Going Up in Viscosity

[rraiderr]

I have been asking people at track days what oil they are running in their track bikes and a large percent of them are running 20W-50 synthetic when the manufacture recommends 10W-40.

With today quality synthetics what would be the benefit of going to a 50W when the manufacture recommends a 40W?

The other side of the range were guys running very thin oils as they said the less viscosity aided in performance. Some the guys were changing their oil at the track before each track day.

From the used oil analysis I have seen modern synthetics easily handle two days of back to back track days.

Thanks

 

[bepperb]

If people don't know what their oil temps are then they are just guessing. If you are running significantly higher oil temps during track days (20 degrees warmer or more) it wouldn't be unreasonable to go up a grade.

Sure, thinner oils would reduce drag and increase power, I'm not sure if the improvement is worth the risk.