Race Engine Oil Analysis - How much wear metal is excessive?

I recently had an oil analysis done on my race motor for the first time.

The level of wear metals is a bit concerning to me. The analysis provider just states "above average wear is normal for a race engine" - obviously that's true.... But at what point does it become excessive and indicate a problem? They refused to give any real answer to that question. I'll probably use a different tester next time that is more familiar with race conditions.

For context, after just 300 miles of racing, it had the same number of wear metals that it would have had from 20,000 miles of average road driving of the same engine.

This is just the first time I've done this test, so it's just one point on a graph. I'll need to do a few more events and tests to get enough data to see a trend and figure out what "normal" is.

Until then, can anyone share experience that's had these kind of tests done? How does race mileage typically stack up against road mileage in terms of average wear rate?

Well, what's being worn out mostly (providing the engine was built properly) is the piston rings and cylinder walls. Usually you do two things to check on their conditions - compression test and leak test...

Bearings are different story. If they are getting excessively worn out the only way to confirm it is to physically cheсk...

As Shota said, exactly what metals is rather important, as is whether it's a fressh build where some slight 'wear in' might be expected, and whether an air filter is used will also have a significant affect on ring and bore wear.

As Shota also said, bearing wear is the biggest concern, as there should be ngligible evidenc of it if the clearances are correct, and oil is doing it's job.