http://www.tomorrowstechnician.com/Artic...nce_engine.aspx
I tried to find the original thread. No luck.
Quote:
Base oils are an important ingredient in motor oil but what sets one oil apart from another is the additives.
"All of the benefits are in the additives," says Martin. "Even in terms of racing oils most oil companies purchase additive packages. There are only a handful of additive suppliers globally. So in many cases the oils are basically the same with the only differences being the marketing."
Quote:
The additive package is what separates the winners from the also-rans. One manufacturer said that a good additive package in mineral base oil will outperform a synthetic base oil with a poor additive package. It's all in the mix, so to speak.
Quote:
Formulating oil is a balance, and, as Red Line's Evans pointed out, many compare it to cooking. A little bit of cinnamon may taste good but a whole lot of it tastes terrible, so finding the right amount of spice requires a lot of skill.
"You have to find just the right amount of the various additives - friction modifiers, anti-wear agents, detergents and dispersants - all of this stuff the chemical engineers are playing with to get just the right mix for that particular application," explains Joe Gibbs Racing Oil's Lake Speed, Jr.
"We have been playing around with our mix for some time and the oil we race with today is not the same thing we ran 6 years ago. We've perfected the recipe since then, and now we run a 5W20. But there are still some NASCAR NEXTEL Cup teams that run 15W50 motor oil because that's what they've always run."
I tried to find the original thread. No luck.
Quote:
Base oils are an important ingredient in motor oil but what sets one oil apart from another is the additives.
"All of the benefits are in the additives," says Martin. "Even in terms of racing oils most oil companies purchase additive packages. There are only a handful of additive suppliers globally. So in many cases the oils are basically the same with the only differences being the marketing."
Quote:
The additive package is what separates the winners from the also-rans. One manufacturer said that a good additive package in mineral base oil will outperform a synthetic base oil with a poor additive package. It's all in the mix, so to speak.
Quote:
Formulating oil is a balance, and, as Red Line's Evans pointed out, many compare it to cooking. A little bit of cinnamon may taste good but a whole lot of it tastes terrible, so finding the right amount of spice requires a lot of skill.
"You have to find just the right amount of the various additives - friction modifiers, anti-wear agents, detergents and dispersants - all of this stuff the chemical engineers are playing with to get just the right mix for that particular application," explains Joe Gibbs Racing Oil's Lake Speed, Jr.
"We have been playing around with our mix for some time and the oil we race with today is not the same thing we ran 6 years ago. We've perfected the recipe since then, and now we run a 5W20. But there are still some NASCAR NEXTEL Cup teams that run 15W50 motor oil because that's what they've always run."
