Oil Weight Poll For Track Usage
 

Not trying to start a heated discussion on brands etc.. but curious to see what weight folks are running who frequent the track for HPDE, Drift, Racing etc...:burnrubber:

I voted for 0w20 but I actually use Redline 0w20 with 1-2 quarts of 5w30. I have the Robispec oil cooler so oil temps getting too high are not a concern for me.

Is there a reason one would choose 5w30 over 0w30?

I have read that 5w-30 is more stable than 0w-30 so some prefer it in extreme environments.

I mix 50/50 0w20 and 0w30 for track day
My 0w30 is a liqui moly lubricant from Germany, my 0w20 is Mazda factory moly enriched idemitsu

Only been on track once since getting the car, but I've run Redline 5W-30 in my FR-S the last 2 oil changes. Might look for something cheaper next oil change, but it will be 5W-30 weight....because summer time in Houston, Texas is considered an extreme environment.

interesting results thus far, I hope all the resident track rats and auto-x junkies have responded.

I use 0w40 redline on track!!

In our case, it's because 5W30 is what we have, not 0W30, in Motul 300V.

If you're using a non-synthetic, then yes, there is a reason. The base stock for the 5W30 tends to be more robust than the 0W30 base stock. With a full synthetic, it's not an issue; if we had 0W30 300V, we'd be using that instead.

I ran GC 0w30 in June at Sebring and saw oil temps in the 290s and touched 300*, then in August at Sebring ran Toyota 0w20 and saw oil temps in the 270s and 280s, so I'll probably continue to run the 0w20 to keep oil temps lower.

bump

True, but it depends which 5W-30 and which 0W-30 you're talking about.

A Resource Conserving oil like most off the shelf oils have a low HTHS and may shear to a 20 grade anyway so a 5W-20 may be more stable than either one. OTOH, an oil that meets ACEA A3 specs like German Castrol 0W-30 (or the Liqui Moly mentioned above) has an HTHS of 3.5 or higher will usually stay in grade in harsh conditions. GC is nearly a 40 grade oil if you look at the kinematic viscosity and the HTHS viscosity (too thick on stock internals, IMO).

I would go with a robust 20 grade like Motul 300V 0W-20 or Red Line 0W-20 at the track. Here's a used oil analysis on Red Line after some track time in a supercharged FRS:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45452
TBN shows this oil could easily go for 5k miles in these conditions.

Red Line 5W-20 would probably be even more stable since, as I recall, it does not use any viscosity modifiers. I'd take Red Line xW-20 or Motul 300V 0W-20 at the track over any Resource Conserving xW-30 regardless of brand. Amsoil Dominator 5W-20 is also good race oil, although you couldn't run it as long as Red Line or 300V since it has a lower level of detergents/dispersants. Any of these oils could easily handle 3,750 miles intervals though (including track time).

-Dennis

Dennis,

Do you if there is any significant difference in the formulation of Redline 0w20 and 5w20? Isn't 0w20 their new offering? For whatever reasons, I see 0w20 recommended a lot more than 5w20 on sites like BITOG.

I use the Joe Gibbs DRIVEN FR20 oil for daily driving / weekly autocross use. Michigan Environment.

The DRIVEN FR20 oil from Joe Gibbs Racing is formulated with a higher zinc content to produce that extra bit of horsepower, while still maintaining everything else that you need for a daily driven/street car.