Embarrassing newbie question...

[Anquetil]

Would like to take my 33 down the strip some time soon, but have never honestly done a burnout in my life.

I should be doing a burnout before a run to get some heat in the tyres for a better gripping launch right?

Should I begin with no burnouts to start off with?

So how do you initiate a burnout. What footwork is involved?

How embarrashment :Oops:

Thanks for any tips.

[EnricoPalazzo]

if u r worried about stalling it, then practice somewhere where noone is around. All u need to do is put the car is first, press clutch in, rev to 4-5krpm, drop clutch while foot still on accerator. with ur left foot that is now off the clutch put it on the brakes to stop the car moving forward to fast. depending on how hard ur left foot is on the brake will determine whether the car creaps forward or stays in one spot.

Its pretty easy, so dont worry and give it a try.

Goodluck

[wreckedhead]

you can also try heel and toe, its where you press the brake with your right foot heel, and accelerate with your right foot toes, using the left leg to changes through the gears while in the same spot.

[MrBlonde]

Would like to take my 33 down the strip some time soon, but have never honestly done a burnout in my life.  

I should be doing a burnout before a run to get some heat in the tyres for a better gripping launch right?  

Should I begin with no burnouts to start off with?

 

So how do you initiate a burnout. What footwork is involved?Thanks for any tips.

Shane, here is my point of view:

+ Street Radials: there is no benefit from a burnout because street tyres do not work the same way as drag radials or drag slicks. They do not work better when heated up. Just drive around the water box and avoid getting the tyres wet. You might want to turn the tyres over to blast off any debris or water but this is just brief. Not everyone agrees with me.

+ Drag radials: Can benefit from a bit of heat. Watch staging official, drive slowly forward and on to water box. Stop when the marshal indicates you are in the water box (or perhaps just out of the water box.

Select the appropriate gear (1st, 2nd or 3rd depending on your horsepower, the higher the gear the more power required to turn the tyres over). When the official signals to start your burnout, dial in some revs and drop the clutch. You can dance your left foot over to touch the brake a tad and balance the revs via throttle with forward movement via brake (takles a bit of practice).

Now if you continue to creep forward and start to copntact your tyres with dry sticky track then you're obviously going to put more strain on your driveline.

When you've got some heat into the DRs, just let off the brake and /or drop revs a tad and your car will creep forward. Get off the gas and bring the car to a halt.

Now how much is enough is a matter of opinion. Generally the first couple of runs you get some good heat going and subsequent passes require a smaller burnout.

+ Slicks: As above but the slicks are designed to respond to more heat.

With DRs and slicks, too much heat can be detrimental. Perhaps go to a GRoup One-Four meeting and watch how the successful racers do a burnout. You can pay more attention to cars that seem similar in setup to your own. How long do they do the burnout for? Where do they put their rear tyres to begin? Do they sit in the water box or roll through? Where do they stop their burnout?

Regarding how to start, there are a whole lot of things to get right in a very short space of time for a beginner. It might pay to forget the burnout on your first pass or so to minimise how many thinhgs you are thinking about. You can then introduce a short burnout as you get more relaxed and comfortable.

Once you've got your burnout szussed then you can concentrate on the tree and your launch - very important aspects (more important than a burnout??).

Remember it's all about having fun!

[Anquetil]

Very interesting.

Thanks all for the constructive feedback.

[Nexus9]

Shane a few of us are hitting Willowbank tomorrow night for the T&T, you should come out and have a go.

Good thing about T&T is that you can practise all the above without fear of embarrashment

[Anquetil]

New rims go on tomorrow so with a balance & allignment it will hopefully sort out my violent vibration issues at 110+.

Unitil the next T&T, I have the G-Tech and a certain vacant cain field road out Jacobs Well way in mind for some practice

Shane a few of us are hitting Willowbank tomorrow night for the T&T, you should come out and have a go.

