What does Castrol stand for?

[simonst205]

A trivia question for you.
What does Castrol stand for?
No prizes, sorry

Simon

[flyingtele]

IIRC its a contraction of 'castor oil', I think that was the companies first product or something like that, memories a bit hazy lol.

[k1ano]

I thought this was an interesting question to and found this, which ties in with what flyingtele said ...

Taken from http://www.bp.com/printsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9014896&contentId=7027816

"Wakefield researchers found that adding a measure of castor oil, a vegetable oil made from castor beans, did the trick nicely. They called the new product "Castrol." "

Martin

[ChrisW]

Lol, read similar from another link

http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/petrol_oil_castrol.htm

Castrol were not alone in marketing castor-base oil. Even in the 1950's there were other racing oils, such as Pratt's Castor, Essolube 60 Racer, Notwen Castor, BP Energol Racing and Vigzol Golden Race. But the fact is that when the old racing sounds and scents are recalled all castor oils are thought of as the famous Castrol "R".

Probs came from saying 'castor oil' quickly?

[simonst205]

Spot on guys, well done, thought it would have taken you longer.
I only found out because I am trying to make some fuel for my model aeroplane engines. I can get all the methanol I want for free but it needs a 20% mix with caster oil. I've been searching on Google for a source of caster and one site mentioned the connection with Castrol.

[flyingtele]

is that one of the little 1-2 cc two stroke glowplug engines? I used to have a small rc car powered by one of them. Frickin fast little thing too!

[simonst205]

Yeah its for glow engines. I used to have a plane that did over 200 mph which was quite a handful but fun to fly. Lost control one day though and it nose dived into the ground. I had to dig the engine out with a spade. Its a hobby I really enjoy, been doing it about 15 years now and lost count of the number of crashes.

[k1ano]

Set my garage (well was living at the parents at the time) on fire once playing about with a model aeroplane engine and fuel ... Had to run out to my rally car and get the extinguisher to put the fire out ... That stuff burns well !

Martin