Higher octane fuel

[Dorset Bob]

Originally Posted by rover54

Is leaded petrol still available? I thought it was banned as lead in petrol is ejected unburnt and causes lead poisoning. The same situation with lead paint.

There are a limited number of filling stations that have a licence to supply 4 star leaded petrol, so it is not banned as such.
It is just difficult to get and expensive.

[carguy143]

Originally Posted by Dorset Bob

There are a limited number of filling stations that have a licence to supply 4 star leaded petrol, so it is not banned as such.
It is just difficult to get and expensive.

I take it that it'll still be LRP and not actual 4 star?

[Dorset Bob]

No, it is leaded petrol, you can check this out on the Federation of British Historical Vehicle Clubs
http://fbhvc.co.uk/fuel-information/
“Following intense lobbying by FBHVC and FIVA, the European Directive (reference 98/70/EC) imposing the general ban on the sale of leaded petrol included a derogation allowing the continued sale of small quantity of leaded petrol in controlled circumstances for use in vehicles that could not practically be adapted to run on unleaded”.

[rover54]

I wonder what a gallon of 4 star costs now.

[Insane kitty]

I work on the old Octel site in Ellesmere Port, Wirral.
The people here still make leaded petrol. They pipe the fuel in from nearby Stanlow then melt massive blocks of lead and blend them together somehow!

Apparently the majority of it goes to the emirates and a fair bit is used in aircraft especially the older ones as they are still running on leaded fuels.

Shell's refinery at Stanlow supplies all supermarkets like asda, tesco and sainsburys and also supplies Texaco and some small other garages. The plant operates 24hrs a day and the amount of tankers in and out is unbelievable!

[Brek]

I buy 95 ron when it is 15p off a liter, our local tesco has stopped selling the momentum due to lack of demand which is a shame as it was a good price when the offer were on, so I stick to the shell garage in darlo and 99 oct v power, presently 138.9p per litre when no daft offers are on, V power is worth it as it cleans the engine as well as the other benefits.

[Tatts]

Didn't 5th Gear do a test on reguler -v- premium fuel a couple of years ago?

All they were interested in was performance & economy. Think they used about 4 or 5 different cars.

IIRC the bottom line was only high performance cars like Scoobies benefit from premium fuels. In anything else is a waste of money.

They also did a test on fuel additives even earlier, using a 1.8l K Series engine. None boosted power or mpg, infact a couple actually reduced power & mpg!

[pab]

Originally Posted by Tatts

They also did a test on fuel additives even earlier, using a 1.8l K Series engine. None boosted power or mpg, infact a couple actually reduced power & mpg!

Fuels such as Shell V-Power benefit engines with a knock sensor,so I'm informed.I found the 1.8T to be more responsive when using this fuel even though the unit doesn't have a knock sensor.

[berkshirelad]

Originally Posted by Insane kitty

Shell's refinery at Stanlow supplies all supermarkets like asda, tesco and sainsburys and also supplies Texaco and some small other garages. The plant operates 24hrs a day and the amount of tankers in and out is unbelievable!

Locally.

I can assure you that the tankers we get here cone from Fawley (near Southampton), the IoW supermarkets get theirs via pipeline from Fawley - like every other outlet on IoW and most of London/E Anglia is supplied from Essex refineries.

Our local (incredibly expensive) motorway services get through a tanker full per day of unleaded and diesel.

[Dorset Bob]

Originally Posted by Insane kitty

I work on the old Octel site in Ellesmere Port, Wirral.
The people here still make leaded petrol. They pipe the fuel in from nearby Stanlow then melt massive blocks of lead and blend them together somehow!

Apparently the majority of it goes to the emirates and a fair bit is used in aircraft especially the older ones as they are still running on leaded fuels.

Shell's refinery at Stanlow supplies all supermarkets like asda, tesco and sainsburys and also supplies Texaco and some small other garages. The plant operates 24hrs a day and the amount of tankers in and out is unbelievable!

True, but most piston engine aircraft run on leaded petrol, Avgas100LL.
This is 100 octane low lead (but low compared to the last version).
It is roughly equivalent to the old 5 star, that we used to have, but with around twice as much lead in it.

I understand that mixing this 50/50 with unleaded petrol produces a fuel very similar to 4 star.
Not that Avgas can be used for road use, of course, due to Custom & Excise issues, as aviation fuel has duty of £0.3966 rather than £0.6097 that road users have to pay.
IMHO another rip-off for road users - Then we get taxed on the tax by having to pay VAT on the duty!! .