Power (w/ multiple dyno charts) and durability improvement from Millers Nanodrive
01-17-2013, 03:05 PM
#1
Race Car
Thread Starter
Power (w/ multiple dyno charts) and durability improvement from Millers Nanodrive
Figured it was time to give another update. I want to communicate two things about Millers Oils, more specifically the Nanodrive engine oil: Durability and power. The same mechanisms, reduced friction and a more robust additive technology, are responsible for both improvements. Been getting some interest from some spec racer guys, mostly Miata and Spec Racer Ford. That said, horsepower is horsepower, right? So, I thought I’d share some dyno charts to show what Nanodrive can do for you. This is a lot easier to show and measure, so we have more hard data on it. The lowest gains we have seen have been on the order of 1%, but some have been a few percent, with one even higher. I’ll comment on specifics after I post all of the charts, as some show interesting results.
If you missed my post in the Fall when we did our first Small Business Partner round, and want to know more about the oil, in general, you can read some background on that here. Lots of background on nanotechnology, and Milllers’ development of oils using it. Let me point out also that there’s a lot more to this than just dumping in some additive, and yes we’ve seen some on the market. Millers spend FOUR YEARS after the release of the gear oil in the research development of the engine oil.
That said, before I do, let me clarify that we aren’t trying to sell this as just oil. It is expensive for anyone who thinks of oil as merely oil. We are selling power improvement, but also a way to lower your operating costs through increased longevity, and through reduced wear and tear. Here is a case study we performed on Karl’s World Challenge/GTB1 996, where a sample was taken after every event. Approximately 1600 race miles, 17-1/2 hours over 5 weekends on a single fill of oil. Selected data (for brevity) is shown. If anyone is skeptical about the data, I can provide the full testing info if you e-mail me at hking@performanceracingoils.com.
Also, the gear oil has been out for a few years, and feedback has so far been phenomenal. It has been used pretty extensively in many rally circuits including the WRC, as well as BTCC. Feedback from those teams has been great, so much so that rebuild intervals have extended in some cases four fold. Have to watch my semantics a little better this time than I did last time, but it has been tested by a very successful F1 team, and should be running next year (a tight constructor’s championship prevented the change mid-season this year). A typical 5 Grand Prix simulation on a powertrain dyno shows a tremendous amount of wear, with the nanotechnology additive based oil, very little was seen – the engineers expressed shock at how little wear there was. Due to the reduction in wear, the team began another simulation. 7 Grand Prixs, two more than required by FIA between changes, had been run when a non oil-related failure ended the test. Again, the wear was phenomenal.
Now, as far as its use professionally, the most noteworthy occurrence was when Bryan Herta Autosports signed a technical development partnership with Millers. Additionally, KAPS transmissions has been specifying it in their racing gearboxes for a few years, now. Millers also recently signed another technical development partnership with another European gearbox supplier, Samsonas. There are other things going on that are confidential, I am hoping that I’ll be able to give updates on that, but frankly at this level, it isn’t likely I’ll be able to any time soon.
Test performed by Zytek on a Formula Reneault against the 2011 spec oil, 0W30 in both cases. More comments below. About a 1% horsepower gain:
Rogue Motorsports tests of a GT86 (Subaru BRZ and Scion FRS – against synthetic factory fill) 0W20 and an MR2 (5W40 – pre-NT CFS and Nanodrive), nearly 3% torque and 4% power. GT86 writeup link and MR2 writeup link
JB Racing for Fast Car publications Fast Ford (link to article) and Total Vauxhall tests of a Focus ST and Vauxhall Astra VXR, 5W40 against an established brand in the UK. Vaux was about 3% power and almost 5% torque. Ford was up almost 7% on torque, and down about 1% power (comments below)
Ducshop in Atlanta with multiple tests on a Ducati 848 against the racing oil they had been using, exclusively. Not quite 1% improvement in peaks, but the whole curve went up.
Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic) tests a Skoda rally car, another old Millers versus new Millers – do not have a chart, here, only a document. 1.5% power gain, torque not known.
Link
Finally a 74 RSR Clone raced by Mark Bates in England, old and new Millers oils again, 10W60. More on this, too. We don’t have a shot of these overlaid on each other, so here are before and after the change to Nanodrive. Wheel horsepower a little over 2%, torque nearly 4%. Here is a 2 page writeup on it.
