Car XxX Blog

The major Oil companies, Castrol, Shell, BP as well as Ferodo often used small booklets to "trumpet" their achievements for the previous year.
I want to share some of the Castrol ones with you.

















Called "Castrol Achievements". I'm unsure when they started or ceased printing them, but I have copies from 1931 to 1967 as well as two commemorative editions... 1988-1949 and "The First 50 Years"...
I've not got them all, but come close to it....
Interesting stuff....
Availability...?
I'm involved with book auctions, on a postal basis and haven't seen copies for come years. I don't actively chase them on Ebay, so it is difficult to comment, including prices.
"Keep a weather eye out" as they say....
Illustrated are covers from 1931,1933 and 1934 copies.
The front-i-piece from the 1933 booklet, two illustration from 1938, the Scottish Six Days Trial and George Eyston after a successful world speed record attempt.
A page from the 1899-1949 and 1955 booklets, and a view of the 1967 and the two special period booklets.
Of course the contents only illustrate those successful riders, drivers, pilots etc who used Castrol products.... if you were contracted to another oil company as for example Stanley Woods ( Mobiloil) then you don't feature......
Left click on the images to enlarge....

1. Snort (London, UK)



“after following a white paint trail around the streets of shoreditch it ends up at this stencil. “

2. Do not cross (Copenhagen, Denmark)



3. Maid (London, UK)



4. What Are You Looking At? (London, UK)



5. The Thief(London, UK)



6. Rude Boy Rat(Brighton, UK)



7. iNeed (London, UK)



8. Dead Pedestrian (somewhere in Europe)



9. Banana Therapy (London, UK)



10. I Am Your Father (Melbourne, Australia)



11. E=mc^2 (London, UK)



12. Cut here! (somewhere in the planet Earth)



13. Taking Shower is for Dirty People (Washington, DC, USA)



14. Girl Jumping (Brooklyn, NYC, USA)



15. Ribcage (Paris, France)



16. Killing People is Rude (Chicago, IL, USA)



17. Strange Zebra (Dublin, Ireland)



18. Leopard Escapes (London, UK)



19. Just Back from McDonalds? (Los Angeles, CA, USA)



20. Just Do It! (Lisbon, Portugal)



21. Girl Slide (London, UK)



22. Take That Society (London, UK)



23. Kid and a Boat (London, UK)



24. Art Removed! (Asheville, N Carolina, USA)



25. Weapon of Mass Humiliation (Wellington, New Zeland)



26. The Truth about Capitalism (San Francisco, CA, USA)

Stunning pictures of a red rising moon have emerged today.

The rare natural phenomena, which is known as ‘Etruscan Vase’, is caused by differences in air temperature near the earth's surface.

Also known as an Omega moon because of its shape, the optical effect is more usually seen in views of the setting sun rather than the rising full moon.

Photographer John Stetson caught the moment on camera at Casco Bay near Cape Elizabeth in Maine, USA, earlier this month.



Mirages such as this are possible when there is a layer of relatively warm air at the ocean surface with colder air above it, with a rapid drop in temperature the higher above surface.

On the day the pictures were taken the water was 39F (4C) while the air well above it was a chilly 18F (-8C).

Light passing through the atmosphere bends away from the warmer air towards the colder, denser air.

The result is that we see two moons - one being a mirror image of the other.



The lower part of the image is formed by rays from the moon which are reflected upwards from the warm layer of air at the surface.

If you are above this layer, you see both images together as rays also pass relatively undeflected over the top of the warm layer.

Optics expert Les Cowley said: ‘The effect is not dissimilar to the mirage seen above a hot road surface.

‘The mirage depends on your height above the sea surface. You must be above the warm air layer but climb too high and the effects diminish.’

The moon appears red in colour because it is low in the sky, and blue light from it is scattered by the atmosphere while more red light passes through.

Let me take you back to 1961….

The following photographs were scanned from a book published for Honda Motor at the time….

Titled, “The Race For Leadership”, the publication details are included in a scan below.

They clearly show the enormous effort the Japanese, in particular Honda Motor, made to be a force in motorcycle racing on the world stage.

The photo of the staff at Honda R and D in 1961 is staggering.

How could the British and European factories could hope to compete with this?

The fact that MV Augusta and some Italian factories did for as long as they did is amazing.

It was a steamroller unleashed.

The photos and items tell the story…

Read on…..

Left click on images to enlarge….

Acknowledgement is made to Mitsutoshi Kondo the editor and The Motor Sports land Ltd, publishers, for use of the items.