Quote Originally Posted by wolfgang20878 View Post
First of all, changing the oil once a year if you’re tracking your car is way too little. Should be every track weekend or two or three. If you are running hot, there’s a problem (thermostat?), or maybe you just need to change the oil for each event so you know you have the right level. During a race weekend, I will add up to a quart of oil to my race car. You can get a reading from an oil analysis company like Blackstone that tells you if you’ve over-heated the oil, how much performance is left, etc. Second, you may want a better oil, like Joe Gibbs or Redline. You can’t run a full race oil because it will kill your catalytic converter, but there are alternatives for running performance street cars. Maybe also a better oil filter, one that has no bypass valve. Third, get dedicated oil temp and pressure gauges, the stock ones aren’t accurate enough. You might call someplace like BimmerWorld, which races BMWs, for their advice. Don’t bother with the BMW dealer unless they race and you can talk with the guy that maintains the race cars.
Hi John,

Thanks for getting back to me. The frequency of oil changes seems to be one of the most widely varying suggestions I've received; similar to your suggestion of changing oil after every track weekend to once, right before the season starts. I tend to err on the cautious side and next year, may change the oil more frequently, maybe after every 3rd track event. I don't know if this is an issue with my oil sensor but after installing the bigger oil cooler and oil pan with baffle, I immediately got a warning light that the oil level is too low. I know for sure that the oil level was not too low because we had just put in 9 quarts (more than factory spec) to account for the bigger oil cooler. After adding another 1/2 quart of oil, the computer then said there was too much oil which is what I suspected was going to happen. Since then, I have done 10 track days without adding any extra oil but the low oil warning light comes on intermittently; interestingly it comes on when I turn off the engine, after driving. A good old dip stick would have been helpful but our friends at BMW thought differently. So, I'm left with wondering how much oil there really is in the engine or adding a little at a time in the hopes that I won't add too much.

I have been using Liquid-Moly for the past 2 years because I thought it was the best for my car. I wasn't even aware of the brands you mentioned but will certainly look into them. I've deleted both cats so I guess I could run a full race oil? I'll do some research on oil filters as I'm not knowledgeable about the pros/cons of having a bypass valve. I agree that it is time for dedicated temp gauges. I picked out a few this past Spring but with all of the other expenses, decided that I would hold off until this offseason. But yes, they are now a priority.