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      05-16-2009, 11:03 AM   #1
ScheerSpeed
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Oil changeS and track usage

So I plan on taking my car to the track a few times a year. I have already taken it once since the 1200 mile service. My question is, how often would it be a good idea to change the oil if the car is used on track a few times... I'm sure track time means more wear and tear on the engine, so this would probably affect the oil life as well. I was thinkin I would change it every 7500 miles. Is that too long?
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      05-16-2009, 12:16 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScheerSpeed View Post
So I plan on taking my car to the track a few times a year. I have already taken it once since the 1200 mile service. My question is, how often would it be a good idea to change the oil if the car is used on track a few times... I'm sure track time means more wear and tear on the engine, so this would probably affect the oil life as well. I was thinkin I would change it every 7500 miles. Is that too long?
I did five track days last year and one so far this year and just changed the oil that was in the engine for all of them with 6800 miles on it. I got my oil analysis back and it was suitable for continued use, so a further 800 miles to get to 7500 miles should be fine.
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      05-16-2009, 12:23 PM   #3
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My engine builder insists that I change the oil after every race weekend. With a test day a typical weekend is 2-4 hours of track time. He can tell the difference in engine wear from his customers who follow this advise and those who don't. This is with a non-BMW not high-tech motor.

I suppose a street engine is different, but fresh oil/filter gets rid of contaminants created by high temps. Oil is not expensive; premature engine wear is.
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      05-16-2009, 12:54 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ff1600 View Post
My engine builder insists that I change the oil after every race weekend. With a test day a typical weekend is 2-4 hours of track time. He can tell the difference in engine wear from his customers who follow this advise and those who don't. This is with a non-BMW not high-tech motor.

I suppose a street engine is different, but fresh oil/filter gets rid of contaminants created by high temps. Oil is not expensive; premature engine wear is.
Interesting - does your username imply that you're talking about a Formula Ford engine?

The M3 is built for fast running on country roads in Germany - the factory tested the car for 100's of thousands of miles at the 'ring and the local German customers have the right to run at the rev limiter for extended periods on public highways.

A few hours on the track in an M3, where you're not actually racing, isn't that hard on the car, at least not the engine. You can make it hard on the car, but that's abuse and that's not what I'm talking about here. This is recreation, after all.

Personally, I short-shift at around 7500 RPM most of the time because it's "fast enough" and the fluid temps stabilize and stay consistent hour after hour.
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      05-16-2009, 01:49 PM   #5
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Yes, Swift DB1.
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      05-16-2009, 02:47 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ff1600 View Post
Yes, Swift DB1.
Fascinating - I got involved with racing for a while just out of high school - a buddy of mine had a race prepared Ford Cortina 1600. I could take one of those little pushrod motors apart in about an hour in the dark, I did it so many times (including in the dark). They were great engines. I wonder how many people know about "dory" parts... do they still use this numbering scheme?
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      05-17-2009, 07:26 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JAJ View Post
Fascinating - I got involved with racing for a while just out of high school - a buddy of mine had a race prepared Ford Cortina 1600. I could take one of those little pushrod motors apart in about an hour in the dark, I did it so many times (including in the dark). They were great engines. I wonder how many people know about "dory" parts... do they still use this numbering scheme?
Aw the gold old Kent motor!Yes they were easy to pull down and I got to know them real well when I had a summer job in college being the teardown guy at a local race engine shop.Also had a few Cortina's including a studded ice racer with a big-valve twin cam in it.
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      05-17-2009, 07:29 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ff1600 View Post
My engine builder insists that I change the oil after every race weekend. With a test day a typical weekend is 2-4 hours of track time. He can tell the difference in engine wear from his customers who follow this advise and those who don't. This is with a non-BMW not high-tech motor.

I suppose a street engine is different, but fresh oil/filter gets rid of contaminants created by high temps. Oil is not expensive; premature engine wear is.
We used to do the same before the days of modern synthetics.With my M I am just doing a mid-interval oil change and I am sure that will be more than sufficent for the health of the engine.
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      05-25-2009, 08:51 PM   #9
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i used to race karts and formula renault 2 liter
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      05-25-2009, 10:36 PM   #10
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I remember reading about an M3 overheating on a track during a magazine test (can't remember which), which is not good for the oil or engine, so it depends on what conditions you track the car IMO (I'd track it in mild weather to minimize wear and tear). In hot weather, I would probably do it every 5K, get the oil analyzed, and go from there. As mentioned, oil is cheap compared to an engine. No sense in overdoing it either, but I wouldn't stretch it over 5K without lab results to back it up. Keep us posted on your results.
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