Realising your engine’s potential, Transformers One style

In the case of the latter, viewers can look forward to just that in the shape of Transformers One, in Cinemas 11 October. In contrast to the seven preceding live action epics chronicling the fierce battle for supremacy between Optimus Prime’s Decepticons and Megatron’s Autobots, this fully animated origin story injects a youthful energy into the series. Helmed by Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley, Transformers One finds the pair thick as thieves at the start of their lives on the planet Cybertron.

And if we’re talking shiny and new, when was the last time you felt your car’s engine in full cry? If things are starting to feel a tad sluggish, it might be because of performance-robbing deposits building up over time on critical parts of the engine. Luckily, Shell’s been relentlessly developing and improving the perfect fuel to give it a new lease of life.

Renewed and restored

Good news for drivers everywhere: using Shell V-Power Unleaded and Diesel fully rejuvenates your engine’s performance, keeps your engine running like new and can improve fuel economy^[1]. And if you’re wondering how one fuel can manage three such onerous tasks, Jo Smith, a Shell fuels scientist with more than 35 years’ experience, can shed more light.

“In the engine combustion cycle, there are four strokes or steps: induction, compression, power and exhaust,” she explains. “We've shown through our extensive testing the influence of harmful deposits on those four combustion steps. For example, in an indirect petrol engine, with regular fuels and over time, deposits can form on the back of the inlet valve that can soak up fuel preventing it from entering the combustion chamber in the right amount and at the right time – this results in sub-optimal combustion.”

“If we can control those performance-robbing deposits, that’s helping the engine perform as it was designed to and so helps improve fuel economy”

And more modern, direct injection engines aren’t immune either, says Jo. “In a direct injection petrol engine, performance-robbing deposits can block the injector holes which can impact on how the fuel is sprayed into the combustion chamber impacting the fuel/air mixing. All of this detracts from the performance and efficiency of the engine, but by keeping an engine clean of harmful deposits or removing harmful deposits that have formed, we are able to help the engine run at its best and keep it running like new as the combustion process steps occur as intended.”

The same is true with diesel technology, as Jo details: “Diesel engines utilise  compression ignition whereby diesel fuel is injected under very high pressure into hot compressed air in the combustion chamber via the diesel injector. The fuel injector is at the heart of the diesel engine and plays a really important role in how the engine performs.”

“Fuel is injected under very high pressures, typically 2000 bar in a road car engine, through injector holes that are about the width of a human hair, so it’s critical that the fuel injector does not become blocked with performance-robbing deposits. If we can control these, that’s helping the engine perform as it was designed to and so helps improve fuel economy,” she says.

These are the stakes involved, so no wonder any deposits in your engine can disrupt the process and reduce engine performance. “Deposits impact how the diesel fuels are injected, atomised and then, how they mix with the air. If that's not optimised, it impacts the performance and efficiency of the engine,” warns Jo.

The best your engine can be

High performance underpins every step of Shell V-Power’s development, epitomised by the company’s innovation partnership with Scuderia Ferrari. As Jo reveals, what happens at the very pinnacle of motorsport has huge implications for everyday drivers: “What we learn with Scuderia Ferrari is taken from the track and transferred to our road fuel development programmes so that customers can benefit too. It also enables us to test our fuels in the harshest of environments,” she concludes.

And whether it’s the awe-inspiring machinery brought to life across all eight movies in the Transformers universe, or the critical processes that enable your engine to run as it was designed to, potential counts for little if unfulfilled. So whatever your car’s age or horsepower, choosing Shell V-Power at the pump is one of the best ways you can let it do what it was meant to do.

Want to see how quickly Shell V-Power Unleaded and Shell V-Power Diesel can make a difference to your engine’s performance? Try it out for yourself.

^{[1] Removes and protects from the build up of performance robbing deposits on key fuel system components such as intake valves and/or fuel injectors. Improved fuel economy using Shell V-Power fuels has been demonstrated in industry standard and Shell proprietary tests. Actual effects and benefits may vary according to vehicle type, vehicle age, vehicle condition and driving style. No guarantees provided.}