In a 2-stroke engine, a "commercial" lubricant has several functions:
- it must lubricate the top and bottom of the engine.
- it enters the combustion products with the fuel
- it must be kept as clean as possible
It is easy to meet these demands because there are high-performance esters and additives.
On the other hand, on a racing engine, we will focus on pure performance:
- The engine must be lubricated, without the oil film harming the piston-cylinder heat exchange.
- It must not modify the combustion temperature otherwise the thermodynamic efficiency will be modified.
- It must remain relatively clean, but in competition the engines are revised regularly, this is not the essential point.
It is therefore obvious that a lubricant which prevents wear and fouling is very good for leisure, whereas a competition lubricant must provide something else.
Lexoil 996 lubricant has been the subject of in-depth combustion studies and represents the best possible compromise between wear, combustion speed (2-stroke karting engines are very sensitive to combustion speed because of the linear speed of the piston which comes dangerously close to combustion speed), combustion temperature stability and fouling.