press release from Valvoline, they are making a 50% recycled oil product "Nextgen"

News Release

Engine Protection and Environmental Benefit Meet in New Valvoline™ Motor Oil
NextGen™ Motor Oil Features Breakthrough Formula Using 50 Percent Recycled Oil

April 4, LEXINGTON, KY. – Today, Valvoline™, a brand of Ashland Inc., announced the wide-scale availability of NextGen™ motor oil. The new formula is made from 50 percent recycled oil and delivers 100 percent Valvoline engine protection. NextGen motor oil is great for engines and better for the environment, exceeding industry specifications with reduced environmental impact compared to non-recycled motor oil.

If this is true, are they using it in the Valvoline sponsored race cars, regardless of race venue?
The answer is not yet, the teams are Nascar and NHRA, and they are doing more testing. Well, I would too with millions of dollars of race car. But when I asked why would any of their race teams or sponsored teams refuse to use it without further testing? Only recently have we initiated testing with our NASCAR teams, and to your point, when there are $millions on the line, the teams have extensive testing programs with any and all formula changes - big or small. As a reference, in the past we've worked with teams a year or more 12 months developing and testing a racing formula. But given the high quality of NextGen, we plan to have our NASCAR teams racing with NextGen technology this year... we're just following a process.

Umm, so the team the oil company sponsors and provides the oil for doesn't take the oil without months, to a year, of testing. This is the race team that gets paid by the oil company to use it's product. Paid to use the oil. Paid. I repeat that because the surreal often takes longer to sink in.

It's probably far more complicated than my simple assesment or sponsor, money, endorsement, use of sponsors product and slap a decal on the race car, the firesuit the race car driver wears, the transporter trailer that hauls the team race cars around, and the posters, merchandise, and full size cardboard cutouts, plus toy cars, etc etc etc.....all with the name of the oil that the race team doesn't trust.

But that is likely why I'm a broke car guy, and not an oil company exec. I'd give that race car team their walking (pun intended) orders and cut the endorsement deal if they weren't using the new stuff I'd just sunk money into developing, or I'd fire the R&D department for not making the race car team test the damn oil in the first place before selling it to the public. Sounds like a more logical arrangement of steps to releasing the oil and the publicity campaign... (but no one asked me, cause I don't have college degrees and capital letters after my last name... other than JACG)

NextGen motor oil is the culmination of years of continued research, technology and innovation from Valvoline scientists coupled with improvements in the oil re-refining process. Valvoline chemists now have the ability to pair the company’s award-winning additive chemistry with recycled base oils that meet its exacting standards. The result is a high-performance product that uses 50 percent recycled oil and matches the quality of other Valvoline motor oils (that use non-recycled base oil).

Sam Mitchell, President of Valvoline. “NextGen takes advantage of our technology and expertise in a formulation that uses recycled oil and delivers the quality and performance we demand to put the Valvoline ‘V’ on the bottle.”

Oil Can Be Re-Used
Since base oil doesn’t completely wear out – it simply gets dirty

Doesn't that statement contradict the previously published information in oil company advertising that oil breaks down in the heat of the engines?

That the longer oil is in use the more it breaks down?

Here is what is on the net about oil breakdown:

" Synthetic oils withstand higher temperatures before breaking down, and have more base stock and less viscosity modifiers. Synthetics wear out, become acidic, and eventually become saturated with suspended soot particles, just like regular oil." http://www.nordicgroup.us/oil.htm
Driving by nature is stressful on an engine. You hit the brakes, speed up and idle for long periods of time. Not only is it stressing your engine, it's also generating huge amounts of heat that can shear and volatize your motor oil.
http://www.castrol.com/castrol/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9014502&contentId=7017078

I forgot to ask specifically about this point, but the gist of what I was told is that the base oil is not damaged, it's the additives and contaminants suspended in the oil. So sending used oil through the refinery, is like sending paper or aluminum back through the purification processes that recycle them, and you get perfectly fine base oil from the refinery which Valvoline purchases, tests, then mixes up with the recipe of additives and you get Nextgen.

used oil can be re-refined and re-used. Today’s re-refining technology has advanced significantly and now follows a technical process almost identical to that used for crude oil refining. The manufacturing process also offers environmental benefits, lessening the carbon footprint (versus crude refining) while producing base oil just as good as crude.

The Recycling Opportunity
American cars and trucks use over three billion quarts of motor oil each year. While many Americans dispose of used oil properly, Valvoline aims to inspire more to follow suit. One gallon of improperly disposed oil can contaminate up to one million gallons of drinking water. In addition to its potentially harmful effects to our ecosystems, oil is also a precious resource. If every American switched to NextGen recycled motor oil, it would save 400 million gallons of crude oil. That’s enough barrels to stretch from New York to Los Angeles and back – every year.

National Call-to-Action: Let’s Do M.O.R.E. (Motor Oil Recycling Education)
April is National Recycling Month and Valvoline is focusing its efforts on M.O.R.E. (Motor Oil Recycling Education). NextGen motor oil provides a platform to educate consumers about the larger environmental impact we can achieve through completing the cycle: changing oil, recycling oil and using recycled oil products.

Consumers can find out more about motor oil recycling at http://www.nextgenmotoroil.com/

Valvoline, a brand of Ashland Inc., has been serving American motorists longer than any other motor oil. The Valvoline family of products includes Eagle One® appearance products, Car Brite® car restoration products, Zerex® antifreeze, SynPower® performance products, Pyroil® automotive chemicals and MaxLife® products created for higher-mileage engines.