DRIVEN

Joined
Oct 18, 2009
Messages
26
Location
Long Island
Hello

Hello. I have a Corvette that was 50% street use and 50% track use on a road courses Like NJMS and Summit Point, etc. The builder (Golen) recommended 15W-50, so that is what I use.

I have been using Valvoline VR1, the one that says “highest in zinc”. Valvoline’s VR1 series has been around forever, usually it takes more than marketing to make that happen.

However, the VR1 is a racing oil. I was thinking of trying DRIVEN as it is a newer technology, anti corrosion protection and detergents that you don’t get with pure racing oil.

I sent an email to DRIVE Technical. When it took them a while to respond I called DRIVEN technical. As “luck” would have it, the rep on the call recommended the GP-1 oil. He seem to like the fact that it is PENNSYLVANIA GRADE SYNTHETIC BLEND OIL. He claims it is the old Kendal green stuff. The DRIVEN site says “The perfect performance oil for competition cars, custom cars, hot rods, classic cars, imports, and racing applications”

https://drivenracingoil.com/c-1389373-shop-by-product-gp-1-engine-oils.html

https://drivenracingoil.com/i-30497796-gp-1-15w-40-synthetic-blend-high-performance-oil.html

The email reply, told the same car info, recommended HR3 15W-50 Synthetic Hot Rod Oil.

https://drivenracingoil.com/i-30497804-hr3-15w-50-synthetic-hot-rod-oil.html

Both bottles say “Racing Oil”. Which do you think would be more appropriate and why? I am leaning a bit the Hot Rod oil for the following reasons:
  1. A full synthetic oil.
  2. A full synthetic usually has better temperature resistance
I guess I could drain the VR1 oil and send it out for oil analysis. The try a DRIVEN oil and see if there are any positive changes.
 
Driven GP-1 is a group I and III synthetic blend employing "Pennsylvania Crude" from ARG. It has ~1500/1300 ppm Zn/P with a typical DI pack and a load of corrosion/rust inhibitor. It's a good choice for mild to moderate performance engines, classic engines with flat tappet cams, and engines that may sit for weeks at a time. Due to being a majority group I base oil, it does not like to get hot. It's spent much past ~240°F.

Driven HR3 will take more heat than GP-1 while having the same ZDDP content. It's a solid choice.

Knowing more about the engine would help a lot. What year/gen engine is it? Rod and main bearing clearance? What cam? What fuel? Oil capacity and cooling? Power adders?

I'm not sure why Golem is so obsessed with 50 grade oils.
 
Driven GP-1 is a group I and III synthetic blend employing "Pennsylvania Crude" from ARG. It has ~1500/1300 ppm Zn/P with a typical DI pack and a load of corrosion/rust inhibitor. It's a good choice for mild to moderate performance engines, classic engines with flat tappet cams, and engines that may sit for weeks at a time. Due to being a majority group I base oil, it does not like to get hot. It's spent much past ~240°F.

Driven HR3 will take more heat than GP-1 while having the same ZDDP content. It's a solid choice.

Knowing more about the engine would help a lot. What year/gen engine is it? Rod and main bearing clearance? What cam? What fuel? Oil capacity and cooling? Power adders?

I'm not sure why Golem is so obsessed with 50 grade oils.
This, need way more info, is this a recent stock Corvette roller motor or something old that's flat tappet that's hopped up with heavier springs so you need the additional AW additives?
 
i would call our sponsor HPL with full details of your engine + its use. RACE oil is a term thrown around to impress BUT real race oils are blended without additives that are for typical driving + are very short lived!
 
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Knowing more about the engine would help a lot. What year/gen engine is it? Rod and main bearing clearance? What cam? What fuel? Oil capacity and cooling? Power adders?

SEE ABOVE Post #7. I am not sure of the rod and bearing clearances. Fuel is pump super, 93 octane. It takes 7 quarts with the filter.
 
I would go with Mobil 1 15W-50 and I would also go with an Oil Accumulator if you are going to take this out on a Road Course.. I would also check your oil level if you are doing what you say you are doing as far as how you will be driving this car.
 
The generic hot hod Chevy engine, a very durable engine that I grew up hot rodding with. 20W- 50 is a good choice or a 15W or 20W- 50 syn would work better especially if the track use is road racing .
 

That looks like a good candidate for Mobil 1 FS Euro 0W-40. However, it sucks not knowing the bearing clearances. There's 3 parameters that determine the necessary viscosity; operating oil temp, rod and main bearing clearance, and load on those bearings. You could look high end with High Performance Lubricants Bad Ass 5W-40 as well.
 

Above still on sale at NAPA and available at Walmart. Napa also has a house brand 15w50.


Builder recommended 15w-50. Without more data, why look at anything else? For the colder northern climate, 10w and 5w 50grades are available too.


UOA data is needed... for the amount of fuel dilution or ending viscosity
Oil pressure and temps need logging....
Contact builder for bearing clearances... but they did recommend 15w50. Also, find out if there are any oiling mods, or even an upgraded oil pump.

Sine the username is creative, and 50% of driving is on track, I'd oil for the worst case scenario, which is track time. Stick with 15w50 until you can prove otherwise with data.
 
Pretty disappointing numbers for an oil that's nearly $18/qt.

Doesn't mean it's a bad oil but what kind of base oils are they using? :unsure:

I would bet Mobil 1 EP 5w30 has a lower Noack and has been DI friendly since 2012. Yawn....

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Seems like a perfect candidate for Mobil 1 5w50, which is frequently on sale for $6.99 a court at Napa.
 
Reduced warranty work, and allows for looser clearances and bigger tolerances if I were to hazard a guess

It allows them to be sloppy. It's an indicator that optimizing power and efficiency takes a back seat to speed of production. If the clearances aren't optimized to that particular engine and its use, then it's likely the ring gap, piston to wall clearance, squish clearance, chamber volumes, hone profile, valve angles, spring rates, valvetrain geometry, etc... isn't optimized either. That's to be expected though, I suppose. If they took the time to blueprint and optimize each engine, they wouldn't make any money.
 
It allows them to be sloppy. It's an indicator that optimizing power and efficiency takes a back seat to speed of production. If the clearances aren't optimized to that particular engine and its use, then it's likely the ring gap, piston to wall clearance, squish clearance, chamber volumes, hone profile, valve angles, spring rates, valvetrain geometry, etc... isn't optimized either. That's to be expected though, I suppose. If they took the time to blueprint and optimize each engine, they wouldn't make any money.
Yes that’s exactly what I meant by reduced warranty work…. Like you said if they’re simply machining to the middle of the factory machining “windows”, that’s their likely profit margin. Agree 100%.

It’s been a long time since the last time I had a precision balance job done, but I seem to remember I had sought out a shop that did <0.5g balance when most others were <2g, and the balancing alone was 5x more expensive for the more precise job. It included weighing and numbering each piston, rod, bearing, and ring set, pairing them, and then spinning them up. My setup came out to like .2g. I figured at the time since I was internally balancing an 363ci 8.2” SBF (and I was young and reckless) it “made sense”.
 
Driven has good shear stability. Seems to be its strength. The Noack of the DI30 is terrible though. And the 0w20 is 11.8% LOL. They talk about how Noack is important for IVDs, but their products have high Noack, even compared to off the shelf oils.
 
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