Zytek test. Yes, "that" Zytek, who has built a lot of LeMans cars, etc. They are also the engine builder for the Formula Reneault series, of which this engine is an example. This one is pertinent because this was one of the first dyno tests during development. As I had mentioned, it was four years between the gear and engine oils. This particular test was a prior version of the oil, and the improvement in coefficient of friction from the non-NT to what was eventually put out in public was about twice as large as to this early oil. A retest would likely see an increase over this test.
On the Fast Car tests. Neither car was stock, they had both had aftermarket stuff. I don’t know the details of either, but the Ford chart obviously looks interesting – to say the least. We have gotten the “cross our hearts, hope to die” response when we asked if they were absolutely sure the only thing that changed was the oil. So two things – I would speculate that perhaps the turbo is a conventional one with a journal type bearing (as opposed to the newer ball bearing style), and that the reduction in coefficient of friction allowed the turbo to spool much faster. That makes the rest of the curve make sense, including the slight degradation at the top end. While the Fast Ford article kind of dismisses the drop in top end as a worthwhile tradeoff for the low end, I personally think that the intercooler got a bit more heat soaked, increasing the air charge temperature, and lowering the power reading. In other words, I don't think that a real world application would see the drop off.
On the RSR, we have discussed this with the owner, and the owner is on the same page as us – the important figure is the wheel horsepower figure, as the crank horsepower is inferred. Basically, they shut down fuel and calculate the driveline losses as the powertrain winds down. These numbers should be the same, though as the charts tell you, they are not. As a result, we are not comfortable reporting the 5% power gain at the crank, but are very comfortable with the 2.3% power gain at the wheels. We respect the dyno operator and his input, but we’d rather under promise and over deliver.
As a reminder of who are dealers are:
Apex Performance (866)505-2739
Essex Parts (704)824-6030
LN Engineering (815)472-2939
Paragon Products (800)200-9366
And now in Canada, Gabriel Maintenance Ltd. (905)688-3068
Of course, you can also buy it from us: Racer's Edge or PRO (865)862-5262 or (865)200-4264
PS - we just decided to extend our brake fluid sale through the end of the month. I'll bump that thread, too: https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-a...lers-oils.html
If you missed my post in the Fall when we did our first Small Business Partner round, and want to know more about the oil, in general, you can read some background on that here. Lots of background on nanotechnology, and Milllers’ development of oils using it. Let me point out also that there’s a lot more to this than just dumping in some additive, and yes we’ve seen some on the market. Millers spend FOUR YEARS after the release of the gear oil in the research development of the engine oil.
That said, before I do, let me clarify that we aren’t trying to sell this as just oil. It is expensive for anyone who thinks of oil as merely oil. We are selling power improvement, but also a way to lower your operating costs through increased longevity, and through reduced wear and tear. Here is a case study we performed on Karl’s World Challenge/GTB1 996, where a sample was taken after every event. Approximately 1600 race miles, 17-1/2 hours over 5 weekends on a single fill of oil. Selected data (for brevity) is shown. If anyone is skeptical about the data, I can provide the full testing info if you e-mail me at hking@performanceracingoils.com.
Also, the gear oil has been out for a few years, and feedback has so far been phenomenal. It has been used pretty extensively in many rally circuits including the WRC, as well as BTCC. Feedback from those teams has been great, so much so that rebuild intervals have extended in some cases four fold. Have to watch my semantics a little better this time than I did last time, but it has been tested by a very successful F1 team, and should be running next year (a tight constructor’s championship prevented the change mid-season this year). A typical 5 Grand Prix simulation on a powertrain dyno shows a tremendous amount of wear, with the nanotechnology additive based oil, very little was seen – the engineers expressed shock at how little wear there was. Due to the reduction in wear, the team began another simulation. 7 Grand Prixs, two more than required by FIA between changes, had been run when a non oil-related failure ended the test. Again, the wear was phenomenal.
Now, as far as its use professionally, the most noteworthy occurrence was when Bryan Herta Autosports signed a technical development partnership with Millers. Additionally, KAPS transmissions has been specifying it in their racing gearboxes for a few years, now. Millers also recently signed another technical development partnership with another European gearbox supplier, Samsonas. There are other things going on that are confidential, I am hoping that I’ll be able to give updates on that, but frankly at this level, it isn’t likely I’ll be able to any time soon.
