Smoking the tyres, this is achieved by using the brakes to hold the car still while applying lots of power to overcome the force of the rear (or front) brakes, (depending on FWD or RWD). Using the stronger brakes (the front brakes) to hold the car stationary while the rear wheels sit there smoking. This may not work on some FWD's or any 4WD's. The general idea is to break traction with the driving wheels, to the point where they are not only not gripping to the road, they are also overcoming the force of the brakes.

 Oh, before we begin, you probably know if your car is equipped with an LSD (Limited Slip Differential, both rear wheels will spin) or an Open diff (only the drivers side wheel will spin), so don't expect smoke from both sides of the car if you have an open diff!

If you have a reasonably powerful car, you can use the Heel and Toe method. This is where you hold the left foot on the clutch, and the right foot on the accelerator and brake simultaneously. Let the revs climb and release the clutch, as the car takes up, depress the brake further and push the accelerator more and get the balance of revs to brakes just right and you should sit there smoking til you ease of the brake or the accelerator.

This method requires a less powerful car, simply use the left foot on the clutch, keep it depressed. Bring the revs up to redline with the right foot, and dump the clutch (pull the foot off the clutch) and immediately hit the brakes with the left foot. The car will initially lurch forward until enough brake pressure is applied with the left foot, and then the car will sit in one spot smoking the tyres until the brake is eased off.

Basically the same as method 1, but minus the clutch :) Hold the revs reasonably high, then ease off the brake until the wheels slowly start to turn, then nail the accelerator to the floor. The rear wheels should begin to spin rapidly, now keep holding the brake until you want to move off. Auto Burnouts can take a bit more getting used to over manual burnouts, and can require a more powerful car. You will find if your rear tyres are too large, or you have insufficient power and auto burnout can be very difficult and the car will just stay still or move off without losing traction.

OK, now you know the basics, to make a better burnout, try practicing the above principals on grass or gravel or a wet road, be careful though, as even on grass or gravel you can smoke the tyres up! Once you have managed to make this work ok, try on bitumen, the second method is the simplest and most likely to work, just cos the 1^st method works on gravel, doesn't mean your car has enough power to do it on bitumen. OK, so your wheels are spinning and your standing still.. try experimenting with the revs, more revs will cause the rubber to heat up quicker and get to the point where the rubber is not gripping at all, so the revs will suddenly shoot up past red-line, unless you move the throttle.

To make a more impressive burnout, once the rear wheels are spinning, let them smoke for say 4 seconds, until you can see it through the rear view mirror, then a huge amount of billowing smoke will pour from the guards and under the car. Now slowly ease off the brakes, and let the car crawl forward, leaving a nice long black streak of rubber across the road. Letting the brakes off too far will cause the car to terminate the burnout and take off, and too much brakes may even slow the wheels too much to sustain the burnout. If you practice, and follow all the above steps, you should be able to hold the car in a burnout until the tyre busts (don't worry, it takes a fair while to blow out a tyre from overheating!).

Experiment with burning out while turning the steering wheel and easing off the brakes (need plenty of room!), this will leave black circles over the ground. Last but not least, don't forget to get some video or snapshots of the moments, and send them on in to me for display in the hoon gallery!!

Click here for images of burnouts.