Nihilistan

I searched extensively through the FAQs before posting this, but here goes...

I've never been to the track to race personally but the more I read here the more I want to. A good friend of mine used to race a lot of cars in his day and told me a bunch of "tips" including a pre-race burnout to get the tires warm.

Well, the question I have quite simply is what's the easiest way to do this w/o killin your car? Yeah, can put it up to 5k and dump the clutch, but I have to drive this every day for a few years. I don't wanna go out to a parking lot and start lighting them up (even if it's fun) until I have some thoughts from people w/ a little more experience on the track.

Also, we let the air out of the tires and replaced with pure nitrogen. He said this gets rid of most of the water vapor in the tires and so the pressure won't change as much when the tires go through the cooling cycles (ie. when you burnout). Can anyone confirm this helps? The car sure handles differently now.

Thanks for all the tips on launches and improving times... See you at the track.

-- Nihil

Nicky Pass

Just dump it......its not like you can do a brake tourque!!!!

jimcol711

for cars like ours, that pre-run burnout is pointless...the only vehicles that benefit from that are the suped up muscle cars with hoosier or mickey thompson slick racing tires....street tires dont need that and all you are doing is wasting your tread

I am RobG

on the contrary my 1st run was a 15.1 when my nitto's were cold....then i ran a 14.4 2 runs later when they were nice and hot because i yanked the ebrake and roasted em(when my ebrake was strong enough to hold the car in place now my car just pulls)

jimcol711

other factors would have caused the time difference...not the heat of the tires....

i.e.

sloppy shifting
lousy traction regardless of tire heat
track conditions
temp of coolant
air temp
your driving ability
etc

jimcol711

roasting tires at the track on a FWD import with street legal tires is not only pointless, its wasteful of your tires

I am RobG

nooo, because when they were cold i spun halfway down the track(doing all 3 of the same launches at 1600 rpm's), then after that they warmed up a lil bit spun a little bit my 2nd run and then my 3rd run when i roasted them to get them nice and hot, i hopped a lil then gripped, not spun. the heat does matter

Pull_T

My best results on street radials was with a quick spin to clean the tires of any rocks, dirt or water, not a "burnout". Street radials will become greasy if you really heat them up.

jimcol711

thank you pull T....some people just dont understand the real reason for the burnout box at the track..


rob, there were most definately other factors involved in your experiences between runs having nothing to do with your tires temp..but due to your own associative reasoning, you associate your better traction on run #2 with the fact that you did a silly burnout before the run, however, it is highly doubtful that your burnout did anything besides waste some of your tread for no reason. maybe on your first run you drove right through the burnout area and got the water and stuff all over your front tires, that would cause your crappy traction.....

I am RobG

didn't drive through the water cuz they directed me around it. But jim what kind of tires do you have

I am RobG

also pull-t you have the 555R's, i have the model right below now you know your 555R's wont grip right unless you heat them up, believe it or not the 555's are the same way, they grip better when warmed up.

Pull_T

I'm well arware of how to run my drag radials (the 555R). I should have been more clear about what I meant by "street radials", should have said "regular radials". I could cut consistent 1.90 60s on Kumho Ecsta Supra 712s using the technique I descibred (quick spin).

You got better results from really heating them up, so continue to do so, I was just relaying what worked for me and in my experience what has worked best for others. Exp[erimentation is key though and everyone's results can vary.

I am RobG

exactly i'll stick with what worked for me and if you had the quick spin and those worked better for you then stick with that. It also varies on the tire, i know a bunch of my friends have the toyo t1-s and they have to heat them up to get them to stick well also. your right, experimenting is key

Nihilistan

Thanks for saving me a few inches of tread. When I finally get out there I'll just do as you said and experiment a bit. There are gonna be so many variables (including adrenaline) I'm afraid I might pull high 15s.

What about the nitrogen in the tires?

-- Nihil

I am RobG

if you have stock tires just do the quick spin like pull-t was saying, it'll work better

Infiltr8r

been through both methods with the 555Rs and I gotta say that I was wasting rubber doing burnouts. Lowering pressure helped, but not burnouts.

don't let the pressure out of regular stock tires...the sidewalls are too stiff, you'll just bring the center of the tire off of the ground.

drive around the water, you'll only tack water onto the starting line.

I was pulling 2.0 60 fts on regular old goodyears before i got the Nittos...now my problem is boggin, i'm still trying to sort the thing out, i'm still not used to cars with no low end torque...

tuRb0mikEy

You might want to run high pressure in your rears to try and combat squat.

If the starting area has a good dose of rubber and VHT, excessive spinning of your tires will cause little pieces of rubber to adhere to your tread blocks which will RUIN traction...with Toyo T1-S a quick spin to get rid of gunk (they are a sticky tire after all) and it will warm them enough. My friend with a CL-S also robbed my stock Accord LX 15" steelies and uses those on his rear...

Try and keep your engine as cool as possible, ice on the intake manifold and pipe works wonders, try to keep your engine off until the last possible second, your temp gauage should just be at the first LARGE mark when you line up..

quikcls

ya'll r nuts..you have to do a f in burnout, it totally warms up the tires, prob is your not roastin em long enuf

Pull_T

Post your 60' times.

Infiltr8r

I hope to God you're kidding....

phatpat

how do you do a pre-race burnout in an auto?

tuRb0mikEy

not that its recommended, but the only way I can roast my tires is if the ground is wet and i pull the e-brake up and floor it in 1.

tuRb0mikEy

you are a moron..please shut up immediately

phatpat

edit: without permanently ruining my car?

quikcls

now here we go again with the caveman educated responses. there is no need for comments like this, very rude and uncivilized! but i'll stoop to your level punk ass! fuck you and your non experienced responses. if you wanna start shit lets fuckin go you bitch! fuck you!

quikcls

and for everybody else who doesn't think you need to do a burnout, go outside and smoke the shit outa your tires and then touch them with your fingers and tell me its not hot and sticky!

Pull_T

Since you are so experienced you'll be happy to post your 60' times, no?

Infiltr8r

Course it's easy with RWD

Pull_T

Did someone say burnout?

Infiltr8r

Yeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...........that's what I'M talking about!!

Nihilistan

I think there's a car in there somewhere
"Smoke em if you got em"