Castrol R
As we set off for the French Grand Prix at Clermont Ferrand in the July of 1972 one of our first lifts was in a Morris Oxford – my diary from the time records that it was from “a gentleman who was passionately reminiscing about the 1938 Donington Grand Prix, the Auto Unions and the Mercedes which smelled of boot polish and made your eyes water”. This olfactory signature came from the exotic fuel concoctions used to propel these fire-breathing pre-war monsters. For me, as with most racing fans of a certain age, the smell that brings it all back home is inevitably Castrol R. The name Castrol is derived from castor oil, one of the key additives to be found in Charles Wakefield’s original creation; indeed, it is the burning of castor oil that gives it and the race circuits of my memory their glorious and distinctive odour. Castor oil has long been associated with performance machines and was a primary additive for aero-engines during the Great War; the silk scarves worn by pilots were not an affectation but were used to wipe excess engine oil from their goggles and also to prevent chafing of the neck caused by constantly looking over the shoulder for ‘enemy aircraft at one o’clock’. Castor oil is also a very effective laxative which had dire consequences for the bowel movements of early fighter pilots. I like to think that the smell of burning castor oil would have been as nostalgically familiar to my aero-engineer grandfather as it became to me. Does this scene, with my grandfather stood third from the left in the foreground, have the unmistakable whiff of burnt castor oil?
The above text is an extract from Golf in the Wild, due for publication in April 2014. The aeroplane is an AVRO 504K which entered service in 1913 and was outclassed as a fighter soon after WWI started. Relegated to training duties, at which it excelled, it was in use until the 1930s. Before it ended its service career, the rotary engine was replaced with a radial, and it was re-designated the AVRO 504N.
