SEARCH FOR SHELL M REPLACEMENT

We at Tal-Ko have become aware over the past few days that Shell have stopped production of their Shell M 2-stroke oil mix which has for many years been our oil of choice for TKM engines.

 Having ascertained the situation we are now investigating what we view as the best alternatives. The Shell product is castor based and we prefer to continue with a castor-based oil.

 Once we have completed testing we will in due course give our recommendations. In the meantime we would advise all racers faced with using an alternative to start out by ensuring that the oil/petrol mix being used is generous with oil to ensure protection of the engine at the high RPM used in kart racing. Our recommendation due to the high ethanol content in today’s pump fuels is 320ml of oil to 5 Litres of standard pump.

 We would add that later this year routine forecourt petrol supplies will be doubling the amount of ethanol contained in the fuel. This is a cleaning product and can have an effect on lubrication so we will also be looking at the issues that may occur in the future.

 Says TKM boss Alan Turney: ”The Shell M product has always been a very effective lubricant so this is sad news for many areas of karting which have relied upon it. We want to be assured of what we feel is a suitable alternative before making any announcement.”