I wanted to discuss The Burnout. I havent had much experience in doing burnouts. Back when I started drag racing the maxima I had street tires and would just spin them to clean and go.

I believe its been two good seasons with my drag radials now and maybe around 10-12 races on them in that time.

Im slowly getting better at the process but im always looking for pointers.

I think the main things are using the ebrake and the use of the water to get the tires warmed up.

The Water

Ok you want to get some water on the tires in the water box. For me I have found just doing a burnout in the water box helps me get the tires spinning and smoking and then I would let off the ebrake a bit and the car would move forward. But now I hear that this might not be a good idea because the wheels are throwing water onto the guards and the water is dripping back onto the track and tires ?

Does anyone have any thoughts regarding that ? Is this just too technical or true ?

Or should I park the front wheels in the water box and then when its time to burnout just drive up forward and then do the burnout. Doing the burnout in less water would lessen the chance of the water being thrown all over the car if thats what happens.

But what im finding is that im having a hard time doing a burnout without a good amount of water. the car just wants to drag me off and down the track?
And this is with ebrake all the way up and dumping the clutch at 4500-5000 rpms.

Moving on. Given the proper burnout has started and the tires are cooking up and smoking and the car is not moving. At this time is when we want to move the steering back and forth in an attempt to grab a bonus and get both wheels to warm up.

anyways thats a bit of a read but hope to get some replys. I was a bit disappointed with my 60 foots last race (the track was possibly to tough to tame) but considering what we have to pay for drag radials here, I need to learn how to get them warmed up the best I can. A pair cost us $740 dollars NZ <----

 

Good questions. Personally, since I can't hold my car in the water box anyway, and I'm VLSD automatic, I would spin 'em up around 5K and be pulled out of the water box onto pavement and ease off the throttle when the tires bit hard. No water on the tires and whatever water was on the chassis dripped off while I was waiting to be staged - back from the front slicks.

I was careful not to shift into 2nd gear while doing a burnout, since when you come out, you're gonna leap out onto the dry pavement, and maybe have to back up. Plus that's really a severe shock to an automatic.

 

I roll through the water box and have my tires at the very edge (end) E-brake up, drop the clutch spin 'em and then ease off the e-brake and let 'er roll forward.

 

Some cars enter the water box and the guy is telling them to keep pulling forward. They spin the tires over one time to get a nice water coating. Then they pull completely out of the water as per the guys instructions. Then they light them up without slinging any water anywhere.

At my track, I have to pull onto the track, then back into the water box. My guy is pretty good at directing me. He tells me when to stop. Then I pull forward a foot after my slicks are completely wet. Then I yank the ebrake hard, put the car in 1st gear, push the gas and let them spin. I try to keep the revs at 5K rpms for as long as I can until the slicks physically pull me out of the water box. My rear wheels are locked. So it drags me out of the water box.

Then I try to stage as soon as possible hoping the other guy doesn't hold me up.

I have tried shifting into 2nd gear. Doesn't work on my car at all. I don't have enough power to keep the tires spinning in 2nd gear. My brother's 500hp 454 Chevelle would easily shift into 2nd gear during the burnout. But not a Maxima under 200whp!

Also, try not to ever bounce off the rev limiter during your burnout. I found that this can lock me into fail safe mode and I have to shut the car off, then back on in order to prevent me running a 1/4 mile pass locked in 3rd gear. After my burnout, I always blip the throttle on dry pavement to make sure I'm in 1st gear, plus to see how traction is.

 

thanks for that, its good to hear some points from guys with the same sorta car. plus being fwd, etc. in this pic you can see not only do we have to work out a waterbox burnout plan, but there is stinking gravel before you drive up through the waterbox and onto the pad.

a quick spin in the box makes sense to me to coat the wheels, at this track its about the best you can do as they want you to put your rear wheels in the water box before burning out. this is to keep the cars from dragging rocks, sand and who knows what else onto the track.



note to self: destroy the sarona rear bumper a.s.a.p.

 

so you guys are going into the water with drag radials? Maybe that's what I need to try. I can never get a good burn out but I always dodge the water box when I am on drag radials. They are usually aired down to about 15psi. So once I dodge the water box I spin a time or two with the e brake pulled, but my car always pulls me forward while dragging the back tires. I guess I am more afraid of going to the line with a wet tire since I have an open diff., if I don't do a good burn out after going through the water box.

 

With drag radials, they function best when they are heated up. Get them wet a little bit. Then heat them up for atleast 3 seconds. With drag radials, just try different length burnouts. See if a 2 second burnout is enough. Then try 4 seconds. Then try 5. With slicks, it's easier. Just burnout until the slicks grab.

Back when I was bracket racing with drag radials, I was only doing 2.3 60 foots b/c of lack of low end power. I would go around the water box, spin them over 1 time dry. Then, when I stomp on the gas to launch, I barely hear a single tiny chirp. They worked for me with bracket racing. That was in higher altitude Vegas.

At sea level when I was trying to do 2.0 and 2.1 60 foots, a burnout of the DRs was needed. That allowed me to launch without a single chirp sometimes.

Also, as someone already mention, without VLSD, you may have to turn the steering wheel back and forth to get the other wheel to start spinning. Get someone to watch both wheels during the burnout. It think it's the front right wheel that won't spin sometimes. But turning the wheel during the burnout can get that wheel to spin.

If you are already getting great 60 foots, then don't change a thing. But if you know you can improve, try a longer burnout after rolling through the water box. If you get those tires spinning for over 3 seconds, there won't be any water left in your tread.

