Castrol
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Website | castrol.com |
Castrol Limited is a British
Since 2000, Castrol Limited has been a subsidiary of BP, which acquired the company for $4.73 billion.[2]
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/Charles_cheers_wakefield.jpg/150px-Charles_cheers_wakefield.jpg)
The "Wakefield Oil Company" was founded by Charles Wakefield in Cheapside, London in 1899. Wakefield had previously left a job at Vacuum Oil to start a new business selling lubricants for trains and heavy machinery. Eight Vacuum Oil employees joined Wakefield, and the company launched its first lubricant in 1906.
In early 20th century, Wakefield Co. developed lubricants especially suited for automobiles and aeroplanes.[3] The brand "Castrol" originated after researchers added measured amounts of castor oil (a vegetable oil derived from castor beans) to their lubricant formulations.[1] By 1960, the name of the motor oil had eclipsed the company's name itself so "CC Wakefield & Company" became "Castrol Limited".[4] In 1966, Castrol was acquired by company Burmah Oil, which was renamed "Burmah-Castrol". Burmah-Castrol was purchased by London-based multinational BP (then, "BP Amoco plc") in 2000.[5]
At the time of purchase, Burmah-Castrol had a turnover of nearly £3 billion with operating profits of £284 million. The company also had 18,000 employees worldwide, with operations in 55 countries. Respectively, BP Amoco had 80,400 employees worldwide and revenues of more than £63 billion.[6]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Castrol_logo_%282001-2023%29.svg/200px-Castrol_logo_%282001-2023%29.svg.png)
While Burmah's operations folded into the group, Castrol has remained as a subsidiary of BP.
Products
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Some
Sponsorship
Motorsport
The brand has been involved in
Castrol has sponsored the
Toyota Motorsport had Castrol sponsorship in the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 1999, and Hyundai Motorsport did so from 2000 to 2002. Also, the Honda factory team at the World Touring Car Championship had Castrol sponsorship from 2012 to 2020.[10]
In the All-Japan Grand Touring Championship, the 1997 championship-winning TOM'S Toyota Supra[11] (famous from the Gran Turismo series by Polyphony Digital) and later the Mugen Honda NSX had Castrol sponsorships.
In North America, Castrol has been an active sponsor of
Castrol is the name sponsor of
In Australia, Castrol has a long history with the
Castrol was the main sponsor of the
In 2019, Castrol extended their sponsorship activities by re-forming a partnership with
Castrol also briefly made an appearance in 1993 with Nissan in the British Touring Car Championship,[17][18] where Keith O'Dor managed to win the 9th round of the season at Silverstone with his teammate Win Percy taking 2nd.[19]
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, renewed until the 2017 season.[20]
Cricket
The Castrol Cricket Index is a dynamic indicator of the overall performance of a 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.[21] India centric initiatives being undertaken like Castrol World Cup ka Hero was created during the 2011 Cricket World Cup.[22][23]
Rugby Union
In 2011, Castrol signed a four-year sponsorship deal for the
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."[26][27]
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.[28]
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.[29] One example from 1934 to 1935, in very good to excellent condition, was estimated to fetch £1,000-£1,500 at auction in 2016.[30]
References
- ^ a b c
"History of Castrol". 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.'
- ^ Bahree, Bhushan (14 March 2000). "BP Amoco Agrees to Acquire Burmah Castrol for $4.73 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
- ^ THE HISTORY OF CASTROL on Classic Oils website
- ^ History on Castrol NZ
- ^ "BP to buy U.K.'s Castrol for $4.7 billion". money.cnn.com. 14 March 2000. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ BP buys Burmah Castrol on BBC News, 14 March 2000
- ISBN 0-19-860782-2.
- ^ "The history of Castrol in F1". Castrol.com. 27 January 2005. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
- ^ "CASTROL EDGE HELPS AUDI GO THE DISTANCE AT LE MANS 2012". 7 June 2017.
- ^ "Racing cars – HONDA CIVIC WTCC". JAS Motorsport. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- ^ "The Legend Of The Castrol TOM's Supra | dailysportscar.com". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- ^ "Castrol Raceway official website". CastrolRaceway.com. 27 January 2011. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- ^ "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. 18 January 2017. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
- ^ "Murphy's Abu Dhabi Date Clash Quandary". Speedcafe. 21 December 2009. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014.
- ^ "V8 Supercars | Sports | Home". bp.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "1993 Cars". touringcarracing.net. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- ^ "1993 British Touring Car Championship". Super Touring Register. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- ^ "1993 BTCC – round 9". touringcarracing.net. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Don't bring up fatigue issue: Anil Kumble". Mid-Day. 29 May 2009. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011.
- ^ "Castrol plans to pump up sales with cricket connect". Business Line. 2 November 2011. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Castrol to fuel Australia home tests". Archived from the original on 16 August 2012.
- ^ "Proud sponsors of the Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship". Archived from the original on 22 August 2012.
- ^ "Val Lube Car Care Center - Services". Archived from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Castrol launches competition to update ad soundtrack". brandrepublic.com. Archived from the original on 10 January 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
- ^ "Rare Dinky toy collection fetches £150k at Devon auction". BBC News. 15 June 2016. Archived from the original on 15 June 2016.
- ^ "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.
External links
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