Engine Oil

Running a team of up to 7 rally cars in an event, we have to ensure all the cars perform at the peak of performance and reliability. After all, there is usually less than 20 minutes of time allowed in the service area (pits) during a rally to check, adjust and maintain each car. The last thing we need on an event is a major mechanical failure in one of the  engines that causes a retirement and an expensive repair bill. That is one of the reasons why we choose our engine oils carefully. Many people have an opinion on which engine oil to run and we have formed ours from experience. Over the years we have used many different types of engine oil in many different types of engines. We used to run Mobil 1 engine oil as it was one of the first fully synthetic oils on the market. We found Mobil 1 a bit too thin which caused noisey valve trains and a few leaky seals. For a while we tried using a Valvoline performance oil too, however it seemed to cause premature engine wear and seemed to go black very quickly, especially on engines fitted with twin Webber carbs. In the end we found Castrol Edge to be the best all round performer for  the money.

In our team we have naturally aspirated  and turbo charged cars, older style engines and modern equipment, we use the same oil in all of them. Rally car engines are highly tuned and spend most of their life at full throttle in extreme conditions that can range from cold, wet and muddy to hot and dusty. Our Turbo charged rally cars also run specialised engine management and have anti lag in the map which produces intense heat and pressure in the engine and turbo. If the engine oil is not rated for extreme conditions an engine failure will be a certainty. 

We don’t just use this oil in our rally cars either. So reliable have we found it, we use Cit in all of our everyday road cars and  support vehicles as well. One of our oldest service vehicles is a 1995 Holden (Isuzu) Rodeo utility with the 2.6L Petrol engine. We bought the ute with a well used 330,000km on the clock. The first thing we did was drain the old black oil out of the sump when we got the car back to the workshop. The engine was quite noisey in the top end and we wondered whether the engine needed a rebuild. A quick engine oil flush, a new filter and a refill with Edge did the trick. Straight away the engine was noticeably quieter and power improved.  Our philosophy is that good engine oil is cheap insurance. 5L of good quality oil is much cheaper than a new engine!