So, I was doing a bit of research and I'd like to start a different conversation around suggested oils for track use and daily driving in between track events.
I figure we can have a more productive oil conversation over here in the Track section with our extreme use cases, vs the all over the place oil conversation in the Maintenance section of the forum. For instance, LL-01 isn't needed for those of us changing our oil more regularly than BMW's recommendation.
Goal 1 for a track oil is high HTHS, preferably above 4.0. This throws out a lot of 0W/5W-40 oils, except for Redline & Motul, and this narrowed my list to the oils below. If you find some others, let us know.
https://www.redlineoil.com/0w40-motor-oil
https://www.redlineoil.com/5w40-motor-oil
https://www.redlineoil.com/10w40-motor-oil
https://www.redlineoil.com/euro-series-5w40-motor-oil
https://d23zpyj32c5wn3.cloudfront.ne...pdf?1492016006
https://d23zpyj32c5wn3.cloudfront.ne...pdf?1492016005
Goal 2 for me is low viscosity at lower temps for the tight tolerances in our engines.
What's interesting in looking at the oils above is the standard Redline 5W-40 is extremely thick at 40C compared to the typical 0W oils we use and even the 300V 5W/10W-40 oils. Heck, the Redline 5W-40 is very similar in specs to their 10W-40!
This seems too thick for my liking, and rules out standard Redline 5W-40 & 10W-40, IMO. Between the Redline 0W-40 and Redline Euro 5W-40, the Euro 5W-40 is the obvious winner b/c of higher HTHS, close to Redline 0W-40 40C viscosity, and lower NOACK.
So, how does the Redline Euro 5W-40 compare to 5W-40 & 10W-40 300V? The 5W-40 300V has the highest HTHS and lowest 40C viscosity of the three oils. In fact, it's 40C viscosity is similar to many of the 0W oils we all consider. So, on the spec sheet it really does seem like the perfect track day/daily driving in between oil for us and should be fine to use year round. Altho, there are some other considerations....
First, 300V's suggested mileage life is 3-5K miles--very short, which makes it an expensive oil for continuous use. And, some folks are concerned that the full ester oils attract too much moisture and don't have enough detergents for cars that see daily driving between events, not to mention 300V's NOACK is a bit higher than the Redline Euro 5W-40.
Lastly, when I first started tuning with ethanol, I was burning thru OEM 0W oil as quick as I was with 5W-40 300V (which is practically a 0W-40 oil based on the viscosity numbers). I ran 10W-40 300V last summer (which is actually thinner than Redline's 5W-40 at 40C) and never had to add oil. So, I think my oil burn issue was/is the ethanol simply diluting the 0W OEM and similarly thin 300V 5W-40 oils a bit too much causing the additional burn.
The Redline Euro 5W-40 is a tiny bit thicker than the 300V 10W-40, but has a higher HTHS, lower NOACK, more detergents, and longer life. All that sounds good, but it is LL-04 rated, so I need to do a bit more research.
Lesson learned: Weights don't mean anything. Do your own oil spec sheet homework to find what best fits your use scenario!