The standard burnout at drag races is enhanced by getting Clorox on the tires.
There's a shallow dip behind the staging area filled with it. The water makes
the tires easy to break loose. The burnout gets them up to temp. The clorox
enhances traction. So, they pass thru the clorox, go out past the lights, gun
the motor to spin the tires, then back up past the lights (but not into the
clorox again), then stage. I never heard of a car spraying the tires with
clorox while running tho. You learn something new every day...
Wheelspin is not a good thing at drag races, but it does get the tire temps
up to spec in a hurry. In top fuel, all the tuning is done at the clutch.
They use a progressive clutch that allows a fair amount of slip on launch,
then grips progressively more until about halfway down the 1/4 mile, then
locks up. From that point on, all the increase in speed is due to the rear
tires increasing in diameter due to centrifugal force. This is also obvious
during the burnout. The rear of the car lifts up during the burnout due to
the wheelspin. If they tune the clutch badly, the car is either too slow,
or the rear tires spin mid-course and the car "goes up in smoke" as they say.
VEENET@aol.com wrote:
>
> OK , for us drag racing impared vintage racers, what does exactly the burn
> out accomplish? Heat up the tires? And what does clorox add to the equation?
> Lubrication?......Is wheel spin a good thing in drag racing? .....
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