Which Oil for tracking?

[bigjae46]

For track use I would never suggest 0w-40, way too thin for the S54 that will live at 5000 - 7800 RPM on the track. Maybe if you lived in San Diego . . . and didn't drive it hard (but then what's the point of owning an M3?)

Way too thin? Oil pressures were normal even when the oil was at 300 degrees. Hit 78psi at about 6k rpm which is about the same as BMW 10w-60. Part of the heat issue was the track. It was the Milwaukee Mile. Its a tight 1 mile oval with an infield so you're in 2nd gear which is what causes temps to really shoot up.

I'd run it again except it didn't help with the peak oil temps. Figured I needed more cooling.

[elbert]

Well . . . if that is the case, what would 0w-40 shear down to?

It depends on the specific oil and how much thickeners it uses. Some don't drop much at all, some will take a while, some quicker than that.
On the flip side, there might be some 10W60 oils that end up being too thick.

Generally speaking, I do agree a 0W40 would probably be a little too thin for track work, but a 10W40 might do well since it has a thicker base stock and will have less viscosity improvers.

[CrookedCommie]

I've ran Redline 50WT. Stopped after the blackstone reports came back. Redline has been shit everywhere I've used it.

[S54330Ci]

If you read some of the older BITOG posts, TWS will shear down to thicker 40 wt fairly quickly. Could just be internet lore, who knows.

Well . . . if that is the case, what would 0w-40 shear down to?

IMO 0w-40 is too thin for track use.

[elbert]

For track use I would never suggest 0w-40, way too thin for the S54 that will live at 5000 - 7800 RPM on the track.

If you read some of the older BITOG posts, TWS will shear down to thicker 40 wt fairly quickly. Could just be internet lore, who knows.

[S54330Ci]

I ran 0w-40 in my S54 and the oil temps got higher faster but cooled much faster when I backed off. 10w-60 takes longer to get hot but takes two laps to cool down. I wonder if a 50wt oil is the happy medium.

For track use I would never suggest 0w-40, way too thin for the S54 that will live at 5000 - 7800 RPM on the track. Maybe if you lived in San Diego . . . and didn't drive it hard (but then what's the point of owning an M3?)

Single weight oils (i.e. 50wt) would prove too thick for colder climates and likely result in accelerated rod bearing wear if the engine is pushed hard before the oil is at operating temperature.

Purely one person's opinion - YMMV.

[bigjae46]

We've run 10w60 LM on most of the S54s with no known issues.

For track cars we've been running Redline 5w50 also with no known issues. Troy Jeup a love him or hate him figure in the S85 world had recommend this oil for S85s and we tried it back to back on an S85 car that had an issue with elevated oil temps and it 100% returned lower temps.

I ran 0w-40 in my S54 and the oil temps got higher faster but cooled much faster when I backed off. 10w-60 takes longer to get hot but takes two laps to cool down. I wonder if a 50wt oil is the happy medium.

[George Hill]

We've run 10w60 LM on most of the S54s with no known issues.

For track cars we've been running Redline 5w50 also with no known issues. Troy Jeup a love him or hate him figure in the S85 world had recommend this oil for S85s and we tried it back to back on an S85 car that had an issue with elevated oil temps and it 100% returned lower temps.

[bigjae46]

I've seen more S54s run a long time on BMWs 10w-60. I'm sure there are others that work well too.

[Feffman]

TotalEnergies Quartz Racing 10W-60. Filters - Mann or Mahle. Oil gets changed every second track day.

Ditto! I've never had an issue and with 100+ hard track hours on the engine, the Blackstone reports are still great.

Feff

[Mpassioned]

I only run Motul 300V. 15/50 for the S54 for the 20 years I have owned that car, and 10/40 for the S52. back in the late 90's/ early 2000's, I Roadraced Motorcycles on track and used Motul for those CBR600's. F2, F3, and F4. Never had any oil related failures. Only my skill and judgement Ha! Expensive oil change but cheap insurance IMO.

[IamFODI]

(S65 here, and a track n00b compared to many here, so take this with a grain of salt)

Pretty sure one of the reasons for BMW's oil spec for these cars is to account for track use. I'm also not aware of any deficiencies in the OE oil that warrant using something else. I have read that people can get lower temps by using different oil, but that purpose is probably better served by upgrading cooling somehow (ducting, radiators, etc.). So, OE oil for me.

If for whatever reason I had to run something else, it'd probably be Motul 300V. It's widely available, heavily track-oriented without having any weird quirks like poor detergency, and used by big-boy race teams. Can't think of anything else right now that ticks all those boxes.

[CrookedCommie]

I only run 300V in the race cars.

[Tbonem3]

Motul power ester 5w50 and amsoil 5w50 would be my suggestions. Motul is very affordable in the 5l jugs.

Mahle filter, no mann or hengst or anyone else.

[Estoril]

OE 10W-60 and the OE filter. Blackstone check every other change.