Paid article presented by Motul.
The term “race spec” gets thrown around a lot these days–almost to the point where it loses all meaning. When everything from roll cages to fuzzy dice comes in a “full competition grade” configuration, it’s easy to lose track of the real mission.
This is particularly true in the motor oil segment. Due …
Interesting article. Never put much thought into the oil we run in our Champcar other than it being syntehtic and the right xW-x0.
The tech that goes into oil is amazing. I wish they had some insights on cost. While it's cedrtainly worth every penny to see no loss in oil pressure or consumption after 24hs at LeMans, I'd love to know if its 10% more per quart, 50%, or 500%.
pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:The tech that goes into oil is amazing. I wish they had some insights on cost. While it's cedrtainly worth every penny to see no loss in oil pressure or consumption after 24hs at LeMans, I'd love to know if its 10% more per quart, 50%, or 500%.
I mean the article worked. I just ordered a bunch of 5w-30 300V to test out at Daytona in July.
What separates a racing-grade motor oil from the civilian stuff?
We use to joke that it was the fancy bottle and the price. Ya I know this is not true when comparing the stuff that barely meets the federal specs versus some of teh high tech stuff that is out there now.
This also applies to other lubricants. Transmissions and dif oils are also equally important. With out naming names when we got a little sponsorship one year from a major oil manufacturer we started using there race stuff in all our cars and we were shocked at the lower operating temps that we saw in the manual transmissions.
DirtyBird222 said:pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:The tech that goes into oil is amazing. I wish they had some insights on cost. While it's cedrtainly worth every penny to see no loss in oil pressure or consumption after 24hs at LeMans, I'd love to know if its 10% more per quart, 50%, or 500%.
I mean the article worked. I just ordered a bunch of 5w-30 300V to test out at Daytona in July.
I don't know how I missed this when it was first published, but this article is a life saver! 
The redline oil I'm running in my diff and trans costs me 50-euro a liter ($57), and is a huge bill to foot when it comes fluid change time (think $500+ total, after import charges).
I can get Motul Gear 300, Gear 300LS, or Gear Competition all under $30 a pop locally and with no import fees.
GRM saves my wallet again 
Good article, too many are unaware that race oils are for race engines used for racing. Some of the track day crowd with more money than sense are putting race oils in cars with lightly modded or even stock engines that see more street hours than track hours, and are doing oil changes before every event, which compared to running a high-performance street oil with normal-ish service intervals, is probably only succeeding in lightening their wallets and producing more waste materials.
dean1484 said:What separates a racing-grade motor oil from the civilian stuff?
We use to joke that it was the fancy bottle and the price. Ya I know this is not true when comparing the stuff that barely meets the federal specs versus some of teh high tech stuff that is out there now.
This also applies to other lubricants. Transmissions and dif oils are also equally important. With out naming names when we got a little sponsorship one year from a major oil manufacturer we started using there race stuff in all our cars and we were shocked at the lower operating temps that we saw in the manual transmissions.
Isn't the point of sponsorship that you name names?
GameboyRMH said:Good article, too many are unaware that race oils are for race engines used for racing. Some of the track day crowd with more money than sense are putting race oils in cars with lightly modded or even stock engines that see more street hours than track hours, and are doing oil changes before every event, which compared to running a high-performance street oil with normal-ish service intervals, is probably only succeeding in lightening their wallets and producing more waste materials.
We've had really good success with Mobil1 15W-50 racing oil, which the big blue box store will happily exchange for around thirty USD for a gallon.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
We put 10 races on the Honda using O'Reilly's brand oil. It didn't seem to care.
I learned there was a difference when I went from generic street oil to Valvoline racing oil (same viscosity). I got maybe two weekends out of the street oil before the lifters would tap after a track session. The racing grade kept them quiet for several weekends. Bone stock 1987 engine, so what that needs vs a purpose built race engine will of course be different.
Is this in an old issue or current? Not gotten my current issue yet, didnt want to read this all if I was going to have a print version very soon
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