There’s no better promotional resource for a performance manufacturer than the positive reviews of its customers, and if you ask Australian Competition Eliminator racer Tony Bellert his thoughts on Driven Racing Oils’ line of products, you’ll get nothing but a glowing response. Not only is Bellert a racer with an engine combination that has ultra-high demands on its lubricants and oiling system, but he’s also the engine builder that puts it all together and sees the end result of how those lubricants operate in an environment that soars over 10,000 rpm.
Bellert, who owns and operates TBRE Performance in Queensland, Australia, competes in the A/DA division within Competition Eliminator with his Spitzer Race Cars-built dragster, which has a 400 cubic-inch, small-block Chevrolet engine (essentially an Australian Pro Stock powerplant) between the framerails. The mill is outfitted with SBC splayed valve heads, a sheetmetal intake, and a pair of Dominator carburetors on top, all of which is transferred through a Powerglide transmission. With that combination, Bellert has the distinction of owning the quickest naturally aspirated small-block pass in the country, at 6.834 seconds.
Bellert uses Driven’s XP2 synthetic racing oil in his engine, Super-F (a product developed between Driven and ATI Performance Products) in the transmission, Super Speedway Synthetic Gear Oil in the differential, along with CSP (Coolant System Protector) to keep the water jackets protected and EPC chassis grease to lube the slip joints in his dragster frame. In his shop, Bellert relies on Driven assembly grease for installation of pushrods and HVL (High Viscosity Lubricant) synthetic assembly oil and BR30 (5W-30 Break-In Oil) on engine assembly and run-in of a freshly-built motor.
“On a full pass, we run the engine out to 10,400 rpm, and we have never had an oil-related issue with the engine,” Bellert tells us. “As we do all of our engines in-house here at TBRE Performance, for ourselves and our customers, we use a lot of the Driven products exclusively. Not one of our engines we build leaves here without the BR in it.”