Have you ever wondered where petrol comes from? Autoblog UK was recently invited to tour Shell's top secret fuel labs in the north of England and meet its hard-working scientists.

We were looking forward to learning more about the stuff, being slightly sceptical about the benefits of having to spend even more hard-earned cash on posh petrol.



The event was a chance to get up close and personal with Shell's premium V-Power fuel via a mixture of workshops, tours and Q+As with friendly scientists.

The gates to the company's secret laboratory in Thornton, Cheshire, just off the M56 (well, they didn't blindfold us), were opened to prying eyes.

Here some of the planet's top chemical boffins (Shell has four such research facilities worldwide) slave away in their white coats and goggles to come up with improvements to Shell's own particular secret blend of 11 herbs and spices.



The head of research and development for Shell worldwide, Jens Mueller-Belau, was on hand to welcome us and provide some insight. "There's a lot of technology in our fuels that customers can't see," he said. And it's a lot of fuel, too - Shell V-Power is sold in 34,000 garages in over 40 countries, he told us.

John Lambert was our guide through the labyrinth of buildings - first the vehicle test area, where there was an Audi A4 with two fuel tanks, an Alfa 156 sat on a rig with pipes and wires trailing from it, and in the corner a Ferrari 550 Maranello begging to be taken out for 'research' purposes.



John was the perfect man to explain to us the benefits of V-Power – and we did try and catch him out with some difficult questions - because he was the chap who invented the stuff when it was introduced a few years ago.

He showed us first-hand the importance of having a good blend of detergents and additives in your fuel that will not just give a performance and economy boost but are designed to keep your engine squeaky clean too.



Lab scientist Jo Swindells set a carbon-encrusted valve on fire after dipping it in petrol to show how fuel burning badly can affect your engine. V-Power detergents clean the engine to ensure 'perfect combustion'. Heady stuff.

She then showed us a diesel injector, with its series of holes the size of human hairs that squirt diesel into the cylinder. As carbon builds up around these holes it means the diesel is going all over the place and the engine isn't working as well as it should.



Frankly it was a terrifying glimpse into the horrors that could be happening within my own poor neglected car's engine, and I began to worry for its imperfect combustion process and crap-lined innards.

We also heard that from the fuel tank to the axle – not even including wind drag or tyre choice - diesel is only 33 percent efficient and petrol a depressing 25 percent efficient.



Three-quarters of the energy in our petrol is lost to pumping it about the place, friction and the massive amounts of heat engines produce. Where V-Power has apparently made gains here is reducing friction by adding lubricant, boosting both power and efficiency.

It would be rude not to mention the cost of the petrol, I reasoned – Shell only produces three percent of the world's crude oil, I was told, and does sit at the mercy of punitive tax regimes and varying oil prices on the open market.

V-Power represents good value for money when weighed alongside the long-term benefits, they said, and they do try to price competitively.



In another building we saw a long corridor lined with banks of computers. It was eerily quiet, apart from the steady background whirr of things being worked out.

We saw an engine sat behind 10 inches of glass on a test rig running at a steady 3500rpm and 150 lb ft of torque. They try to make it a pleasant working environment for the poor man who has to monitor it all day.

Engines are tested round the clock here, from a 1.0-litre petrol unit out of a small hatchback to an 8.0-litre diesel monster from a truck. Shell has to make sure that its fuels are beneficial to all types of engine over long periods in all conditions, you see.



The Thornton lab is also where Shell blends the Ferrari F1 team's race fuel and ships it out across the world - a competition between the visitors saw each group of four using Shell software to find the optimum mix of light and heavy hydrocarbons to get maximum power and then mixing the real thing in the fume cupboard.

In a crushing defeat the Germans edged out the British by a matter of half a horsepower.

It really is a complicated beast, this petrol business, but these Shell scientists are clearly passionate about their work. And if you are what you eat holds true for humans, it certainly seems to be the case with cars.