media

Castrol has recently began to sponsor a popular Nintendo podcast called Lithcast.

[edit] Speed records

Historically, Castrol has been a prolific sponsor of World Land Speed Records, with 21
"titles" to their credit, and their rightful claim of the "World's 'Fastest' Oil", with their current
unbroken record of a supersonic speed of 763.035 mph (1,228 km/h) set by RAF fighter pilot
Sqn Ldr (then) Andy Green, in the Richard Noble 'brainchild' ThrustSSC. This occurred in
the USA at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, on 15 October 1997.

[edit] Advertising
Main article: Castrol advertisement

Castrol products are still marketed under the red, white and green colour scheme that dates
from the launch of Castrol motor oil in 1909. Advertisements for Castrol oil historically
featured the slogan "Castrol - liquid engineering"; this was more recently refreshed and
reintroduced as "It's more than just oil. It's liquid engineering." In 2008, this slogan is also
being featured as the name for a new rewards club called the "Castrol Liquid Engineering
Crew" in which members get the chance to win prizes.

For many years [4], the opening notes of the second Nachtmusik movement of Mahler's
Seventh Symphony were used as the signature theme of Castrol TV commercials