On the one hand, Valvoline has a long racing history all the way down to the amatuer level. On the other, there are a whole lot of things at the auto parts stores these days with the word "Racing" on the label. Pretty much none of it actually has anything to do with racing.

The label says its formulated to not foam, deal with high temperatures and flow well at high rpms. Valid? BS?

It also comes in weights that seem to be targeted at the racer (ie: there isn't even a good old 10w-40 on the shelf).

And, at less than half the price of Mobil 1 and 1/4 the price of Redline, it can add up in savings for someone like me who changes oil after every weekend.
Of course, there are those that say I should run Mobil 1 longer than I do, but if I run conventional (and the Valvoline Race Oil is conventional) for one event and Mobil for two its a financial wash.
I'm sporting a pimpy Sunbelt motor that turns some serious RPMs due to the 4 speed and 4.72 FD. I feel more comfy changing the oil after every weekend.

Does it matter?
Am I making an issue of nothing?
Why are we here?

Scott, who is in short just wondering if this Valvoline stuff is as good as Mobil at 1/2 the price.

 

From what I remember, there aren't any detergents in the valvoline racing oil, and it assumes that the oil is changed very frequently (every event or more). Other that that, I really don't have any insight into the relative merits.

 

I'm supposed to be getting a lot of it in february. I've got 2 oil analysis tests. I'm about to send one off of the 15-50 mobil 1 race oil thats been in my car for awhile. Maybe test results of both oils will show if its useful. It'll be awhile before I get to have both tests back though. I thought the valvoline was a pure synthetic though too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm sporting a pimpy Sunbelt motor..</TD></TR></TABLE>

uh.. something about oil? All I saw was this.

 

I would like to hear what you think of the sunbelt engine. Also, if you have any comparison to other engine builder.

 

Back in my pre-shock life, I used to work for a video production company in Lexington, KY and our biggest customer (and the source of my at-work car guy fix) was Valvoline. We did their internal and external videos, promotions, training pieces, etc. and basically everything but the primary film TV spots. That was back from '89-early '96 and I had a lot of exposure to their staff including their lead oil guru named Norm Hudecki. In addition to a really nice guy who would answer basic oil questions of the video company's worker bee, he was a very highly respected leader of the oil industry and generally treated like a master at his craft. He was generally pretty camera shy and a bit stiff so he appreciated how we worked pretty closely and friendly with him until he came out like a normal person once the program was editted.

That was at the time when synthetics were really just becoming mainstream although Mobil 1 and things like RedLine and Amsoil had been out awhile. My recollection was that their Racing Oil products were petroleum instead of synthetic and had additives for higher pressures and improved molecular strength and bonding so the oil was less likely to break down under really high rpm, etc. but it may not have had the detergent packages or the low temperature sheer strength that something like their All-Climate normal stuff was. I know that the Galles Indy Car team (Al Unser Jr. was dumb as a stick before he got messed up with strippers BTW) that we spent a lot of time with for several seasons was using the Racing Oil in their racecars straight from normal quart bottles, although they did use the first bottles of 0w30 oil that I every saw. They did switch over to the Synthetic Racing in the mid-'90s.

One of the side benefits of my job was that I did get quite a bit of free oils and greases for my street and racecars as my boss was an SCCA racer who got free product and I generally rode his coat tails into the deal. I recall things from Mr. Hudecki like not to run synthetic on rotary engines (may not be true today but was nearly 10 years ago), don't use any of the snake-oil additives like Slick 50 and so on, do change your oil as close to 3,000 miles if you can, etc. About that time I did switch over to the Valvoline Synthetic Racing Oil and ran it with good success. I also recall that they started to market a synthetic/petroleum mix called Dura-Blend which was entirely for marketing and price point reasons and not because there was a specific need or improvement to be had, they simply wanted something to sell to a guy who was willing to spend more than the base price for oil but refused to pop for the more expensive full synthetic.

