Hi Folks, little item from yesterday's NASCAR race at Fontana, CA in
the paper, J. Mayfield won, I don't follow this much as a rule, but it
was reported that he had an overheating oil problem. Something wrong
with his oil cooler and "the oil ran over 330 degrees for much of the
race."
The interesting point is, if this temperature is factual, that he could
win a 500 mile endurance race, without engine failure, with such a temp.
I understand that NASCAR teams use 20w-50 racing oil, pretty much the
same thing we can buy at Wal-Mart for a buck a quart, if not identical.
Unlike the old days, where people ran 50 wt oil in all race engines
including Bonneville, apparently today a lot of Bonneville people use
plain old 10w-30, and maybe 5W-30, which has the same hot viscosity as
10W-30 if the numbers mean what they should.
I imagine maximum oil temperature is rarely or never an issue at
Bonneville, since the runs are not over a few miles even on the long
course, not enough time to put a lot of heat into the oil, right?
The point is, should everybody be using 5W-30 or 10W-30 oil for speed
trials? Gas motors I mean, I realize fuel motors are another matter
entirely, where the fuel contaminates the oil so much. Regards from
ArdunBill in the Great Dismal Swamp, Chesapeake, VA
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