250 degree oil temp on the track ...

[Kenny Boxster]

250?! Bloody hell! I could never imagine my car capable of getting that high without some catastrophic cooling problem. But then again, I have never taken my car on the track.

[jb92563]

Synthetic oils hold up their properties better under higher heat than regular oils, but once they reach their breakdown temp they lose their lubricating properties and the engine is in dire risk of disaster.

Its always good to keep the engine/oil cooler with oil coolers but you are not near the limit for 100% synthetic oils that hold their properties to 400F degrees.
(http://www.synthetic-motor-oil-change-and-filters.com/amsoil_articles/mineral-petrolium-oil-compared-to-synthetic/)

However its the cylinder heads that might reach these temps and if the oil that lubes the piston/cylinders reaches that temp then your asking for trouble.

Since the heads are mostly water cooled I think, the coolant system would need additional cooling capacity as well.

Higher flow water pumps, bigger radiator and additional oil coolers would all help.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by Kenny Boxster

250?! Bloody hell! I could never imagine my car capable of getting that high without some catastrophic cooling problem. But then again, I have never taken my car on the track.

On the street my coolent temp gauge runs just slightly over the 180 mark all of the time and almost never varies. On the track its normal to see the coolent at 220F - and that is the coolent, the oil temp in the engine is likely higher so 250F is certainly within reason.

[Jittsl]

I don't know what my track oil temp is as I don't measure it but if it wasn't 250 degrees I would be very surprised. My gearbox gets close to 300 (or at least it did prior to fitting a transmission oil cooler). I would not be at all concerned.