Any one tried using the new Shell fuel, Optimax, yet ?

http://www.shell.co.uk

 

Allegedly 98+ Octane, cheaper than Super Unleaded and of course whiter than white, greener than, green, makes the tea in the morning, does the washing up afterwards and prevents hangovers

 

Experiences, thoughts, observations etc etc ??

 

I shall be keeping my 'Shell like' open and getting me some of that stuff.

 

Only if it's as good as the press release says it is.

 

More responsive? better economy?

 

 

Matty.

 

------------------

Actually, I find that my car runs better with shell petrol. I found that there was little if any noticable difference between Normal Unleaded and Super.

Be interesting to see what this does

 

Stuart

is it out yet? i have read alot about it

 

personally how can you tell if a car runs better on different fuel?

 

just asking cause surly it cant give you enough horses to make a noticible difference

not saying i dont believe you

I went off Shell big stylee a few years back when they brought out another of their miracle fuels. They introduced it at one of the race circuits and must have been flogging it cheap or giving it away because most people used it. Anyway, it had some sort of anti-knock ingredient, which rather than prevented knocking, kind of hid the symptoms. That day there were about 5 engine failures and Shell went home with a briefcase full of 'threatening to sue unless you stump up for a new engine' type letters.

 

This was all on classic and Battle Of The Twins style bikes, which do tend to need good healthy juice (One we ran used AvGas or normal juice with Toluene as an octane booster!).

 

I tried the same stuff in my Harris Magnum, which always used 4 star because the unleaded thing wasn't really upon us then and it sounded terrible, but once again that has the sort of compression ratio that makes you think about running diesel in it .... Needless to say it never went in my road Ducati. Ever since I have avoided Shell like the plague, on principle. So I was very interested to see that they have been working with Ducati and specifically mention the very efficient Desmo engines. If it's good enough for that then I might change my mind about them !

did you see the cartoon on this link http://www.shell.co.uk/uk-en/content/0,4011,44847-69442,00.html#7 that is funny how can they quantify that as fact?

Yeah! If you look at the cars, the green car is high than the red car thus having more drag.

 

I noticed that when I was looking at it the first time

 

Stuart

Ive noticed that with 15 psi and a JWT if I use super its fine but if I have to fill up with crappy sainsbury's unleaded it can pink a little under WOT. Anyone else here struggle with 95 ron.

Paul

For what it's worth my partner used to run a 328i with the trip computer gizmo. He used to get more to the gallon with super,(it puts out more Kilowatt of energy, or something like that) so when you weighed up the extra cost per gallon it made no difference to your running cost. I never use the regular stuff so I couldn't answer on how it works for a 300.

Any hydrocarbon chemists out there to settle this? I thought higher octane fuels have more octane improver chemicals per gallon thus less burny burny stuff. So more mpg on higher octane dont add up in my book. My TT handbook says 95 and 95 is what it gets. Course I only do about 10psi with no chippy doodas.

Willie

PS mine goes better when I wash it!

I experimented a bit with my company cars in the past and I reckoned that better fuel gives more mpg. Depends on the difference in cost of course but certainly at the time it6 seemed to offset the difference. I might give the Shell stuff a go for a few weeks and see.

I do have to agree with this, I used to only use Super in my last two cars(Saab Turbo and Toyota Supar) mainly coz I was getting the fuel costs back. However, with the rising price of fuel and IR-35 I started to cut down a little and that meant using the norm. But, I say sod that, I started to fill my Kirk up with Super and it runs alot better, I swear I get better throttle response and MPG!

 

So, who cares the fact it costs 88.9p per litre, my car runs better...WTF? Not a dig about the fuel...just still pissed off that if you look at a previous post from Ben in Aus they are paying a third per litre of what we are paying and he points out that 70 percent of that is tax!!! Then take a look at the response from DROOP(I think!) that just puts us Euro's to bed big time!

