Burnout Procedure Without a Line-lock
 

I was asked to post a technique for doing a burnout without a line-lock. Here it is:

Burnout Procedure Without a Line-lock

1) Put car in Competitive Driving mode (C5) or TC-Off (C6)
2) Drive around the water.
3) Back into the damp area, not the wet area. Back up enough to get 3/4 or more of the tire tread damp. Don't spin the tires in the water. You just want to get most of the tread with a sheen of water.
4) Roll forward to the leading edge of the damp area. Start the burnout there. Do NOT roll so far as to put the rear wheels onto the heavy sticky rubber/VHT prepped area.
5) The car should start and finish the burnout with no more that a foot or so of forward movement.
6) Put the tranny in 2d gear. This will enable the tires to heat faster, because they’ll spin at a higher indicated mph. Since the tires are damp, they spin quite easily in 2d.
7) Drop the clutch, feed the throttle and immediately lightly apply the brakes with your left foot. The brakes are helpful for keeping the rear-end from walking sideways.
8) Bring the rpm to about 5000 and hold it there until the tires smoke strongly and start to drag down the rpm. At that point, back out of the throttle and release the brakes. You'll roar forward. The tires are heated.
9) It is helpful if you adjust the driver’s outside mirror to view the left rear wheel/smoke.
10) Warning, if you botch the burn-out, DON'T retry it with dry tires. Doing that will likely glaze the clutch...or…break an axle.
11) Practice will help get the synchronization of the foot movements.

You can practice in a level asphalt parking lot with water from a couple gallon jugs.Draw a couple lines with chalk to help establish an alignment guide. Pour out three or four gallons of water generally at the wheel points. Voila. You’ve got a pseudo water-box. An observer/spotter is a plus.

Don’t worry about brake wear. Four seconds on the brakes is like braking 60-10. You do that every time you drive the car.

Here is a link to a video of Ranger's Burnout without a Line-lock Please right click save as......

In the vid I'm on DRs. Would have spun the stock tires just to first decent smoke.

Backed into the damp area just past the concrete stripe and then pulled forward to the leading edge of the damp area.

Play it slow-mo. I drop the clutch and hit the brakes. You can see the brake lights. I spun them to strong smoke; and when the rpm began to be drawn down...then backed out of the throttle and released the brakes. You can see the two marks in the surface where the tires spun. The whole process took four seconds.

Ranger

Thanks, Ranger, for putting that together. This will certainly help newbies like me just getting into real track racing.

Questions:
1. I've been told by others not to use 2nd. If you've heard this too, would you comment on why people say this, and why you do it anyway?
2. Just to clarify the feet....you're on the clutch with the left, brake with the right. You switch the right to the throttle, bring the rpm's up, then drop the clutch and swing the left to the brake. When you get some good smoke and the rpm's fall, you let off both throttle and brake simultaneously, put on the clutch and go to neutral and jump forward a little. Right?
3. I admit I have had a little trouble even seeing the water box, when it's dark out. Thankfully, we have people there to guide us back. Have you encountered this?
4. Btw, you can tell the Viper in the video isn't as experienced with this!

Thanks John! I even saved this Video to my Treo Phone.. For a little reminder at the track.. Cannot wait to get my car on the road again!:smash:

I botched a burnout long ago in my C5 doing a 2nd gear burnout. Tires weren't wet and I had pulled up to far. Dropped the clutch and started revving like usual until I smelled smoke. Problem was it wasn't tires! Clutch was burning. Since then I do 1st gear burnouts only and don't have any trouble getting the tires smoking.

But to that clutch's defense, it never slipped - not that run, nor any other runs until I replaced it when I got H/C.

1. Using 2d gear, spins the tires faster and thus shortens the duration of the burnout. Some folks may prefer 1st gear under the belief that a clutch release in 2d is harder on the clutch. I don't think that's true because the tires are damp and they spin every easily in 2d.

2. Close. When the rpms begin to be drawn down, ease up on the throttle, release the brake, and depress the clutch. Then shift to 1st and stage.

3. After driving aroung the water, I open my door and look down at the rear wheel and verify the proper positioning of my rear wheel in the damp area. I keep the door open until I've pulled forward to the spot for starting the burnout.

4. The Viper driver is a famous guy in the Viper community. 11.55 in a very-near-stock RT10 on stock tires. But he doesn't heat the tires; just what he calls "cleaning them off." I heat stock tires with a full burnout, just less smoke. Instead of four seconds start to finish, just three.

Ranger

Another advantage of a 2nd gear burnout is that your less likely to overheat the car for the launch and run