FWIW, after leaving the video business and losing my Valvoline ties, over time I slowly reverted to Mobil 1 in the cars that will hold it inside and Castrol GTX for the high mileage ones that are more prone to leakage and burning oil such that synthetic starts to come out. I have never sent my old oil off for lab analysis but it does seem like an interesteing proposition and would be interested to see in anyone really learned from it.

 

wouldnt the 20w50 cause extra friction and less power? Or is that the weight of oil that you prefer to run? (sunbelt = looser build?)

fwiw, I ran the VR1 20w50 for a couple events. and uh....the engine didnt blow up...
oil pressure was in fact slightly higher and it held up better when I was having a detonation problem.
I would definately run it again if it wasnt so thick. So I run Castrol GTX high mileage now.

 

You should try posting this question on the message board here:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

More than you ever wanted to know about oil.

 

http://www.motul.co.jp/eg/prod....html - I'll be using this next year

http://www.hmsmotorsport.com/s...#1533

There's a lot of marketing hype about oil, most of it is just blowing sunshine up your ***... https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=889557 - the lab doesnt lie

 

ask your engine builder what oil they think you should use in the motor.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There's a lot of marketing hype about oil, most of it is just blowing sunshine up your ***... https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=889557 - the lab doesnt lie</TD></TR></TABLE>
The lab doesnt lie, but without a control test with regular oil there is nothing to show that regular oil wont get the same results as the tested oil

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ryan12321 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I thought the valvoline was a pure synthetic though too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nope. Label says "Premium Conventional Motor Oil"

20w-50 seems to be as light as it comes, but my motor is built pretty darned loose.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Willard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ask your engine builder what oil they think you should use in the motor.</TD></TR></TABLE>

They like Redline. My wallet doesn't.
Thats why I've been compromising with Mobil 1.
But if this VR1 stuff is just as good, or better, for a "change it 8 times a year" racing application... I'll gladly save the $2.50 per quart.

 

The Valvoline VR1 20/50 is a conventional oil, it does resist foaming due to the lack of detergents. Your pimpy Sunbelt bullet turning all those revs will like this.

This oil is/was the choice of one of the fastest SM guys in the NER (actually won the Valvoline Cup in '03) and I have seen it used exclusively in more than one very fast winning ITS RX-7. Oh and I broke my current motor in on it.

Valvoline does have a line of racing oils that are available at your local NAPA and they are available in both dino and synth. They also have a Water Wetter type coolant additive that I have been using for 2 yrs now and couldn't be happier.

Disclaimer: Not a paid oil guy just my $.02
If you are changing after every race weekend it probably does not matter whether you run synth or dino oil. Why? One of the real advantages of the synth is that it retains its structure for a longer period of time, hence the 5k mile oil change in the street car. If your oil is only around for a weekend it isn't around long enough for real decomposition of the structure.
On the other hand, another advantage of synthetic is that its flash temp is higher than the dino. What this means is that the temp at which the oil becomes a spotty deposit on a bearing surface is higher. This IS relevant because though your oil temp guage may only read 210 the temps on bearing surfaces could easily be twice that or more.

All that aside, if it were me I'd run the Valvoline. Why? It creates more $ for me to race and fix chit with. Its not like its not a proven product. All those cars that run around Mid-O at the end of September with Valvoline stickers on them have this in the sump.

As always YMMV.

 

In my ITC car I run Redline oil since the engine builder (respected Honda shop) recommended it. I usually run 3-4 sprint events before changing the oil and filter and have had excellent results with it. Nothing scientific to report, though.

I do run Mobil 1 on my street integra and the Jeep Grand Cherokee tow vehicle and change the oil and filter every 4k miles. I like the feeling of the extra protection that synthetics provide- as I understand them.

