Oil for occasional track days

[JayBee 3]

My 2013 GT86 is due its first oil change under my ownership.

I use the car for a mix of everyday driving and the occasional track day. I barely do 3,000 miles a year in it.

What oil should I be using, given track day use? If I take it to a regular Toyota dealer what will they put in it?

Thanks

[BRZ-123 174]

My 2013 GT86 is due its first oil change under my ownership.
I use the car for a mix of everyday driving and the occasional track day. I barely do 3,000 miles a year in it.
What oil should I be using, given track day use? If I take it to a regular Toyota dealer what will they put in it?
Thanks

Toyota will put their OE oil which will be a fully synthetic 0W-20. You are fine with it for the 3K Road miles and track day. Just buy an OBD2 dongle and use the torque Pro app to monitor oil temps. If it goes above 120C, go for a cooling lap and back to the pits.
If you want a different brand use Millers EE Nanodrive but keep the same viscosity unless you go FI.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

[Church 209]

0W-20 is ok for daily use, especially if there are short drives and winter driving involved.

For summer only and heavier track abuse 5W-30 also can be considered, which may retain oil pressure at high rpms better imho.

It's mentioned in manual/handbook, that "If SAE 0W-20 oil is not available, SAE 5W-30 oil may be used. However, it should be replaced with SAE 0W-20 at the next oil change". But as to what type of driving what suits better, imho as per above. Then again you worded as "occasional" .. imho then just don't bother with choice and go with 0W-20. I'd care more about brake pad choice and suspension alignment, then engine oil type.

[Varelco 211]

As soon as you mentioned the word 'track' I'd use 5W-30 personally, the thinner grade is purely used to reduce frictional losses and make it more efficient that's it. The thicker grade will help with oil pressures/film strength on track once it gets hot. I only use 5w-30 in my car. 

 

[Leeky 84]

I use the standard issue 0w-20 that my Toyota main dealer put in. I do many heavy track days (track weeks when it comes to places like Nur) and I've always found that as long as the oil stays below 100 degrees then pressure remains good.

Worth monitoring temps as others have said using something like the Torque App or a physical device like a ScanGauge2. If you struggle to keep temps under 100c (on these hot summer track days) then worth getting a thermostatic engine oil cooler.

[will300 812]

12 hours ago, BRZ-123 said:

Toyota will put their OE oil which will be a fully synthetic 0W-20. You are fine with it for the 3K Road miles and track day. Just buy an OBD2 dongle and use the torque Pro app to monitor oil temps. If it goes above 120C, go for a cooling lap and back to the pits.
If you want a different brand use Millers EE Nanodrive but keep the same viscosity unless you go FI.

^ This. If your only doing fast road driving and 1 or 2 trackdays a year, then the OE oil will be fine.

It might be worth asking your local Toyota dealer to see if you can get the Gazoo Racing specific oil. I know this is available for the Supra & GR Yaris: 

https://toyotagazooracing.com/jp/gr/grparts/oil/

[Kaltorak 111]

I run 0w-20 and do about 8-10 trackdays a year, considering swapping up to 5w-30. Biggest thing to do is make sure oil temps are managed either via a cooler or tracking the temps via ODB. As others have said, above 120C I'd consider backing off and letting things cool down.

I usually change the oil every 4-5 trackdays, IE half year.

For what it's worth these cars heat their oil incredibly quickly if you're pushing on track. IE on longer tracks good luck getting 2 hot laps in a row.