Test performed by Zytek on a Formula Reneault against the 2011 spec oil, 0W30 in both cases. More comments below. About a 1% horsepower gain:
Rogue Motorsports tests of a GT86 (Subaru BRZ and Scion FRS – against synthetic factory fill) 0W20 and an MR2 (5W40 – pre-NT CFS and Nanodrive), nearly 3% torque and 4% power. GT86 writeup link and MR2 writeup link
JB Racing for Fast Car publications Fast Ford (link to article) and Total Vauxhall tests of a Focus ST and Vauxhall Astra VXR, 5W40 against an established brand in the UK. Vaux was about 3% power and almost 5% torque. Ford was up almost 7% on torque, and down about 1% power (comments below)
Ducshop in Atlanta with multiple tests on a Ducati 848 against the racing oil they had been using, exclusively. Not quite 1% improvement in peaks, but the whole curve went up.
Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic) tests a Skoda rally car, another old Millers versus new Millers – do not have a chart, here, only a document. 1.5% power gain, torque not known.
Link
Finally a 74 RSR Clone raced by Mark Bates in England, old and new Millers oils again, 10W60. More on this, too. We don’t have a shot of these overlaid on each other, so here are before and after the change to Nanodrive. Wheel horsepower a little over 2%, torque nearly 4%. Here is a 2 page writeup on it.
Zytek test. Yes, "that" Zytek, who has built a lot of LeMans cars, etc. They are also the engine builder for the Formula Reneault series, of which this engine is an example. This one is pertinent because this was one of the first dyno tests during development. As I had mentioned, it was four years between the gear and engine oils. This particular test was a prior version of the oil, and the improvement in coefficient of friction from the non-NT to what was eventually put out in public was about twice as large as to this early oil. A retest would likely see an increase over this test.
On the Fast Car tests. Neither car was stock, they had both had aftermarket stuff. I don’t know the details of either, but the Ford chart obviously looks interesting – to say the least. We have gotten the “cross our hearts, hope to die” response when we asked if they were absolutely sure the only thing that changed was the oil. So two things – I would speculate that perhaps the turbo is a conventional one with a journal type bearing (as opposed to the newer ball bearing style), and that the reduction in coefficient of friction allowed the turbo to spool much faster. That makes the rest of the curve make sense, including the slight degradation at the top end. While the Fast Ford article kind of dismisses the drop in top end as a worthwhile tradeoff for the low end, I personally think that the intercooler got a bit more heat soaked, increasing the air charge temperature, and lowering the power reading. In other words, I don't think that a real world application would see the drop off.
On the RSR, we have discussed this with the owner, and the owner is on the same page as us – the important figure is the wheel horsepower figure, as the crank horsepower is inferred. Basically, they shut down fuel and calculate the driveline losses as the powertrain winds down. These numbers should be the same, though as the charts tell you, they are not. As a result, we are not comfortable reporting the 5% power gain at the crank, but are very comfortable with the 2.3% power gain at the wheels. We respect the dyno operator and his input, but we’d rather under promise and over deliver.
As a reminder of who are dealers are:
Apex Performance (866)505-2739
Essex Parts (704)824-6030
LN Engineering (815)472-2939
Paragon Products (800)200-9366
And now in Canada, Gabriel Maintenance Ltd. (905)688-3068
Of course, you can also buy it from us: Racer's Edge or PRO (865)862-5262 or (865)200-4264
PS - we just decided to extend our brake fluid sale through the end of the month. I'll bump that thread, too: https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-a...lers-oils.html
Last edited by 67King; 01-17-2013 at 03:09 PM. Reason: Brake fluid mention
01-30-2013, 11:38 AM
#2
Race Car
Thread Starter
I just realized that I did not have all of the dyno charts listed on our website. Ug. At any rate, they've been updated. Some lab tests are also on the same page for anyone wishing to see how oil film and coefficient of friction look. http://performanceracingoils.com/dyn...ion-ezp-9.html if you want to take a scan over that.
Also, reminder that our brake fluid promo ends tomorrow, and will NOT be extended, again. And I apologize for the confusion caused, but it is on back order, should be getting a big shipment in in 3-4 weeks, at which point in time we will fill all of the back ordered brake fluid.
Also, reminder that our brake fluid promo ends tomorrow, and will NOT be extended, again. And I apologize for the confusion caused, but it is on back order, should be getting a big shipment in in 3-4 weeks, at which point in time we will fill all of the back ordered brake fluid.
