Shell Advance ready for Ducati's 2004 challenge.

Ducati's attack on this season's MotoGP World Championship will again be bolstered by engine lubricants developed in conjunction with technical partner Shell Advance.

The partnership, which enjoyed nine podium finishes, including one victory, en route to second place in the constructors' championship, has spent the winter months fine-tuning the oil at Shell's motorcycle lubricant laboratory in Hamburg, and in rigorous track testing in Jerez and Valencia last November and December.

As technical partner to Ducati Corse, Shell Advance's engine oils protect the engine every second the engine is running, and even when it is not. The oil used by the Ducati MotoGP bike is designed along the same lines as all Shell Advance products for the road or the track, sharing at least 75 per cent of their composition directly.
The remaining 25 per cent is made up of a combination of additives and detergents which can be blended in any combination to give an engine exactly the protection and performance characteristics it requires, and keep it cleaner too.

The MotoGP bike requires several minutes to get up to working temperature, during which time its Shell Advance 20w 60 is protecting the vital engine components from excessive wear and holding harmful carbon deposits in suspension, away from the crankcase walls and surfaces of the moving parts of the engine.

Once up to working temperature, the engine is ready to propel the bike up to speeds of 207.75mph (332.4kph) with little fear of mechanical failure. At these track speeds the temperature of the engine is close to melting point, and is approaching an engine speed of over 16,500rpm. The bike's Shell Advance engine oil is under intense pressure at this point to keep the engine running smoothly whilst keeping it cleaner, ensuring that the Ducati riders get the most out of the bikes for longer.