Why do successful teams need the best oil?

Here at Witham Motorsport, we’re passionate about quality throughout our products. As the sole distributor of Motul automotive products in the UK, their commitment to innovative, high calibre products is one of the reasons our partnership works so well.

Oil is known as the lifeblood and essential component of any machine, but it’s one that’s often overlooked. Yet the differences between a quality oil and an average one are vast. That’s why the world’s leading race teams and performance car companies use and recommend Motul oil.

Lubricants: they might not be something we think about on a daily basis, or even think are that important, but just like an athlete uses food as a fuel to perform at their best, the lubricants you use on your vehicle can have a dramatic effect on its performance.

It’s why the top race teams, from the grids of Le Mans to the paddocks of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), spend a great deal of time thinking about the right lubricants. Because for them, it really is the difference between a race finish and a race failure.

It’s all about the right relationship

Tom Ingram is a BTCC driver competing successfully for Gazoo Racing Toyota Corolla. For him, the choice of lubricant is critical to success. “When we look for a partner, we look for one that brings something more to the game than just a sponsorship budget. Like how they add value to the team,” he said. “In Motul’s case, that was a direct impact on performance. That’s the driving force behind this partnership; not only are we working with incredibly passionate people, but the product really improves our performance. Something sponsorship budget alone can’t achieve.”

Power + reliability

And it’s not just the drivers who see the direct benefit of reliable performance powered by Motul. Richard Dean is the owner of British endurance racing team United Autosports, winner of this year’s FIA WEC world champions. For him, reliability and performance are paramount, and is the reason he chooses Motul. After his team’s impressive victory, he said: “We work with Motul products in all our cars, both LMP2 and LMP3. And because the product is just so reliable, it’s one less thing we have to worry about. To be honest if all the parts of the car were as reliable as Motul we’d all sleep a lot better at night.”

It’s a view that longstanding Motul partner Gibson Motorsport shares. UK-based Gibson builds many of the engines for international motorsport, including those fitted to LMP2 Le Mans cars. In fact, its GK428 engine has completed more than one million miles, and Gibson is currently running 52 engines globally across four different racing series. John Manchester, Gibson’s operations director, told us “We’re delighted with the support Motul gives us. And this goes well beyond engine lubricants. All of the machine shop cutting fluids are all supplied by MotulTech; hydraulic oils, workshop oils, workshop fluids etc. The whole range of products within the company are now Motul lubricants. Because we have very precise machine operation to do, it’s a very critical process for Gibson.”

But these aren’t special products created specifically for Gibson. As Manchester said: “The oil we use in our LMP2 racing engines is exactly the same oil Motul uses to sell to consumers driving in normal road cars. With the LMP1 we developed new technology oils, that offer more performance. Some of that technology and information is used by Motul for a ‘normal’ oil and helps to improve the end product and the lifecycle.”

Improving performance

More power and better reliability is the holy grail for any team, whether that’s at a grassroots level or on the international stage. “Every team wants to have more power but without compromising on reliability,” says Katsuya Arai, Motul’s head of research and development and managing director. “With one original equipment manufacturer (OEM), we managed to improve the top speed by 0.2 seconds. That gives them a major edge purely due to the lubricant.”

Katsuya leads all Motul’s R&D activity for OEMs such as Honda and Suzuki, developing specific lubricants that are designed from the ground up to work seamlessly with, and are approved for, their engines.

Katsuya explains what makes Motul’s fully synthetic lubricants so special. “ESTER Core is the name of our propriety technology for the unique mixture of the base oil with the so-called ESTER-based oil. This gives very good flow under high and low temperatures and keeps the oil film as much as possible. This helps to protect the engine.”

In essence, a quality oil such as Motul’s sticks to the metal parts of your engine, providing better protection against friction. They’ve been designed to work in extremes of temperature, in places where it can be very cold in winter and hot in summer.

Or on the racetrack, where engines and gearboxes work under maximum pressure and heat. Every Motul lubricant is certified to JASO and API international standards, as shown on the label on the back of every bottle.

“We improve our oil every year. It might be through our own tests or it might be because of pressure from an OEM. And looking at a cycle of about five years, the improvements are even more significant, and our product may increase the horsepower of an engine quite significantly,” says Katsuya. “We develop on different levels. We might change the viscosity, or we might look into the additives required. We look at our own supplier and see what additive is available or make a demand of our own.”

A passion for success

But aside from the technical side of lubricant development, there’s another aspect that marks Motul’s approach out as special. Passion. For Katsuya and his colleagues, it’s a passion for racing machines that runs deeper than just what oil they use.

“Another unique thing about the way we R&D people work at Motul, is that we like to go to the circuit to understand the machines, how they work, how they are used, how they are maintained in the field,” explains Katsuya. “We also have meetings with the OEMs at their R&D facilities to see how the individual part is designed for better performance. It’s this passion for the products that drives us forward.”

While racing activity might be the source of Motul’s technology, it’s an innovation that is being passed on to customers on the street, too. Caterham, Radical, Mono and Subaru are just some of the sports car makers who rely on Motul’s lubricants to extract the perfect balance between performance and reliability.

The highest possible standards

Another one is Brabus. The German tuning company takes high performance Mercedes models and turns up the wick to create uniquely powerful cars with more displacement, more power and more torque. Naturally, when looking for the ideal lubricant partner, we turned to Motul, as Sven Gramm, Brabus’ director of communications and advertising explains. “A Brabus supercar is luxurious, powerful and produced to the highest possible standards. In other words, just like Motul´s lubricants: fast, reliable, top quality and inimitable…” Brabus discovered that after extensive tests on its modern engine test benches as well as “live” test drives on tracks and in traffic, Motul was the perfect exclusive development partner and supplier for engine and transmission oils.

“The decisive factor for this decision were the results of the dismantling of our various test engines, which showed no signs of wear even after the greatest stress,” adds Sven. “Outstanding lubricants like those from Motul are an important part of our engine concept, which has been successful worldwide for more than four decades.”

The highest possible standards

For Brabus’ high-performance machines, an engine oil that can deliver its performance unrestrictedly and permanently is essential. “What counts here are the details and performance of the engine oil that protect the engine from a damage,” explains Sven. “This is extremely important because our high performance engines with up to 900hp and 1,500Nm result in extreme piston speeds and loads without having to forego longevity. Motul has been our reliable partner here for many years.”

Shop the full range of Motul lubricants on our website here.