Tactless - the lubricant war oils up

Although the cynics say that all petrols are the same the perpetrators of the different brand names still insist on separate identities and the publicity boys go flat-out to think up new methods of publicising those names and ensuring that the brand they happen to be associated with remains ahead of others in the sales race. The Government alone is impartial, taxing all brands with an equal and heavy hand. Much the same applies to lubricating oils, except that there is no gallonage tax as such. So there was cause for amusement when we received a Duckhams Press hand-out headed: Duckhams user wins Castrol Championship. Tom Airey who has won the Castrol Rallypoint Championship in a glassfibre and aluminium 7 cwt. Mini, with its engine bored-out to nearly 1,500 c.c., prepared by himself in his spare time (although, we note, he is a garage proprietor) prefers to have Duckhams Formula Q in its sump.

On this occasion this seems to have been a little tactless, although it might be taken as an occasion when two excellent oils came in close contact, publicity-wise. We await with interest the equivalent Castrol hand-out, to see if they will be big enough and sufficiently gracious to tell us that their Rallypoint Championship was won on Duckhams. Another incidentally significant piece in this Duckhams hand-out is the news that in spite of lightening his Mini as much as possible by using light body materials, Airey uses steel wings “to resist the attacks of frustrated Escort drivers”. Which is a reflection on the conduct of the lesser forms of saloon-car racing.