Orange, California: ORC staffers headed to one of the harshest environments on planet earth to test Blue Marble oil. After using Blue Marble 2-stroke oil in our 1996 Polaris Explorer 400 4x4 for a month prior to the trip, we were set to put Blue Marble to the test. The test Polaris odometer read 12,848 miles before we launched into wilds of the Baja Peninsula on the 866-mile off road trip.

But let's give you a little background on the test machine. Purchased new in 1996, this 2-Stroke Polaris Explorer has led the way on many many off-road adventurers including the entire Piaute ATV trail on three different trips over subsequent years. In addition. this quad has been the steel horse for many forays into the Baja desert from the white sands of the Sea of Cortez.

The only mechanical repair work ever done on this quad was replacing the starter. So with that we were off into the wild blue yonder of the barren remote Baja desert.

One month before the trip we drained the oil resevoir and filled it with the sleek wrapped Blue Marble oil. We ran several test trips and really didn't experience a noticable difference in fuel consumption or performance, but we had yet to embark on our near 1000-mile off road trip. The Baja Peninsula provides a variety of terrain ranging from beach to desert, pine-forest covered mountains and fresh water streams. And we were planning on covering it all.

Blue Marble incorporates patented technologies that they say actually change the metal surface allowing for reduced friction and increased performance. According to Blue Marble spokesmen, this oil is likened to having a ceramic coating that never deteriorates. The claim is that Blue Marble Two Cycle Oil is said to provide increased fuel efficiency. The combination of reduced friction and more efficient combustion improve the efficiency of two cycle engines. This efficiency can be used for greater fuel economy or just more power!

The Baja Peninsula is the perfect test environment. Hot weather, dusty trails and long fast sections in deep sand put the toughest of oils to the test. Blue Marble led the way in performance for all the 2-strokes on this trip.

We had burned 4 quarts of Blue Marble in the oil resevoir on our Polaris quad before we really noticed a difference in fuel milage. We felt we were just beginning to see a change in fuel economy and performance. On the first leg of the trip we covered 188 miles in the dirt. Generally speaking we could cover about 120 miles on a full tank of fuel. At the 100-mile mark the support trucks were stopped to fuel the bikes, but we continued on and didn't take fuel until the second stop at 146 miles. And upon filling up we hadn't burned as much fuel as we thought. We had almost a gallon of gasoline left in the tank. Also take into consideration that we were burning Mexican Pemex gasoline which has been noted to always have less performance qualities than American brewed high-octane gas.