Castrol

Castrol is a British global brand of industrial and automotive lubricants offering a wide range of oils, greases and similar products for most lubrication applications.

Castrol
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryOil and Gas
Founded9 March 1899 (1899-03-09)
FounderCharles Wakefield
HeadquartersCastrol Technology Centre, Pangbourne, Berkshire, UK
BP Lubricants, Wayne, New Jersey
Castrol Industrial North America, Naperville, IL
Key people
Mandhir Singh
(CEO, 2016–present)
ProductsOil
Petroleum
Petrochemical
Lubricant
ParentBP
Websitecastrol.com

History

The Wakefield Oil Company was founded by Charles Cheers Wakefield in 1899. The brand "Castrol" originated after researchers added castor oil to their lubricant formulations.[1]

In 1966, Castrol was acquired by company Burmah Oil, which was renamed Burmah-Castrol. Burmah-Castrol was purchased by London-based multinational BP in 2000.[2]

Sponsorship

Motorsport
A Castrol sponsored NASCAR Pinty's Series (formerly CASCAR) Dodge Charger

The brand has been involved in Formula One for many years, supplying to a number of teams, including McLaren (1979–1980 and 2017–2020), Williams (1997–2005), Team Lotus (1992–1993), Brabham (1983–1984), Jaguar (2000–2004), Renault (2017–present) and Walter Wolf Racing.[3]

Castrol has sponsored the Ford World Rally Team and M-Sport in the World Rally Championship since 2003, and the Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT factory team from 2016, to 2019. It has also sponsored Volkswagen Motorsport activities in the Dakar Rally and later the World Rally Championship since 2005. Audi Sport's activities in rallying and touring car racing have been sponsored by Castrol, as well as its Le Mans Prototypes program since 2011. BMW Motorsport was sponsored by Castrol from 1999 to 2014.

Toyota Motorsport GmbH had Castrol sponsorship in the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 1998, and Hyundai Motorsport did so from 2000 to 2002. Also, the Honda factory team at the World Touring Car Championship has Castrol sponsorship since 2012. In the All-Japan GT Championship, the TOM'S Toyota Supra and later the Mugen Honda NSX had Castrol sponsorships.

In North America, Castrol has been an active sponsor of NHRA drag racing. Castrol sponsored John Force Racing under the GTX brand from 1987 until the end of the 2014 season. Also, the All American Racers had Castrol sponsorship in the CART World Series from 1996 to 1999. In 2014, Castrol sponsored former Indy 500-winning IndyCar team Bryan Herta Autosport, with English rookie Jack Hawksworth behind the wheel.

Castrol is the name sponsor of Castrol Raceway, a multi-track oval, drag, and motocross racing facility in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.[4] Castrol is the sponsor of D.J. Kennington in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and NASCAR Cup Series.[5]

In Australia, Castrol is currently a title sponsor of Kelly Racing and driver Rick Kelly, and a primary sponsor of Tickford Racing. Castrol has a long history with the Supercars category, and between 1993 and 2005, Castrol was the title sponsor of V8 Supercars team Perkins Engineering. It also sponsored Longhurst Racing between 1995 and 1999, Ford Performance Racing between 2007 and 2009, and Paul Morris Motorsport in 2010.[6] In conjunction with a multi-year series sponsorship, between 2014 - 2016 several race events acquired Castrol naming rights including the Castrol Edge Townsville 500 and the Castrol Gold Coast 600.[7] Castrol was the title sponsor of Team Bray, owned by Australian drag car legend, Victor Bray for 17 years.

Castrol was the main sponsor of the Castrol International Rally in Canberra for more than 10 years between 1976 and 1986. The same was true for an International Rally held in South Africa, ending annually in neighbouring Swaziland. It was the most prestigious event on the South African rally calendar at the time, until Castrol ended its sponsorship of this event. Later only some competitors' cars were carrying the bright green and red colours of Castrol sponsorship in national rally events, notably the S.A. Toyota dealer team.

In 2019, Castrol extended their sponsorship activities by re-forming a partnership with Jaguar, this time supporting them in Formula E[8] and also NASCAR Cup Series giants Roush Fenway Racing-Ford since 2020 season.

