Castrol began in 1899 with Charles "Cheers" Wakefield, under the name 'CC Wakefield & Company'. Then aged 39, Charles left Vacuum Oil to start a new company on Cheapside in London selling lubricants for trains and heavy machinery. Describing his vision clearly and with enthusiasm, he persuaded eight former colleagues to follow him into his new venture. At the turn of the new century, Wakefield's personal interest was caught by two new motorised inventions: the car and the aeroplane. The company began developing lubricants specifically for these new engines, which needed an oil thin enough to let a cold engine start and at the same time thick enough to keep working at very high temperatures. Wakefield's research team discovered that adding a measure of castor oil, a vegetable oil obtained from the seed of the castor plant, gave the desired result. They named the new product Castrol. Every Castrol product has international approval of its chemical composition and meets local requirements in all the markets where it is sold. - Lubricants for the automotive industry: for private and professional use, lubricants, specialist products (transmission lubricants, greases and other products for specific applications) and services for cars, motorcycles, scooters, commercial vehicles, heavy trucks, and agricultural and mining machinery. - Lubricants for aviation, shipping, power generation and other industries: for industrial use, solutions for manufacturing, mining, marine, petrochemical, aerospace and other industries. Thanks to its international presence, Castrol delivers reliability, high productivity, environmental awareness and specialist support, with the single aim of optimising its customers' production processes all over the world.