For those of you that race at the track I've a couple things I've been wondering... do you do the smoke shows to warm tires before you make your run a 'la the high hp muscle/funny cars? (I'm assuming that's what it's for anyway, make the tires stickier)
If so, how would you do so in a front wheel drive manual transmission? No worries, not that I'm going to try it, I've just always wondering how it's done. I know how a rear wheel drive auto would do it :p
Finally, when do you shift? When I'm driving around town I usually shift at about 3100. Just sounds right to me, and just for the record I'm not new to driving manual. Have been for 8 years, just seems like that'd be the right time.

i warm up my tires cause i have drag radials and they work better that way. i dont think there is any real need to do that on your normal street tires. unless you just want to clean them off.
i beleive most people shift at redline



Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!

Driving around town is completely different from driving at the track.

You shift around 3k rpm to get better fuel mileage. If you want to accelerate as fast as possible, you generally floor it all the way up to the redline in these cars and then shift.

As for doing the burnout... as mentioned you'd only do that on tires that require it, which are drag slicks. With street tires you don't gain any traction with heat and can actually lose traction. You can give them a quick spin to throw off pebbles and stuff but that's it. Basically, once you hear them squeal, you're done. No smoke or anything.

If you've got the drag slicks and need to do a burnout, you can generally do so just by revving up and dropping the clutch quick enough to break traction. Hold the rpm's up and they'll spin and burn. If you haven't enough power to do this, then you probably don't really need slicks anyway.

Thank you both. Like I said, not planning on doing this myself, just a general curiousity. But, thanks again.

don't forget to set the handbrake so you'll sit and spin


Spelled the way I want

Wild Weasel wrote:Driving around town is completely different from driving at the track.

You shift around 3k rpm to get better fuel mileage. If you want to accelerate as fast as possible, you generally floor it all the way up to the redline in these cars and then shift.

As for doing the burnout... as mentioned you'd only do that on tires that require it, which are drag slicks. With street tires you don't gain any traction with heat and can actually lose traction. You can give them a quick spin to throw off pebbles and stuff but that's it. Basically, once you hear them squeal, you're done. No smoke or anything.

If you've got the drag slicks and need to do a burnout, you can generally do so just by revving up and dropping the clutch quick enough to break traction. Hold the rpm's up and they'll spin and burn. If you haven't enough power to do this, then you probably don't really need slicks anyway.

Ah weasel, you've learned so much between now and that fatefull day at the bash..........

Jonathan French (minitransam) wrote:Ah weasel, you've learned so much between now and that fatefull day at the bash..........

Hey! Shut up, you!!!

ecotechtuner (Seth) wrote:don't forget to set the handbrake so you'll sit and spin

You don't need the hand brake when you have enough power. For slicks Yes but street tires are so easy to spin.



Gilles
2.3 Ho

The track I race at has a lot of rubber built up, so I usualy don't do one. The ebrake methode is used to piss off my stoner neighbor.


Spelled the way I want

Some suggestions for your FWD burnout:

1. Use second gear. First gear really can't develop enough speed to be effective.
2. Use a 'spotter' to determine that both tires are actually spinning, especially with a stock open differential. Spinning just one tire is death for the differential (you may want to visit the Wheels and Tires section here to see the sticky on Slicks vs. Street Tires for more info).
3. Use enough water to get both tires spinning. Usually what works best is to have several inches of water out ahead of the tires before you start the burnout...again, your spotter can help you position correctly. If you don't have your own 'spotter', some tracks have cooperative burnout personnel that will locate you correctly...feel free to call this person over to the car to tell him what you are looking for.
4. With enough water under the tires, tach it up to 5000 RPM or so and just drop the clutch. This is the ONLY time you should ever do this, as 'side-stepping' the clutch when traction is available is one of the biggest no-no's. But in the water, the tires will instantly break loose, negating any damage to driveline. Slipping the clutch excessively in a burnout tends to not only hurt the clutch, but it also usually results in just one tire breaking loose.
5. Avoid the urge to 'drive out of the burnout' with tires spinning. At best, the car should move a few inches forward and just begin to 'hook up'...at that point, push in the clutch and cease your burnout. Continuing forward after that point just beats up the equipment, for usually only one tire will continue to spin, and if one or both tires hit the really sticky area past the burnout box, the sudden hookup can really shock the driveline.
6. If you didn't get a 'clean' burnout, just move forward and stage the car anyway, and try to improve next time. Attempting to repeat a burnout is very hard on the clutch, especially in light of the fact that the next operations are a launch and full-power upshifts. Arriving at the starting line with an already-overheated clutch really can shorten clutch life. I've seen people just destroy the clutch completely on one pass if they are not aware of this.

Use these methods and you will get much better component life, as well as more consistent performance.



Bill Hahn Jr.
Hahn RaceCraft

World's Quickest and Fastest Street J-Bodies
Turbocharging GM FWD's since 1988
www.turbosystem.com