Originally Posted By: Tom NJ
Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Redline's user base is their lab. They have exposure to pro teams running week in and week out and they find out early when things go awry.
Redline's method exposes them to some builds that are more bizarre, or out there, like twin turbo's with NOS which can be making ferocious rod loads about 3/4 track (drag racing). Getting a look at how the bearings hold up is key to tweaking the oil products ...
+1
I began calling on Red Line over 30 years ago and at one time knew the founders very well. We sold them quite a bit of polyol esters back then. What attracted me to them was their relationships with racing pit crews and mechanics, giving them the ability to be present during tear downs and observe the immediate effects of formulation changes. I was also impressed by the stacks of praise and endorsements they had from top racers, piled high in their office and not used for marketing. I appreciated their willingness to pay more (a lot more) for the highest performing ingredients. They embraced new higher performance POEs without asking about the price, very rare in this industry, and did most of their own formulating with guidance from additive companies and racing feedback.
Companies change over time and I can't speak for the Red Line of today as I have been retired for 10 years, but there remains a warm spot in my heart for them. They were a refreshing stand out in a sea of profit driven marketers.
TomNJ/VA
I have a soft spot because they're local. They used to be located in Martinez, which is where I've been for jury duty. They're in Benecia now, which is just across the Carquinez Strait. However, I suppose Chevron is local too, with its HQ in San Ramon and the lubricant division at the Richmond refinery. I don't know how "local" a big multinational oil company could really be.
I did like how back in the 90s I contacted Red Line and I had a rep answer every single question I had.
I've only used their gear oils and fuel additives. Their engine oils seemed to reflect the price is no object philosophy that your post indicates. However, other than racing use or extended OCI, I never saw the point of spending that much on motor oil. They also never got any API certs for anything, which can be a deal breaker with many potential customers. They did have interesting gear oils. Many felt uncomfortable using engine oil in Honda manual transmissions, and MTL seemed like a reasonable answer to the issue of synchro engagement. It took Honda a few years before they came up with their own dedicated manual transmission fluid. Then their 75W90NS seemed like a good way to handle the issue of LSD additives affecting performance in GL-5 spec'ed manual transmissions. SI-1 was the only fuel additive I recall that had a maintenance dose rather than recommending dumping the entire bottle. I also had a local source that sold it for less than $4 a bottle.
I understand that the owners sold the business because they were looking forward to retirement. I didn't mean to denigrate their development people, but I was just thinking that the technical competence of any major oil company's tribologists is probably such that they could pretty much do what Red Line did if given the same mission. I'm thinking Shell's Formula 1 program may be the most advanced racing lubricant program anywhere, but it's questionable how much that benefits the local, unsponsered racer.
They certainly haven't tried to look like they're anything but a small operation, although I'm sure they're pretty big. Their bottle labels look like something ordered from the local printer and glued on by hand. I'm pretty sure they could have gone to silk screened labels or at least die cut labels, but never did.