 

Tim

;-)

 

P.S. I mostly use BP fuel, never had a problem with it plus their loyalty card keeps me in expensive golf balls once a year! LOL!

 

downunder in Kiwiland Shell haven't released Optimax but BP released "Ultimate" and Mobil released their synergy 9000 fuels. Well.. both claiming to be 98 octane and Mobil claiming to be cleaner and greener blah blah.

 

My car has lived on BP 98 ever since it was introduced (dec last year), the Mobil 98 was shite, the car behaved badly.. infact I think it was burning less cleanly than normal 96 fuels. I was getting more overrun flames than I normally get. Within 10kms of going to Mobil 96 I got a big nasty 3rd gear lift off flame, sounded bloody good but probably indicated all was not well. Started to get a slightly rough idle and couldn't wait to get the stuff out of the tank !.

 

I've heard rumours of a couple of engines going using BP 98 fuel but I think it's more coincedence than anything else.

 

Economy wise I don't get nearly as good economy on any other fuel as BP. Here's my theory. The chip I'm running normally resides on US fuel which from all accounts is a shedload better than NZ fuel. Just before she comes on boost you normally get just a slight tinkle if I'm loading the engine up enough, now that tells me the ignition map really suits a higher octane rating, with 98 it gave just enough octane to suppress most (if not all) of the pinking and thus just a little bit more go, which at motorway speeds makes all the difference... At least I've noticed the difference, it's subtle but it's there, the car does pick up a little better under 0 boost high load. Top end f**ked if I could tell a difference as things are happening so quick its another world LOL I'd be highly suspicious of anyone who could tell the difference at WOT high boost any fuel difference (unless the engine was rattling it's head off)

 

Moral of the story: Test a tankful of the higher octane fuel and if you notice a difference for the better go for it. If you're going to a track day tho play it safe and mix 50/50 with racegas.

 

NB: 100% racegas is a bit risky as it burns quite a bit hotter apparently even though its got a higher octane, I've heard this from more than a few 'in the know' people. All recommend for road cars 50/50.

I put 50 ltrs of Optimax in my 300TT friday evening...during next wekk I'll see what happens...even if it is a bit mixed with whatever was left of Unleaded in there....

I hope it doesn't F**k up my engine though!!!

Sounds great if it's cheaper than the usual 98, but all this talk of blown engines is putting me off.

 

I personally can't notice any performance difference between 98 and 95, but I use 98 to stop the ocasional detination I got with 95 at 1.3bar. Better safe than sorry!

 

------------------

 

8587263

1.3bar!!! I hope those are not stock turbos... and you've got the fuelling to match.

 

Yes, they are stock and I have the 555s to match!

brave boy, theres a reason it's detting up top.

 

Before ya melt yer engine change your turbos ! (or be a bit conservative with the boost)

 

Filled up with OptiMax on way to Trax, Good stuff!!

 

 

Matty.

 

------------------

Any opinions on Optimax yet ? I had intended to fill up with it yesterday but got caught short, miles from a Shell and used Q8 instead (68 litres!).

Well I have been runing the car since those 50 ltrs...(so it was mixed with some morrison unleaded petrol).

 

Economy wise I think it is about the same...too early to decide but roughly I think it was going down slower!..so it shouldn't cost any more then unleaded(I have UK car which can run on unleaded)

 

....performance-wise....well I didn't see much/any difference...I mean it could be slightly better, but I do not know if it simply feels slightly better because it is supposed to be better in my mind!.....Plus it is supposed to be better after some time...since they say the more you use it the more it cleanse the old shit away....

 

For now I'm going to keep using optimax so I can get a better reading for both ecomony and performances

 

Ok my two cents, i put in on sunday and found a definate improvement (although could be the weather) but car felt smoother through the rev range and my idle for some reasone has settled perfectly..... Oh and i also pay 77 p a litre as oppsed to 86 p at my local bp garage

 

------------------

I appologise for anything i say that offends you its all in good humor