On the surface, doing a burnout seems so simple, even a child could do it. Lose traction, stomp the gas, make smoke. Easy, right? Well, not so much. We don’t have to tell you that there are countless videos on YouTube of people attempting a burnout, only to end up with a repair bill. Whether it’s a bad choice of location, or just a bad driver, a bad burnout can have ugly results.
Jalopnik shared this video of one Mustang Cobra driver almost wrecking his muscle car in the middle of a burnout. He somehow saves it, but only just.
A few tips on doing a proper burnout. Just as in real estate, location location location is the single most important factor. Our burnout attemptee has made a poor choice, using a road alongside a drainage ditch and a forest, leaving little room for correction or error. An ideal location would be an empty parking lot, or a road with fewer roadside obstacles.
The driver admits his major mistake as letting off the gas too quickly, which gave his tires a chance to gain grip – in the wrong direction. What he should have done was slowly let off of the gas in a controlled manner, so the car could be pointed in the proper direction. Still, he managed to save it, and we’re all thankful for that. Otherwise it could have been an expensive lesson in Burnoutology.