About time you recognized my status, pleeb.
So reading your report (which I now remember seeing before) the key thing to narrow in on when comparing a "race" oil vs. a street oil is the TBN (total base number). Did far too much research on this late last night/early this morning before posting a reply.
The TBN of an oil is an indicator of how the oil will protect the engine in a manner required more by a street engine than one used for racing over extended use. In terms of a street driven engine this is say from 0-3000 miles of driving. The TBN measures the oil components that battle the residual effects of combustion, namely water. Most street oils will start with a TBN in the range of 8-9, some even higher. Royal Purple HPS for example is over 10. The TBN value will drop significantly as soon as the oil is put into use. Race oils are not intended for extended use, generally speaking. If
, and I know this is even silly to suggest, COULD keep an engine together long enough to run 3000 miles, he certainly wouldn't use the same oil for such extended track duty. So in his case the TBN isn't really a factor. Not to mention, the way a race engine is used (high RPM/severe duty=high heat) also negates the need for the basic TBN function. A street driven car, however, will often see short drive use where the engine may never even reach a high enough temperature to deal with the resulting combustion affect. The other thing to know is the TBN value drops off very sharply as soon as an oil is used. This is why street oils start out with a much higher content level.
Anyway, here's one of many sources on the subject I found. I post it because it has test data on some popular oils for comparison and the source seems to know the subject well. It's not hard to find lots of info on the subject by Googling "oil TBN content" or similar.
http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28027
So reading your report (which I now remember seeing before) the key thing to narrow in on when comparing a "race" oil vs. a street oil is the TBN (total base number). Did far too much research on this late last night/early this morning before posting a reply.
The TBN of an oil is an indicator of how the oil will protect the engine in a manner required more by a street engine than one used for racing over extended use. In terms of a street driven engine this is say from 0-3000 miles of driving. The TBN measures the oil components that battle the residual effects of combustion, namely water. Most street oils will start with a TBN in the range of 8-9, some even higher. Royal Purple HPS for example is over 10. The TBN value will drop significantly as soon as the oil is put into use. Race oils are not intended for extended use, generally speaking. If
, and I know this is even silly to suggest, COULD keep an engine together long enough to run 3000 miles, he certainly wouldn't use the same oil for such extended track duty. So in his case the TBN isn't really a factor. Not to mention, the way a race engine is used (high RPM/severe duty=high heat) also negates the need for the basic TBN function. A street driven car, however, will often see short drive use where the engine may never even reach a high enough temperature to deal with the resulting combustion affect. The other thing to know is the TBN value drops off very sharply as soon as an oil is used. This is why street oils start out with a much higher content level. Anyway, here's one of many sources on the subject I found. I post it because it has test data on some popular oils for comparison and the source seems to know the subject well. It's not hard to find lots of info on the subject by Googling "oil TBN content" or similar.
http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28027