American football

Castrol advertising has been a part of telecasts of the National Football League for years. In 2011, Castrol's Edge brand became the official motor oil sponsor for the league, along with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson endorsing the product; it has since been renewed until the 2017 season.[9] The endorsement deal with Peterson was terminated on 16 September 2014, due to ongoing child abuse allegations.[10]

Cricket

The Castrol Cricket Index for a team is a dynamic indicator of the overall performance of the cricket team. It is calculated by taking into consideration the batting momentum, the bowling efficiency, the performance of the teams in the quick start overs and the extreme performance overs and many other factors. Castrol Cricket also ranks cricketers based on their overall performance.[11] India centric initiatives being undertaken like Castrol World Cup ka Hero was created during the 2011 Cricket World Cup.[12][13]

Rugby Union

In 2011, Castrol signed a four-year sponsorship deal for the Australian national rugby union team and as the naming rights sponsor of The Rugby Championship.[14][15]

Football

From 1995 until 1997, Castrol were also the shirt sponsors of English Football League side Swindon Town.

Advertising

Castrol products are still marketed under the red, white and green colour scheme that dates from the launch of Castrol motor oil in 1909. Advertisements for Castrol oil historically featured the slogan "Castrol – liquid engineering"; this was more recently refreshed and reintroduced as "It's more than just oil. It's liquid engineering."[16][17]

For many years, the opening notes of the second Nachtmusik movement of Mahler's Seventh Symphony were used as the signature theme of Castrol TV commercials.[18]

Wakefield vehicles advertised the company and Castrol on their sides; models of them were made by Dinky Toys, and in later times became sought-after collectors' items.[19] One example from 1934 to 1935, in very good to excellent condition, was estimated to fetch £1,000-£1,500 at auction in 2016.[20]

References
  1. "History of Castrol". BP. BP. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014. Early in the new century, Wakefield took a personal interest in two sporty new motorised contraptions – the automobile and the aeroplane. The company started developing lubricants especially for these new engines, which needed oils that were runny enough to work from cold at start-up and thick enough to keep working at very high temperatures. [...] 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.'
  2. "BP to buy U.K.'s Castrol for $4.7 billion - Mar. 14, 2000". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  3. "The history of Castrol in F1". Castrol.com. 27 January 2005. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  4. "Castrol Raceway official website". CastrolRaceway.com. 27 January 2011. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  5. "Midweek Racing Roundup: Canadian Kennington gets a crack at the Daytona 500; Hamilton will be the judge if Bottas stays (or not) at Mercedes; Liberty Media officially owns F1 so the Americanization will begin - The Star". thestar.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  6. "Murphy's Abu Dhabi Date Clash Quandary". Speedcafe. 21 December 2009. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014.
  7. "V8 Supercars | Sports | Home". bp.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  8. "PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING UNVEILS THE ALL-NEW JAGUAR I-TYPE 4 ** CASTROL, LEGO & SCALEXTRIC JOIN FORCES WITH PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING". Jaguar Racing. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  9. Lefton, Terry (14 April 2014). "Castrol renews deals with NFL, Vikings' Peterson". Sports Business Journal. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  10. Gregory Wallace and Chris Isidore (16 September 2014). "Adrian Peterson loses big Castrol endorsement deal". CNN. Archived from the original on 17 September 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  11. "Don't bring up fatigue issue: Anil Kumble". Midday. 29 May 2009. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011.
  12. "Castrol plans to pump up sales with cricket connect". Business Line. 2 November 2011. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
  13. "Brett Lee announces Ashok Kumar as the first Castrol World cup ka Hero". Punjab Newsline. 14 February 2011. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011.
  14. "Castrol to fuel Australia home tests". Archived from the original on 16 August 2012.
  15. "Proud sponsors of the Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship". Archived from the original on 22 August 2012.
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. "Castrol launches competition to update ad soundtrack". brandrepublic.com. Archived from the original on 10 January 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  19. "Rare Dinky toy collection fetches £150k at Devon auction". BBC News. 15 June 2016. Archived from the original on 15 June 2016.
  20. "A Pre-War Dinky Toys 28m 'Wakefield's Castrol' Delivery Van, type 1, "Meccano Dinky Toys" cast to". The-saleroom.com. 9 March 2016. Archived from the original on 26 May 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
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