If I were changing oil more frequently in the race kaa, I could probably see using a 'lesser' oil- IMHO.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DBurke &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The Valvoline VR1 20/50 is a conventional oil, it does resist foaming due to the lack of detergents. Your pimpy Sunbelt bullet turning all those revs will like this.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DBurke &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you are changing after every race weekend it probably does not matter whether you run synth or dino oil. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm no "oil guy" either. But on a "Well, that makes sense" level, this makes sense and is kinda what I've been thinking.

 

That is how I feel as well. An IT prep motor is not a big step up prep wise from stock. Most "street" motors today are meaner. If you change the oil after every weekend like I do, there is max 2hr on the engine. I don't think it matters.

I used to run RedLine because big daddy George told me to, but the cost was getting crazy. Now thanks to Costco and Mobil 1 things are more a lot more sane oil cost wise.

 

On that website I posted, they say that synth oil doesn't have as many advantages over dyno oil as you think. Especially in the app you are looking for.

 

Keep in mind the VR oils are not for use on cars that still have cats (look at the detail sheet on the website or the fine print on the bottle).....

edit: http://www.valvoline.com/racing/ They have both conv & synth.

 

There are actually three types on the site. Valvoline Racing in both dino and synth and the VR1 racing oil.
The Valvoline Racing oil should be used in non-cat vehicles.
The VR1 is fair game for both street and track vehicles.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DBurke &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Its not like its not a proven product. All those cars that run around Mid-O at the end of September with Valvoline stickers on them have this in the sump.

As always YMMV. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I wonder how many of the Valvoline sponsored/stickered racers actually run the oil.

A number of years ago, I crewed one race for a Toyota Atlantic team whose primary sponsor was Valvoline. After qualifying, an oil change was ordered. I went in the trailer to fetch the box of Valvoline oil but before I got out the door the crew chief stopped me. He grabbed a jug and had me dump all the contents out of the Valvoline bottles and refill them with Redline Racing Oil.

Just makes you think. You don't always know what is really tried, tested, and true.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turfer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I wonder how many of the Valvoline sponsored/stickered racers actually run the oil.

A number of years ago, I crewed one race for a Toyota Atlantic team whose primary sponsor was Valvoline. After qualifying, an oil change was ordered. I went in the trailer to fetch the box of Valvoline oil but before I got out the door the crew chief stopped me. He grabbed a jug and had me dump all the contents out of the Valvoline bottles and refill them with Redline Racing Oil.

Just makes you think. You don't always know what is really tried, tested, and true.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You didn't keep the empties to refill? That is what we did, had some raggedy lookin' quarts at times.

I think that a pretty high percentage of them have the actual product in the sump. It is my first hand experience that club racers as a whole are pretty tried and true as to what decal is on the car and what is actually in the car. Its also my experience that people support those who support them or what they do, with the support that Valvoline has provided the SCCA it makes me want to use their product. Finally on this topic of deceit, who in club racing is sponsored? Who out there has someone else paying the bills running around in club racing? Its all private $ as far as I can see.

Any way that you want to slice it the product that Catch was asking about is a proven entity in real world winning race cars. I've seen it poured, I've poured it and watched the victory laps.

 

Typically I run Mobil 1. What viscosity you run really has a lot to do with how much life you want from the engine. We don't run loose clearances (you get minimal horsepower gain in exchange for drastically reduced engine life), but we are running 15w50 in most cases for reliability.

I prefer synthetics or synthetic blends because they tend to flow better and have better resistance to heat. The extra $20 or so for oil-changes really doesn't matter much when you've already spent $3,000+ on an engine, IMO.

That being said Valvoline racing oil is one of only two low-cost oils I've used that's really worth a damn in high performance applications.

We change our oil after every 2 sprint race weekends. In hotter weather (above 90) we change it every race.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Raceworks &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Typically I run Mobil 1.... but we are running 15w50 in most cases for reliability.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wouldnt run anything less than 10w40 M1. The thinner stuff is "energy saver compliant" or some BS, and it burns off very easily.