How to Do a Burnout With a Manual

Our savvy friend at Engineering Explained drops some sweet burnout knowledge.

In case none of your childhood role models owned a Corvette, we’re here to inform you that burnouts are cool. If, however, you’re primed to make a stylish, smoky Cars and Coffee exit in a vehicle equipped with a stick shift, there are a few things you’ll need to know first.

When you’re driving an automatic, it’s simple to light the tires. Stand on both pedals and hope your breaks work — mission accomplished. Bring a clutch into the mix, however, and it’s a different ballgame.

Watch and Learn

Engineering Explained has put together the instructional video above, highlighting this most crucial of driving maneuvers. While it may seem like a no-brainer, executing a three-pedal burnout incorrectly could have you careening into a street sign, or worse, another car. If you’re going to do it, get it right.

The trick is to bring the revs up before you release the clutch, with the car stationary. Once you break the rear end loose, you can hit the brakes to remain stationary or ease off them to do a rolling burnout.

Risk Versus Reward

Though it’s often just for hooning, there is a time when a burnout has real, actual purpose. That’s at the drag strip. Putting heat in your tires before a hard launch will help them hook up, and shave valuable tenths off your ET.

Here’s another thing to know about burnouts — they can wreak havoc on your tires and transmission. Tires you can replace fairly cheaply, but transmissions you cannot. If you’re doing burnouts frequently, for example, in a car that sees weekend trips to the drag strip, keep a bottle of transmission stop-slip around to spot-treat any slippage that occurs.

A manual burnout may not be quite as easy as power-braking, but, hey, you’ll have one more way to show off your three-pedal skills.

CHECK OUT: What Forum Members Are Saying About This Cool Vid

Via [Motor Authority]