Oil change frequencey?

Ahhh... so gorgeous today I went ahead and did my ANNUAL spring oil change. Wow, that was some nasty looking oil that came out.

I put about 1200 miles on it last year (since the last change). That's driving to and doing about 12 AutoX events, so maybe 5% are "hard miles".

Should I be changing my oil more frequently? I just don't remember it looking this bad the last couple of years. My car has 122,000 miles and is leaking a little at the rear main seal, which means I'm dumping in about 1/3 quart of Rotella T6 every other event... I figure this is helping, not hurting the situation.

I wasn't hung-over this morning, so maybe that's the problem...

Seriously, should I be really be changing the oil more often? I could understand frying it after a couple track days, but AutoX?

If the only mileage your car gets is to/from and at autocrosses, I would change more frequently - at least every 6 months. Oil degrades from time and exposure to combustion byproducts as well as from mileage. Call it cheap insurance.

I change the oil on the S2000 every 3 months, regardless of mileage, but I daily drive the car, so it does rack up more mileage than yours.

The wife's car (which sees less mileage than mine and no hard use) gets an annual oil change with extended life Mobil1.

send a sample to Blackstone to get a very definitive answer.