Hi,

Let the flood doors open

What are you using in your track car, daily driver or race MINI ?

I think RedLine is a wise idea

 

Red-Line 5W30 motor oil
Water Wetter with coolant.
Motul brake fluid.... (I think, it's been a while...)

Haven't switched tranny fluid yet.

Matt

 

Redline 10w40 for track
Redline water wetter
Redline mtl for tranny
Change oil after every event if you have the $$$$$

 

Mobil 1
Water Wetter
Motul
Tranny ?????? (Whatever Doug put in there)

 

Amsoil all the way as they are sponsoring me....

 

Ask them if they need some more exposure ....

 

I always wanted to work on them to sponsor my mini, but never got around to talking with them too much.
Jim Goughray uses them (in his GT2 SCCA National Championship winning race car ! )and his motor builder would rip everything apart after each race - when they started using Amsoil - and measure wear - often found next to none!!!!!!

Amsoil is great stuff! and, so is Red Line

 

Royal Purple in the motor - 10w30 when it's cool, 10w40 when it's warmer
Redline MTL in the gearbox
Water Wetter in the coolant mix
Ate Blue or Typ200 in the brakes, flushed at least every 6 months

 

For my track oriented MINI, I follow this combination of fluids and maintanence:

Engine oil: Mobile 1, 15/50, changed every other track day.
Transmission oil: Redline MTL, changed every other track day.
Power steering fluid: CHF 11S, changed twice per year.
Brake fluid: Motul, gravity bleed the front calipers after every track day, and flush the entire system annually.
Clutch fluid: Motul, gravity bleed annually.
Coolant: BMW recommended antifreeze, changed annually.

My point is that there are many top quality lubricants, coolants, and hydraulic fluids available. Effective service and protection is not the result of the specific product as many people think. None of these products will continue to function optimally after prolonged high demand service. The specific fluids are less important than the frequent replacement in service. Track driving is expensive from the maintanence stand point.

John Petrich in Seattle

 

Change the oil after every other track day?
Man, where do you live, in 1935? <g>
Lubricant chemistry has made some strides in recent decades you know!

Seriously John, you ought to send an oil sample to Blackstone Labs (right here in Fort Wayne, IN) for analysis. You're going to find that your Mobil 1, and any other quality synthetic for that matter, will go many, many track days without significant degradation.

I do a couple of dozen track days every year in the M3 and change the oil, Mobil 1 like you, at the beginning and end of each track season. Both the cam box and oil pan areas in the M3 are clean and new looking after 90K miles. While the forced induction MCS 4-cyl may be a little more highly stressed, surely not that much?

FWIW I use Mobil 1 synthetics in the engine, gearbox, final drive, and PS system. Nothing against Redline or the other semi-exotic fluids, but Mobil 1 is good stuff, priced reasonably and is available at just about every auto parts store anywhere.

As does John, only BMW recommended coolant.

I use ATE Super Blue brake fluid. Occasionally tempted to try Castrol SRF, but it's unbelievably expensive at about $70/bottle, which would make bleeding brakes more like bleeding, period.

Neil
06 MCS
96 M3

 

I also changed my Mobil 1 after every track day.
Or I should say before every track day......

 

I use ATE big blue brake fluid and redline oil ....

so far so good ...

 

Neil,

I'll admit that I am excessively conservative on my maintanence schedule. I'm older and habitually keep my vehicles 20 years or more. Been there, done that. I believe an aggressive maintainence schedule reducess some of the subtle wear consequences to transmission syncros, rear end thrust washers, timing chains and timing gears, cam followers, oil pumps, valve guides and on. Cannot prove what I believe is infact true, just my limited experience and mechanics lore.

You are correct as far as what most people think. I save the Mobile 1 and feed it to my wife's SAAB, and my little collection of Morris Minors. Change the lubricants in these cars frequently too.

Don't believe that the MINI engine is any more stressed than your M3 engine. If I had your car, <lust, lust> I'd do the same.

Regards and happy track days to you,
John Petrich in Seattle

 

Ahah! Now the truth comes out - John isn't throwing away the milk, he's just skimming off the cream first. <vbg>

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3

 

Motul, Motul, Motul, Motul

600RBF brake fluid
300V racing Oil

and for the street Motul 8100 5w30

 

Don't know what tracks some of you drive or race on, but all the ones I've raced on do not allow the use of antifreeze. Therefore, whether BMW recommends antifreeze use or not, is moot.

 

Track days are a little different. But yes, I've never witnessed a 'race' car with antifreeze...hence water wetter.

Okay, so what engine oil viscosity you good kind folks using? I use Mobil 1 5W30 for every day. It seems trivial to move to a 10W30, but a really high viscosity robs horse power.

Redline MTL - twice a year hence forth, but I drive 60K miles a year
Motul or Wilwood or ATE big Blue - after each event
BMW/Mini coolant - once a year
Mobil 1 5W30 - every 3,000 miles. To coincide with a change before each event

 

Redline 10w40 for track days, summer weather if we ever get it here in Buffalo. Hopefully a lot warmer at Summit Point April 29 & 30.