Ah, the thrill of the race. There's almost nothing as terrifying, yet at the same time soexhilarating, as speeding towards a tight corner at a couple of hundred kilometres an hour, only to break hard and turn hard, lining up the next straight in order to put the pedal to the metal once again. For this sport, high performance fuel is literally its lifeblood, and today we spoke to one of itslife-givers, Shell technology manager Cara Tredget.

You know when Ferrari has arrived for the big race. Suddenly, there are huge, red trucks everywhere. They park and unfold all sorts of marvellous toys. Workshops, tools, clever men and women, and of course those beautiful crimson F1 cars. But there's another truck in the Ferrari F1 team, and on the side there's a shell next to the famous prancing stallion. It's a fully-equipped fuel laboratory, unique in the competition, dedicated to analysing the petrol and lubricants that go into the race cars. Let's take a look inside...

Brunico, Italy - A snowy K-Mart parking lot would have worked fine. But this being Ferrari, and the star its tradition-shredding FF - a $300,000 all-wheel-drive station wagon -- a little high-altitude showboating seemed in order. So with a boost from the Italian army's Chinook helicopters, Ferrari flew a pair of FF's to the windswept peak of Plan de Corones, a popular ski resort in its wondrous Dolomites, and told us to have at it. Ridiculous? Why, yes. But no more so than a 208-mph, 651-horsepower Italian pony that can carry four tall adults and cargo while galloping safely over snow, ice, dirt or puddles on the Pomona freeway.