How To do A Burnout

Burnouts with cars are where the wheels spin, often causing a large amount of smoke, but the car does not move until the driver “pops” the car into motion. Burnouts are also known as brake burns, roll-backs and wheel-spins, depending on the technique. Heat caused by the inability of the tires to gain traction with the road, and instead suffer extreme friction causes a lot of squealing, smoke and burnt rubber.
Burnouts began in drag racing where there was a real reason for them: Drag racing tires must be heated before a race and a burnout is the best way to accomplish this goal. Burnouts also help clean drag racing tires, which is where the two strips of rubber on the pavement come from. Today, burning out has become an art in itself and competitions are held worldwide.
Burning out a regular car is a whole other matter, and cannot be done well in any old car (especially four cylinders) as they typically do not have the power/weight and torque dynamics, and obviously have the wrong kind of tires. Doing a burnout on street tires makes a lot of smoke, removes layers of expensive rubber, and accomplishes nothing of dynamic significance besides enjoyment. It can be done though,

Steps

1. Find out if you have a front wheel drive (FWD) or a rear wheel drive (RWD) car.
2. Check your hand brake, also known in slang as an E-brake, is functioning well.

Front Wheel Drive Cars

1. Put the car in first gear.
2. Hold in the clutch.
3. Rev. the engine.
4. Pull on the handbrake. Alternatively, you can skip this step.
5. Release the clutch.
6. Move the handbrake up and down to control the burnout.
7. To stop the burnout ease off the accelerator and free the brake.

Rear Wheel Drive Cars

1. Do a Basic RWD Burnout.
   1. Lightly hold down the brake with your left foot.
   2. Push the accelerator until the car moves forward a tiny bit.
   3. At the same time floor the gas and press the brake harder.

Manual Rear Wheel Drive Cars

1. 1. Depress the clutch, and rev the engine.
   2. In one quick motion, “dump” the clutch and press the brake pedal while flooring the gas.

1. Use a line locker. A line locker is a device that modifies a car so the brake pedal only engages the front brakes. This dangerous and usually illegal device makes burnout on RWD cars easier and more dramatic. A line lock is a solenoid (fancy name for a switch) that gives you some extra buttons in the drivers seat to control your brakes. To do a burn out with a line locker installed:
   1. Step on the brakes.
   2. Push the line lock button.
   3. Release the brake pedal leaving your front brakes on and disengaging your back brakes, leaving those wheel free to spin, burn and make smoke.
   4. Release the line lock button to release the front brakes and move forward.
2. Do a donut. A doughnut (donut in the USA) is a circular burnout. To do a donut in RWD cars:
   1. Find a large open area with no other cars, lampposts or other things you can hit. It is easy to lose control of a car with a donut.
   2. Begin driving in slow circles.
   3. Hit the gas hard so that the rear tires begin to lose traction.
   4. You will burn around in a circle.

Rollbacks

1. A rollback is just like a burnout, but performed on a hill. They are a good way to get a burnout in an underpowered car as the backward movement helps with traction after the burn.
   1. Find a hill.
   2. Put the car in first.
   3. Depress the clutch.
   4. Let the car roll backwards down the hill.
   5. Give the car plenty of gas.
   6. Pop the clutch.

Peel-Out

1. A Peel-Out is when the driver spins the wheels on the road before moving. This is a lesser form of burnout, because the intention is not to cause excessive tire wear, but merely to spin the wheels and create a little squeal. Peel-Outs are far easier and less dangerous to your car than a burnout. To perform the Peel-Out:
   1. Depress the clutch with the car in gear.
   2. Rev the engine high while releasing the clutch.
   3. Peeling-Out is often accomplished simply by flooring the gas pedal. This will not work in cars with small engines.

   
   
   

Tips

• If the engine stalls you haven’t revved the car high enough before popping the clutch, or your vehicle doesn’t have the power to burnout.
• To test if your car has enough power nail the gas from a stopped position and see if you can spin the tires.
• An alternative to a line lock is a “Brake Clamp”. Designed to clamp off a brake line when being worked on, these can also be used to shut off the rear brakes thus allowing only the front brakes to function when the pedal is depressed. Note: most cars have a steel brake line from the brake booster to the rear of the car, the area to put the brake clamp is a short length of rubber hose that attached to the Differential. (some cars have two separate brake lines, one for each side, in which case two brake clamps are required.
• Try changing your tires. The worse your tires are the easier it is to make them spin, plus they smoke easier and you will not ruin your good tires.
• Increase the amount of smoke by lubing your drive tires with old motor oil.
• It can help to give the tires a quick powerful spin before pulling the e-brake (front wheel drive only).
• Pouring bleach on the area where you plan to burnout will help create more smoke.

Warnings

• Always wear a seatbelt, and not just for safety but for acceleration.
• Give any passengers the option to get out before you do this.
• Burnouts are illegal in almost all municipalities. In Australia you can lose your car. In the USA, especially in California, there are a large variety of infractions that you can be cited with by an officer for burning your car, all included under the Exhibition of Speed laws including:
  • Dry Reckless – California Vehicle Code§ 23103
  • Wet Reckless
  • Off street Parking — As defined in subdivision (c) of Section 12500.
  • Unsafe Turning Movement (U-Turn Burnout or Donut)
  • Unsafe starting/backing of vehicle — California Vehicle Code§ 22106
  • Disorderly conduct with a vehicle — California Vehicle Code §23103
  • Unsafe Start
  • And many more. Each of these infractions is a two-pointer moving violation with no chance of correction by traffic school.
• Never!!! try to “Pop” the transmission in an automatic car! By revving the engine in neutral and jamming it into gear your transmission box.
• You can easily destroy or seriously damage a car by doing any of these things.
• Holding the brakes while gassing the engine is not that bad for your brakes; it is terrible for your engine, however.
• Watch where you’re going so you don’t hit someone.
• Watch how much rubber is on your tires so you don’t have a blowout.
• Check your tire pressure after each burnout.
• You may cause an axle to break if you try a burnout.
• You may destroy your clutch if done incorrectly.

Things You’ll Need

• A car with enough power and appropriate gearing to overcome the traction from the driving wheels.
• Driving skill.
• Good tires you don’t mind destroying.
• A tarmac surface, not sand, gravel or grass.