PumpTalk - Petro-Canada

Performance Driver Training Tips Applied to Everyday Driving

Back in June, we provided you with some great videos on driving from our resident expert, Brett Goodman, on our high octane fuel Ultra 94 Facebook page. Brett is the owner and race director of performance driving school Bridgestone Racing Academy and is an expert in performance driving and safety - on and off the track. He has been racing and offering performance driver training for over 25 years. We've just finished the remainder of the driving videos and wanted to share them with our PumpTalk readers too. These advanced driver training tips can definitely be applied to every day driving - including winter driving!

There are eight performance driving videos in the “Safer Driving Through Performance Thinking Series”.  They include a variety of topics like traction control, skidding, cornering, following distance and more.

Choose the driving video you want to see first:

• Episode 1: How to Set Your Following Distance
• Episode 2: Anticipating Your Next Move, Gretzky-style
• Episode 3: Being the Traction Manager for Your Family
• Episode 4: How to Avoid Skids
• Episode 5: Driving Position
• Episode 6: "9 & 3" Thinking
• Episode 7: A Racer's Driving Computer - And Yours
• Episode 8: Safe and Effective Cornering 

Or watch all of the driving videos in the “Safer Driving Through Performance Thinking Series” series below:

You can also visit our Ultra 94 Facebook fan page for more performance driving tips.

So what do you think? Were these videos helpful? Feel free to leave your comments below.

Julie S.

Diesel - Not What It Used To Be

There was a time when diesel was a bad word. It conjured up images of black, dirty smoke and a heavier, oilier smell when you filled up. I recently saw this ad on TV and it got me thinking about how diesel has changed in the last 30 plus years.

 

Source: YouTube.com - BMWUSA

Octane Boosters and High Octane Gasoline

I am not a casual driver. I take driving very seriously, engage in it daily, and am interested in enhancing my performance in reasonable ways. This has included things like completing Advanced Driving Training with BMW, taking part in comparison drives and learning from the experts. One thing I've often wondered about is octane boosters. Since I work for Suncor, I decided to seek out our Petro-Canada fuel experts and put the question to them! Here’s the great info they shared with me.

Safer Driving through Performance Thinking

I like hearing from the experts - whether it's about gardening, home repair or driving. Our Ultra 94 team (Ultra 94 is our premium gasoline brand) recently spent some time with Brett Goodman, the owner and race director of Bridgestone Racing Academy.

Brett is definitely a driving expert. In fact, he and Bridgestone Racing Academy recently celebrated 26 years injury-free with modern Van Diemen race cars on an in-house designed track. Pretty amazing! He and the Ultra 94 team created a series of videos about performance driving that I thought some of our PumpTalk readers might be interested in. Check out the first four videos:  

- Episode 1: How to Set Your Following Distance
- Episode 2: Anticipating Your Next Move, Gretzy-style
- Episode 3: Being the Traction Manager for Your Family
- Episode 4: How to Avoid Skids

We've also embedded the videos below:

   

You can also visit our Ultra 94 Facebook Fan Page

Look for Episodes 5-8 coming soon!

- Erin F.

Time To Slow Down.

When I was dropping my daughter off at school this morning, the local police had pulled someone over in a speed trap they had set up right in front of the school.  My reaction, to be honest, was “FINALLY!”

Oil Spill impact on Gas Prices?

I’ve been watching, with great sadness, the tragic oil spill in the Gulf. With the situation continuing I wondered how, if at all, this would affect gas prices. Though this video is pretty relative to the US, it gives a pretty good overview of the situation and trading routes that affect supply.

Start the Countdown. Pass it on.

One year from today, the Olympic Winter Games will begin in Vancouver.   As a major supporter of Canada's athletes since 1988, we're all pretty excited.  So excited, we created this short video to suggest a few ways we could give Canadian athletes the winning edge in 2010.

If you like it - pass it on.      

BC carbon tax: I’ve heard about it…but what is it?

A carbon tax will take effect in BC as of July 1, 2008.

After talking to some people in Vancouver (watch the carbon tax video I posted last week), I learned that some people know all about the carbon tax; others are a little less informed.

If you fall into the latter category, check out this second video (below or via YouTube) on how much the tax will cost you and what the government has planned to mitigate the impact on consumers.

NOTE: in the video, you will hear about specific tax rates for gasoline and diesel. Since filming, these rates have been reduced. Here are the new rates.

Will a carbon tax affect driving habits in BC?

In the news, it seems that one of the hot topics right now is whether or not Canada should consider a nationwide carbon tax.

In BC, the provincial government is past consideration and has moved to implementation. That said, the provincial carbon tax is still a hot topic.

Wanting to join the discussion, I went to Vancouver and asked people for their thoughts on the tax – specifically, whether it would have the intended effect of encouraging fuel efficient driving. (If you’re reading this, you probably know that we’re trying to do the same thing with this blog.)

I brought along a camera and you can view some of the discussions here or on YouTube. Thanks to everyone who participated, and to Kevin from our Calgary office who did the filming. As a quick disclaimer, I apologize to all the BC folks from outside of Vancouver – it would also have been interesting to visit your community and hear what you have to say. So if you have any thoughts on this issue, please share them.

Looking ahead, we’ve got another short video coming in the next week or so. It will focus on the “what”, “when” and “how much” of the tax so that you’re a little more informed by the time the BC carbon tax is implemented on July 1, 2008.

Carpooling with Benny and Julia

Benny and Julia are two Petro-Canada employees who carpool to and from work in the Greater Toronto Area each day. They drive different routes with different people, but their experiences are surprisingly similar. So, we gave them a handheld camera to share their stories with the rest of us.

If you're interested in learning more about sharing a ride to save gas and maybe have some fun doing it, carpool.ca has a lot of great resources and information. Or, if you have your own carpooling story, share it below.