Thought for fuel

What is the octane value of a fuel? What is the octane value of general unleaded petrol? Is there any difference in the octane value of regular unleaded petrol and Indian Oil Extra Premium or HP Speed?

Arindam Bharadwaj, via e-mail

AAA To meet the current emissions standards, all fuel currently available in India ranges between 87 and 91 octane. The reason you pay extra for premium fuels is that they have additives which claim to increase performance and keep the engine running better, but there is no increase in the actual octane values – barring BP’s Speed 97, which as the name suggests, is 97 Octane. But Speed 97 is only recommended for high-power supercars and superbikes, as most regular cars and motorcycles will run fine on regular petrol.