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You might think that petrol is just petrol, but there's loads more to it than that
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Think about what's going on inside the engine of this M5CS as we lap the Bedford Autodrome
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With the crank spinning at 7200 RPM, the pistons are racing up and down the bores 120 times a second
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The valves are a blur and each burst of fuel and air is perfectly tight
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The precision of each component is unbelievable and with such fine tolerances the type of fuel you're using really does matter
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I am having so much fun but the fuel is getting quite low
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I want to keep laughing. Right, I think we're going to have a cool down lap
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Yeah. And let's find some fuel. premium you're going premium v power okay it's a more expensive one though right it is yeah but
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it's worthwhile but there's lots of weird scientific reasons why it's better why okay
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Nicola to explain why this stuff is so good for your car I'm gonna have to take you to northern
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Germany That might sound really weird but I know a guy there who can explain From Bedford we head 650 miles east to Shell technical centre in Hamburg where we talk to the team behind Shell V including Rudy one of Shell fuel scientists
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Nice to meet you. Hi, Yusuf, nice to meet you. We've come a very long way to learn about Shell V-Power. So what goes on in here? It looks quite complicated
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Yeah, you're at the right place. Actually here in the Shell Technology Centre in Hamburg
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It's one of the main places where the international team of Shell fuel scientists
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has developed new and improved Shell V-Power. Right, so we've just done like a 10-hour journey to get here today and the whole trip
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Yusuf is banging on about how amazing V-Power is because I am that person that just puts in regular unleaded in my car
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But Yusuf was saying that the new and improved V-Power can clean like really critical components of the engine
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up to 100%. Is that right? Yes, Josuf is true actually. Using regular fuels may cause over time
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the buildup of deposits on critical engine parts such for example in petrol engines
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the inlet valves like we see here. Because they are so tiny I can show you it's a little bit
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magnified. Yeah. So have a look on the screen. So actually here you can see how the deposits
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how thick the deposits have built up on the inlet valve where fuel and the fuel is sprayed over into
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the combustion chamber Those deposits are like a sponge so they will suck and keep some of the fuel which actually shall be burned and deliver power to the wheels And that will not happen so the engine is running less efficient
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By using new and improved Shelby Power, you can wash them away right from the first start after refilling
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Once the deposits are removed and it looks like this, you have back again the full power the engine was designed to deliver
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It starts from the first refill, from the first time you switch it on
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What are the effects of lots of carbon on a valve like that? You said about the absorption, but in terms of pure performance
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what is that going to do to your engine? Actually, you will have a loss of power once the deposits build up
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because not all the amount of fuel is sucked into the engine
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And on a direct engine, the spray will change. So those insectos are designed in a way that the spray is optimal in the combustion chamber to have good efficiency
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And once those deposits start to form, the spray will be different. Of course, engine technology has moved on massively over the decades
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But Rudy and his team have developed Shell V-Power to benefit older cars as well as new ones
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And as manufacturers move towards small capacity turbocharged engines with big power
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Shell has reacted by optimizing the fuel for the harsher conditions inside these engines
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The fuel might have the same name but there serious work going on behind the scenes here So what about the latest version The new and improved Shell V petrol has a new deposit control additive that enables us to clean up to 100 of performance robbing deposits on critical fuel system components
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Then using this giant model of an injector tip, Rudy shows us how deposits can form over
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the surface and within the holes through which the fuel is sprayed. A magnetic device representing
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a Shell V-Power cleaning molecule is passed through one of these holes, picking up deposits
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on the way to being burnt in the combustion chamber. So is the effect the same when you've got a high-pressure injector in a performance car
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It's the same whether you have a high-performance car or an everyday car
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Having learned more about Shell V-Power in the lab, it's time to find out how the fuel
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is tested. You know, we developed new and improved Shell V-Power fuels over five years
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And we've done a lot of testing. One of the test facilities we use is this test cell, which is a rolling road, so a chassis dynamometer
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So this is how you test efficiency, things like that? Yes, exactly
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So what do you reckon then? Are you convinced by V-Power? After all this time, we've driven 10 hours
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I am, actually. So it was a worthwhile trip then? It really was
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As we said in the beginning, not all petrol is created equal
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Now fully versed in the ways of Shell V-Power and how it can restore the performance and efficiency of your engine
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it's time to hop back in the M5 for the long drive home
