Sebring Race Motor Oil Commentary

[JAG]

Today I was watching the race and a Mobil technical guy (he had some big title) was discussing how Mobil 1 got the sponsorship for the race.
Sure but that doesn't interest me. Anyhow, what was interesting is that he stated which viscosity grades of Mobil 1 the 3 classes of race cars were using today.

1. Mobil 1 5w30 (Wow...I'm not a fan of it. I missed which cars were using it.)
2. Mobil 1 0W-40 (I concur. Porsche was mentioned using it.)
3. Mobil 1 15W-50 (Fair enough. I too missed which cars were using it.)

Did anyone else see/hear this today? Maybe you can recall which cars were using 5w30 and 15W-50.

 

[bdcardinal]

i heard the same, but totally missed the other cars besides the porsches.

on a side note, how awesome do those Audis sound when they are in the braking zone.

 

[Johnny]

I've been watching the race off and on and did not see that interview, but after my experience at the 24 Hours of Daytona, it would not surprise me if the P2 Acura and the Corvettes were using the 5w30.

 

[buster]

I'm surprised Mobil 1 5w30 is used over the racing 0w20/30 oils.

 

[wileyE]

Most sponsorship contracts don't dictate what's used in the race machinery. Chief mechanics and engine lease agreements determine that. One year our trailer was painted CASTROL, another parked next to us AMSOIL. Neither of us had either of those products in our engines.

 

[buster]

According to Johnny, Nascar uses Mobil 1 quite a bit. Mobil claims 70% use Mobil 1 in all three series. A Mobil guy once told me the idea that they pay race teams to use their oil is B/S. fwiw.

 

[Johnny]

I said a lot of the cars at the 24 Hours of Daytona used Mobil 1 products, not NASCAR. I'm sure some of the NASCAR teams us Mobil 1, but a lot of them use Pennzoil, Quaker State, and Valvoline. Since Mobil 1 is the "official" oil of NASCAR, all support vehicles use Mobil 1.

 

[tig1]

Here's Johnny's thread on that.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/rolex-24-hours-of-daytona.100806/

 

[buster]

My bad, thanks Johnny.

From Mobiloil.com

Quote:
And it is used by more than 70 percent of teams in the three NASCAR® series.

 

[Petrou]

what other oils were used there? oh and does anyone know where the corvettes finished, my audi diesels were #1 well one of them were, how bout that peuguot team. any way all i got were little blips cuz i live with people who hate to watch any kind of racing if it aint nascar, i love nascar but i love all motorsports, i mean i watch the entire twenty four hours of le mans, ALL OF IT. thanks

 

[bdcardinal]

Corvettes finished 6-7, 1st and 2nd in their class, the only cars in their class.

 

[gtx510]

here's the race results
http://www.americanlemans.com/events/current/results/08 Sebring Final Results.pdf

the Vette's moving to GT2 soon
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20081218/FREE/812189981

 

[zoomzoom]

I am not surprised by 5w30 use, all those cars have big oil coolers so their oil temps are not that high...

 

[Whitewolf]

Originally Posted By: buster
A Mobil guy once told me the idea that they pay race teams to use their oil is B/S. fwiw.


If you substituted the word 'pay' for the word 'reward' or 'support' the answer is, shall we say, almost certainly different.

 

[MGregoir]

Mobil has a contingency program that pays prize money if you carry the decal and use their product.

 

[Mark888]

This whole thread reminds me of golf balls on the PGA Tour. Most people agree that Titleist is the best ball and it is the most popular, but some of the top players are paid big money to play other balls (Titleist also pays some top players to play their ball). All the mid to lower level Tour players play Titleist because they are not well-known enough to get paid by any ball manufacturer.

 

[hustler]

I'm fairly certain that after you hit about $750k for a racecar, you get to order up special formulations specific to the car. I know a guy who bought a retired silk-cut Sauber from my local track and he uses a custom oil from Castrol because that's what Mercedes used when they campaigned that car.