How often do you change oil if you track your car

[torque124]

I see in a previous thread that someone was changing oil after each event, I think it is a bit of overkill...

So the current oil has :
1. One x 30 min of autocross yesterday, in extremely hot weather where advance track posted an error and had to back out (overheated something?), and
2. One track event consisting of 3 x 20 min sessions.
As mileage goes, the oil is at roughly 800 miles.

I have another track day next week (fairly short again 3x 20 min) , I am thinking change it after it... and diff fluid also.

How often do you guys change the oil when tracking car?

Thanks

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[jmn444]

I've only done one oil analysis so far, but it supported 5 to 6 track days & 4k miles on Motorcraft 5w50 being okay. I'll be doing another sometime soon, but that's at least a decent benchmark...

My track days are usually 7-8 20min sessions too

I believe ford takes the stance that the oil life meter takes rpm and such into consideration and that you can simply follow that to change it, but that's a bit aggressive IMO.

 

[proeagles]

You are going to get a widely varying opinion on this. IMO, synthetic oil has come a long way and unless you are tracking your car constantly (every weekend), I would just go by the oil life monitor which for me is about 4K miles and sometimes 5K. At $100 a pop for oil not counting the filter, it's cheap insurance if you feel it absolutely necessary to change more often. When I was club racing my BMW, I actually went six race weekends without changing oil and an analysis determined the oil to still be in decent shape for a car with 60K miles on it.

 

[torque124]

You are going to get a widely varying opinion on this. IMO, synthetic oil has come a long way and unless you are tracking your car constantly (every weekend), I would just go by the oil life monitor which for me is about 4K miles and sometimes 5K. At $100 a pop for oil not counting the filter, it's cheap insurance if you feel it absolutely necessary to change more often. When I was club racing my BMW, I actually went six race weekends without changing oil and an analysis determined the oil to still be in decent shape for a car with 60K miles on it.

Actually I paid 97.05 for oil AND filter, delivered, at rockauto.com (just now) , so it's even cheaper than you said

 

[honeybadger]

I follow the manual - change after every track day.

This is likely CYA-driven since my own analysis shows 5-8 hours being okay. But when I pushed to 10 hours on a trip, they recommended not going further.

 

[jmn444]

I follow the manual - change after every track day.

This is likely CYA-driven since my own analysis shows 5-8 hours being okay. But when I pushed to 10 hours on a trip, they recommended not going further.

Hmmmm, i didn't see that in the manual!

 

[honeybadger]

Hmmmm, i didn't see that in the manual!

They're aggressive. Full fluid changes after every track day. Same strategy as the FP350S and GT4 mustang service manuals.

I'm pretty religious about fluid changes from my old motorcycle days. I destroyed so many other riders due to how well my bike ran. Haha. Not sure it's needed in this car, but can't hurt and it allows me detect issues earlier. So I am still changing oil every event and trans/diff every 10-15 hours.

 

[jmn444]

They're aggressive. Full fluid changes after every track day. Same strategy as the FP350S and GT4 mustang service manuals.

I'm pretty religious about fluid changes from my old motorcycle days. I destroyed so many other riders due to how well my bike ran. Haha. Not sure it's needed in this car, but can't hurt and it allows me detect issues earlier. So I am still changing oil every event and trans/diff every 10-15 hours.

Ahhhhh, makes sense.

Also good for others to note that you aren't under warranty though haha... I'm just doing a bit more than required in case I decide to keep it after the power train is out of coverage!

I haven't done trans yet, but did diff last fall... probably going to do every other year for diff and not sure on trans really.

 

[honeybadger]

Ahhhhh, makes sense.

Also good for others to note that you aren't under warranty though haha... I'm just doing a bit more than required in case I decide to keep it after the power train is out of coverage!

I haven't done trans yet, but did diff last fall... probably going to do every other year for diff and not sure on trans really.

Yep. And just how hard my car is driven. Last year at COTA, I was typically out on track in 3 out of 5 run groups giving rides, instructing, or running solo sessions. I was getting up to 4.5 hours of track time a day--all of it full out in the Texas heat. I was burning through like 65 gallons of fuel a weekend. Definitely not an easy life for it.

If you're not on your own dime, I'd still change engine oil after every track weekend, but otherwise relax everything. I only did the diff/trans once per year until the rebuild.

 

[torque124]

Yep. And just how hard my car is driven. Last year at COTA, I was typically out on track in 3 out of 5 run groups giving rides, instructing, or running solo sessions. I was getting up to 4.5 hours of track time a day--all of it full out in the Texas heat. I was burning through like 65 gallons of fuel a weekend. Definitely not an easy life for it.

If you're not on your own dime, I'd still change engine oil after every track weekend, but otherwise relax everything. I only did the diff/trans once per year until the rebuild.

Yes, if I would run as hard as you do, I would definitely... But I do "track night" with SCCA, and it consists of a barely 3 sessions or 20 minutes each, that's it. And I then drive home ... I am an intermediate level driver, not even in Advanced group (although I might be moved to Advanced next time, just due to seat time and knowing track etiquette well) . I would say that my 3 track sessions don't push the engine as much as you would in a track weekend

 

[pilotgore]

I see in a previous thread that someone was changing oil after each event, I think it is a bit of overkill...

So the current oil has :
1. One x 30 min of autocross yesterday, in extremely hot weather where advance track posted an error and had to back out (overheated something?), and
2. One track event consisting of 3 x 20 min sessions.
As mileage goes, the oil is at roughly 800 miles.

I have another track day next week (fairly short again 3x 20 min) , I am thinking change it after it... and diff fluid also.

How often do you guys change the oil when tracking car?

Thanks

To be in accordance with the manuals recommendation, I’m changing the oil after every track weekend. (5 hours of track time.). Since I’m on the 8 year bumper to bumper warranty through ford, I didn’t want to give them any excuse to deny any future claim.

Is it probably overkill.... yes, but as others have stated it’s cheap insurance. A few of my other vehicles are FI, and I change the oil with Mobil 1 full synthetic every 3,000 miles no matter what the manual says.... it makes me feel good knowing the turbos have fresh oil for cooling.

 

[Davesvt2000]

I just did my first oil change at 1500 miles, and I’ve got two HPDE events coming up in the next two months. After that the car gets put away for the winter, so I’ll prob change it again in late October.

 

[TDC]

Same as Pilotgore. After two track days; about 5 hours. Cost of an oil change is about 10% of the cost of a track weekend so it is relatively cheap insurance

 

[Tomster]

Before and after. Change trans and diff fluid after. Always...

 

[km1075]

Oil change related question if you all don't mind. Took my '20 GT350 to a shop for an oil change and they installed the the pre-2019 filter (FL-2062 NOT FL-2087). I can take the car back to the shop and demand they fix, but not sure I have the time before my next track day. I think I can change the filter myself, but wanted to ask, is it possible to change with filter without draining the oil? Or will when I remove the filter will 10 quarts of oil drain everywhere? I'm guessing "no" since the oil should be in the pan, but thought I would ask before I gave it a try.

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