 

That sucks! You bring gravel onto the track! I hope they keep the water box swept cleanly.

But for you, I'd get your front wheels in the water box, as you are still creeping, spin them one time. Then move your back wheels on the concrete. Then do your burnout.

Spinning your front tires over while your back wheels are off the concrete pad will clean off those stinking rocks, plus, it gets your tires wet enough to do a burnout outside the water box.

Also, if you are still having trouble due to lack of water. As you start to enter the water box, roll your window down and ask the guy to spray down more water where your front tires are. It looks like they may be cramped for staging room, so he may deny you.

 

I go to the strip usually 2-3 times a year. I run on my millenia wheels with BFG drag radials. I usually cut a 2.0x 60' with the Burnout (or lack there of) technique that I described. I would really love to cut a 60' under 2.0. I may try running through the waterbox once I get back to the track, either later this month or next spring.

 

2.0 isn't bad at all. I've seen high 1.8s come from drag radials on Maximas. I think they were 245s too.

I had the 205/50R15 BFG DRs.

1.9s are definitely possible. I would try to set up your suspension a little better to prevent the front from rising on the launch. After that, play around with the burnout to see if you can bust into the 1.9s with them.

 

im running 225/50/16 Hoosier Drag Radials and have been running them at 9.5 psi to 13 psi. in the photo above you can see i was able to get both wheels spinning with an open diff. like dandymax says you have to turn the steering wheel back and forth. so still working on that.

On a good prepped track i can snag 1.9's but ive never seen a 1.8 60 foot from the hoosiers thus far

 

I haven't seen 1.8s with my slicks yet! This Friday night, I will though.

 

Turning wheels side to side? This gets both wheels spinning? Interesting idea. I'm going to the track on street tires (hankook ventus v4 es h105) on Fri I have avoided the water box in the past should I do the same? Any other pointers?

 

We are only discussing the burnout process for slicks or drag radials.

Doing a burnout on street tires is a completely different process and may actually hurt your 60 foots. With street tires, your best bet is to go around the water box, spin the tires dry for less than a second to get any dirt off the tires, then launch that way.

 

BTW, I saw 1.80s this past Friday night with my 22x8x15 MT slicks. I hope to see 1.7s within the next 2 weeks. I am changing to a wider wheel to help the contact patch on my slicks. I have some beautiful 15x8 Slipstreams I'm going to use instead of the 15x6 Millenia wheels.

 

Update: I got a chance to test out the 15x8 wheels with my 22" MT slicks. It definitely helps contact patch, but I didn't see better 60 foots this past weekend b/c track prep was much worse than it was last time.

Also, here are a couple links I found that are worth reading:

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/g...ech/index.html

http://www.zzperformance.com/grand_p...les1.php?id=21

 

This really works well especially with an open diff or vlsd which will sometimes spin both wheels but usually not, especially when they get warm.

Try and get someone to watch your wheels in the burnout box and direct you. Sometimes a slow back and forth movement and sometimes it has to be quicker for both wheels to start turning. Eventually you will know what works best for you. I got to know the burnout box guy quite well and he would let me know when they both lit up.

Also make sure you have a good gauge, ie max 20 psi, don't use a standard gauge and think you are getting accurate readings at less than 15 psi. Lots of guys go to the track with no gauge and borrow one from someone else. I have a gauge in my console for just that purpose, it cost $2 and I figure if they don't have enough sense to have a good gauge then they won't get my $40 one to use.

 

Just this past weekend, I realized that my VLSD stopped working when it got hot. I believe it was working just fine on my first run of the day though.

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...t=MVI_0515.flv

That's a video of me after the VLSD puked on me. I had someone watching my front tire on another burnout where I tried to turned my wheels. He said the front left wheel started spinning, but then stopped, then started again. So you might have to turn the wheels aggressively back and forth to get them both spinning.

Jim, how many seconds would you say you spin the MTs and the M&Hs to get best traction?

 

I just followed M/T's direction, one good one to heat them up ie 5-7 seconds and after that 3-4 seconds just to clean them off more than anything. I watch guys burn them until you can't see the car but I think they are just wearing them out. I usually get a full season out of them and thats like 30 or more track days and 10+ runs each day so thats 3-400 runs per set. As you know I hate to spend money if I don't have to.

I'm just playing with a new OBDII program called ProScan which does dyno and 1/4 mile stuff. Not sure yet how accurate it is but as long as its consistent its ok. I also have PCMScan and Digimoto which do the same tests so I will compare and see how they do. Probably use my wife's old 95, the insurance is off mine. I did use the homedyno program for a while but never got consistent results from it.

PS Its snowing outside may have to wait until tomorrow.

 

I see. It's possible I'm not heating my tires up enough on top of not getting both tires to spin. I need more practice days to fiddle with burnout techniques and slick pressures.

The Homedyno software was VERY consistant for me. The trick was to get a consistant spark pulse. That was very hard at first. It took me a month or so to finally figure out how to make the cable and where to tap into the spark pulse signal. I had to also remove the coil pack and tap into a high tension wire I routed. So I was using the high voltage signal after the coil pack. On top of that, I had to remove all the resistors from the cable in order to get a strong enough reading. It's still a weak reading, but it was very consistant from one run to the next. That's all I care about. Also, it's so tough to get working on a new vehicle that I am going to go with the Road Dyno setup which eliminates the need to record spark pulse sound files. It should be easier to setup on a new vehicle. But I have the Home Dyno figured out for the VE30DE and the VQ35DE Maxima.

 

spinning the winning wheel

 

And which wheel is that?