Cars, motorbikes, even trucks are all used in motor racing competition. We love watching drivers and riders compete against each other at speeds and in conditions we ordinary drivers will never experience. These events put engines, transmission, and gearboxes to the extreme test. Racing vehicles are high performance machines and they require special treatment to perform at their best.
Motor racing comes in different forms, from drag racing to drift racing to endurance rallies. Each type of event places different stresses on a car or bike, and hence each type of racing requires different things from the vehicle.
Lubricant oils for motor racing vehicles must be very high grade to support a high performance engine. Likewise gear performance is a key aspect of motor racing, and lubrication of gear systems is as important as engine lubrication. Ester-based oils are often used because of their special qualities under pressure and at high temperatures. Wear resistance and oxidation resistance are key markers of a racing oil. Shear stability – more predictable viscosity – is another important characteristic of these super oils.
Yet it doesn’t start and finish with viscosity. There’s more to an oil than that. The website www.drivenracingoil.com says, “Because of advanced chemistry, a modern engine oil can provide superior protection even at lighter weight viscosities, and that lower viscosity helps free up horsepower because the oil pump doesn’t have to work as hard to move the oil throughout the engine.” This is an excellent article, written in 2013, and for motor racing enthusiasts I highly recommend it. Click here to read it.
Here in Japan motor racing is popular, but not seen much on television. Its popularity within the automotive industry people is hardly surprising given the high quality of Japanese cars, motorbikes, and trucks and the pride taken in superior engineering skills. Our company D1 Chemical Co. Ltd, manufacturer of SOD-1 Plus, regularly sponsors drivers in drift racing and endurance motorbike racing. Last year we tested SOD-1 Plus in a drift racing car with remarkable results in wear reduction.
The car was an ER34 Nissan Skyline with an 850 hp reconditioned GTR engine. The car was driven by Tsutomu Fujio, one of Japan’s leading drift racers who drove for the Line Up Racing Team until 2016. For the test the Skyline raced for two hours both without SOD-1 Plus added to its 85W-250 transmission oil and to its differential oil and then for two hours with SOD-1 Plus added at a 15% ratio by volume. Using the Japan Analyst laboratory we had the mineral content of the oil examined to test the difference in engine wear.
The car was an ER34 Nissan Skyline with an 850 hp reconditioned GTR engine. The car was driven by Tsutomu Fujio, one of Japan’s leading drift racers who drove for the Line Up Racing Team until 2016. The test was done under the following conditions:
- the Skyline raced for two hours with only 85W-250 oil in both its transmission and differential. A sample of the oil was taken post-race.
- the oil was changed in both the transmission and differential and SOD-1 Plus added at a 15% ratio by volume. The vehicle raced for a second two-hour period, and a sample of the oil was taken afterwards.
Using the Japan Analyst laboratory we had the mineral content of both the oil samples examined to test the difference in engine wear.
In the table below you can see the stark difference in the presence of iron in the transmission oil: 24.9ppm without the SOD-1 Plus, and only 1.2ppm with the SOD-1 Plus. And in the differential oil it was: 35.5ppm without the SOD-1 Plus, compared to only 4.7ppm with the SOD-1 Plus.
Transmission oil – without SOD-1 Plus
Transmission oil – with SOD-1 Plus
Differential oil – without SOD-1 Plus
Differential oil – with SOD-1 Plus
This is what a pure ester-based additive gives a car: adsorption, meaning the additive sticks to the metal surfaces much more than the normal lubricant oil and greatly reduces wear and abrasion. That’s why the iron levels are so low. Abrasion produces iron. Add SOD-1 Plus to the oil and you get way less of it. The oil lasts longer and the car performs better.
Driver Fujio had this to say after using SOD-1 Plus:
“There was a big improvement in the sequential transmission shift changes. The noise of the shifting up and down decreased. You can safely accelerate under high temperature, high engine load, and high revs. And you can smoothly increase speed while shifting up and down up to 200 km/h.”