How often do you change the oil on your track car?
Discussion
I've been thinking tonight about engine oil, and how often it really needs to be changed. The last time I changed my engine oil was at the start of Feburary just before I went to Castle Combe. I did about 100 track miles, and trailered the car there and back. Since then I've done say another 200 or so road miles, and another 150 track miles at Cadwell Park on Monday.
I've just been looking now to get some oil ordered to change it before I go to Spa in a few week, but I'm wondering if I should change it. I've always changed it after every other trackday in the past, but why am I spending £50-60 on 5L of oil to only use it for 400 miles? I'm only on a standard engine after all.
The oil in it now is Millers Nanodrive, which on their website you'll see claims of it being one of the best out there, so surely it wouldn't degrade much after 400 miles, even if 200 of them were at full chat.
Interested to hear some science on this, not just opinions!
The car is a Honda Integra Type R by the way.
Cheers
Dan
I've just been looking now to get some oil ordered to change it before I go to Spa in a few week, but I'm wondering if I should change it. I've always changed it after every other trackday in the past, but why am I spending £50-60 on 5L of oil to only use it for 400 miles? I'm only on a standard engine after all.
The oil in it now is Millers Nanodrive, which on their website you'll see claims of it being one of the best out there, so surely it wouldn't degrade much after 400 miles, even if 200 of them were at full chat.
Interested to hear some science on this, not just opinions!
The car is a Honda Integra Type R by the way.
Cheers
Dan
Not so much science, but some very specific experiance 
I have a DC2 track car, it's pretty much only used for track days and euro trips which means alpine driving, nurburgring and autobahns and therefore it's driven hard most of the time its actually used.
I bought it with 59k miles on it, it now has over 135k. No engine issues, all original internals. Was dyno'd at 201bhp (minor breathing mods) after being mapped on 95 octane a couple of years ago (so on around 115-120k) very healthy.
I use mobil 1 fully-synth - either the 10w50 or 10w60 - it burns about 250ml per 1,000 miles of road driving and maybe 500ml per 1,000 on a trackday. Car used to burn a lot of oil when I ran a 40 weight, and the 60 doesn't effect the power (the dyno run was using 60)
I change it when it turns black or every 3-5000 miles. I use the HAMP honda performance oil filters and replace them every other oil change.
it's the gearbox oil you need to keep on top of - 10,000 miles max (I change it every other oil change) as it's a mineral oil (only use the honda MTF3, everything else seems to give a notchy change) so it breaks down when it's hot all the time.
Although my engine is still perfect, the syncros on the gearbox died (starting with 4th, then 3rd) so it's on a reconditioned box at 79k. since the reconditioned box went in, it seems to be surviving, but the syncros are a weak point on the DC2.
oh, and make sure you have the sump baffled if you track it regularly and use even moderately sticky tyres. you'll know there is a problem if your going around a corner and the car 'drop out' of vtec due to insufficient oil pressure if you dont have a baffled sump. I experienced it a couple of times before having baffles installed - on right-hand bends.
I have a DC2 track car, it's pretty much only used for track days and euro trips which means alpine driving, nurburgring and autobahns and therefore it's driven hard most of the time its actually used.
I bought it with 59k miles on it, it now has over 135k. No engine issues, all original internals. Was dyno'd at 201bhp (minor breathing mods) after being mapped on 95 octane a couple of years ago (so on around 115-120k) very healthy.
I use mobil 1 fully-synth - either the 10w50 or 10w60 - it burns about 250ml per 1,000 miles of road driving and maybe 500ml per 1,000 on a trackday. Car used to burn a lot of oil when I ran a 40 weight, and the 60 doesn't effect the power (the dyno run was using 60)
I change it when it turns black or every 3-5000 miles. I use the HAMP honda performance oil filters and replace them every other oil change.
it's the gearbox oil you need to keep on top of - 10,000 miles max (I change it every other oil change) as it's a mineral oil (only use the honda MTF3, everything else seems to give a notchy change) so it breaks down when it's hot all the time.
Although my engine is still perfect, the syncros on the gearbox died (starting with 4th, then 3rd) so it's on a reconditioned box at 79k. since the reconditioned box went in, it seems to be surviving, but the syncros are a weak point on the DC2.
oh, and make sure you have the sump baffled if you track it regularly and use even moderately sticky tyres. you'll know there is a problem if your going around a corner and the car 'drop out' of vtec due to insufficient oil pressure if you dont have a baffled sump. I experienced it a couple of times before having baffles installed - on right-hand bends.
DanielJames said:
I've been thinking tonight about engine oil........
Mine is a near-standard UKDM DC2. Like you I used to change the oil every two track days but not any more. The engine uses around 1.5- 2L of oil per track day (150-200 miles) so I figured there's always a litre or two of 'fresh' oil in the engine.The car does around 5k road miles p.a. but oil usage is minimal. It now has 115k miles, done a dozen track days under my ownership and the engine still pulls as strongly as the day I bought the car (dyno'd 191bhp at Surrey Rolling Road).
Obviously nothing scientific, just my own experience! Great car these DC2s!
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