Good thing about T&T is that you can practise all the above without fear of embarrashment

[Duncan]

actually if you're on road tyres and heading out for the first time, I reckon you should focus more on how the lights work, its all over pretty quickly unless you are ready for it.

but then again the burnout is the fun bit

[2rismo]

Forget the guy/girl in the other lane. Seriously. Just concentrate on getting off the line. Also, ignore you reaction time and for your first runs, launch after the green. The timers only start when you break the beam.

Good luck mate!

Adrian

[Anquetil]

Ahhh ok, so it doesn't time you until you launch, thats good.

Taking your reaction time into account, should I launch on a certain 'light'.

Thanks.

[2rismo]

The real idea is to launch the instant you actually SEE the last yellow drop. Don't anticipate this, just as soon as you see the light, start your run.

Trust me

Adrian

[benm]

Shane like you I honestly have never done a burnout in my car and don't really intend to on public roads etc. I have however done around 40 passes at the drags and all I do is what MrBlonde said above.

At WSID they make you stop in the water so all I do is drop the clutch from 3,000rpm and the car skids forward abit just enough to scrub all the crap/water off the tyres. No smoke, no big black lines just fresh rubber and no water. I'm using standard 225/50/16 road tyres and about 186rwkw. I do consistent 2.1's with minimal wheelspin.

At the old Eastern Creek track all I did is roll thru the water (no burnout, nothing) and I still got consistent 2.1's on my very first night. As some of the others have mentioned above, just worry about getting to the finish line in 1 piece for your first night out. Don't worry about your reaction time, the other lane, just wait until the light goes green and drop the clutch (3-5k rpm depending on your clutch/car/traction). Even a 14sec pass is over soooo quickly I still get to the end and think "wtf I did just do for the past 14sec" because it is all over so fast.

[relicr31act]

Listen to Mrblonde he knows da shit!!!!!

[Russco]

Shane, I got to disagree with some of the previous advice in relation to radials - it may be good if you're happy with 2.1 sec 60 foot times but anything over 2 sec is pretty ordinary in my book. Still heat your radials up, my rule of thumb is that if I can see any spectators behind me then I do not have enough heat in my tyres - a good burnout can easily net a 1.9sec 60 foot on just 225 x 60 x 15's! Another point I'll add is that the track at Willowbank is a LOT grippier than the street, you'll need to dial more revs into your launch otherwise it will bog. I always find street meets to be better than test-n-tunes if you're chasing good times as they are prepare the track better ie spray more VHT compounds on the track.

A good starting point for the tree is to go as soon as the tree hits the last yellow (pending how well you hook up). Waiting for the green gives you a shocker reaction time!

[2rismo]

but anything over 2 sec is pretty ordinary in my book. Still heat your radials up, my rule of thumb is that if I can see any spectators behind me then I do not have enough heat in my tyres - a good burnout can easily net a 1.9sec 60 foot on just 225 x 60 x 15's!

Who changes there tyres to be smaller than standard?!?!?! Anyway, ordinary street radials usually respond poorly to being overheated. They are designed for specific operating temps that are not replicated after a massive burnout at the drag strip. In fact, some DRAG RADIALS perform worse when heated up too much.

Now I am a bit of a hypocrite in preaching the anti-smokeshow message but to be fair to any new people reading this, you're wrong.

Adrian

[2rismo]

Oh, and if a good burnout can EASILY net a 1.9 sec 60', why isn't everyone doing sub-2.0's?

Adrian

[Russco]

Adrian, just trying to help give Shane some practical advice not start bitching sessions! 15's was just an example (ie my old manual VL turbo piece of sh*t) - as to why everyone does over 2.0 sec 60 foot times well that could be a multitude of reasons ranging from suspension to driver skill - most Skyline's (like mine) are probably set up to go around corners more so than quarter mile sprints. Getting heat into NON-DRAG radials (wasn't referring to DRAG RADIALS) has always netted me at least .2 sec in the 60 foot & I've done a lot of runs down the quarter mile in a lot of different cars - if you seriously think you can get better 60 foot times on COLD street radials you are kidding yourself.