Drag Racing Tech - Anyone have a problem with car going sideways while doing burnout?

When I do my burnout with my line lock the car always seems to go sideways forcing me to let out and take a very short burnout. I've thought about just staying in it but I don't really like facing the wall when I come out of the burnout in fear of catching and going straight into it. Any trick to getting the car to stay straight? At first I thought maybe it was a susspension thing but I don't think so because the car launches perfectly straight. Any ideas?

Mine does the same thing. It allways slides to the left.

Is it going HARD to one side?

Check your drag radials and make sure they are wearing similar. Also check your tire pressure.


I had a set of DRs on a car and it would go HARD left....The left side tire was more worn then the left...put a new set on there and it never did it agian.


Just a thought...

Hmm, With a M6 in the car mine would do it when power braking(no heel-toe, just dump & grab brake), using the line lock instead of the foot brake cured it for me.

I never had the problem when the car was equipped with the stock automatic burning out on the foot brake. We'll see what it does with a TH400, 4000 stall, and line lock real soon.

Maybe something with the diff?

The rears a spooled 12 bolt. The susspension is pretty stiff, LCAs, relocation brackets, extreme torque arm, extreme anti roll bar and QA1s set at 5. The tires seem to be wearing evenly but it does pull hard to the left, only on the burnout, so maybe I should take a better look. The tires are hoosier QTP's so it's kinda hard to tell. Thanks for the help so far.

Try getting the tire speed up quicker, most of the time when I see a car do that, it's because they aren't getting the tires spinning fast enough or they take too long to get them up to speed. Just lay into it harder in the burnout box next time, see if that helps at all.

Try getting the tire speed up quicker, most of the time when I see a car do that, it's because they aren't getting the tires spinning fast enough or they take too long to get them up to speed. Just lay into it harder in the burnout box next time, see if that helps at all.

Thats the ticket. Get the tire speed up quick. I have a powerglide and I start my burnout in 1st gear to get the tires moving and shift to 2nd right away. If I stay in 1st too long my car sometimes will go side ways.

Getting your wheel speed up quicker should help. I try to keep mine at 7K in 2nd gear. I start the burn out in manual 2nd gear. Doesn't take as long, and they get hotter quicker. If I don't bust mine loose hard right off, it tends to get sideways.

My slow car did the exact same thing. When spraying at the crappy track in Ind. we tried putting rubber across the line. The problem was, the car needed pre-load to hook. I could never get it to stay straight. I quess it's rare, but some cars just can't keep it straight. It stayed perfect if I stayed behind the line 10-20 footers. I've never heard anything as bad as yours. Is everything square, maybe something is a touch off.
Good luck.

I bet tire speed is the problem. I try to ease into it and then speed up. I'll try hitting it hard right away. Thanks for the help guys.

Mine isn't bad when sitting still, if it starts going left when I start on the throttle I always shift right into 2nd anyway (PG). My problem is mine always drifts to the left when I'm running it out of the box, sometimes it'll do it so bad I end up lining up out of the groove and my car will jump right. Mine might actually be suspension though.

Also check and make sure that the guy at the waterbox is putting enough water down. I have seen this problem when there isn't enough water also...just a thought

Its either because of the tire speed isnt fast enough or not equal amount of water on both tires...

Mine did it until I changed my burnout procedure to speed up the tires quicker.

You can adjust your anti roll bar to move the lbs from the right to left wheel
and it will help ...

wheel speed up faster....both fbodies i've driven at the track tried the same thing on a slower burnout, but once i noticed what it was i figured out the trick, never had a problem again. just click the line lock, and NAIL it...

Hit the tires harder and keep the rpms up.

Mine did the same thing, and shortly after the posi went out. That was on the 10 bolt, and the 12 bolt.

The rears a spooled 12 bolt. The susspension is pretty stiff, LCAs, relocation brackets, extreme torque arm, extreme anti roll bar and QA1s set at 5. The tires seem to be wearing evenly but it does pull hard to the left, only on the burnout, so maybe I should take a better look. The tires are hoosier QTP's so it's kinda hard to tell. Thanks for the help so far.

I have the same problem in my TA. I also have the same tires and rear as you. I had some people watch me when I do the process and they say it's because the ricers that go before me leave water that runs straight down the track right into my tires. Most times it is corrected, though, cause I switched to a much bigger tire that hooks somewhere!!

also, if it starts drifting you can turn your front wheels and it will stop drifting.

I was doing the same thing. I just wasn't getting the tires wet enough. I make sure I spin the tires in the waterbox now, then move out and do the burn out and keep the rpms up.

Dan

As stated, tires not wet enough or rpm (rotation speed) too low.

A common mistake is to roll out too far from the water box drying the tires in the process. Be aggressive when getting the rpms up when burning out and it should stay straight.

I just roll to the edge of where the water ends and zing it up to 6500 right away. My dad spins them up in the water and I pull him out to just past the end of the water.

I realized that I think part of my problem is that when I let off the line-loc I try and feather the throttle so I kill some RPM's and it's grabbing so the car drifts to one side or the other while I'm running it out. A big problem for me when I was learning to drive my car was I would just sit there and keep it in first too long so it'd kick to one side or the other.

I have the exact same issue as you and and for me the quickest and easiest fix was to drive through the water box at an angle, just enough so that when I dumped the clutch and side stepped the brake (M6), the rear end would slide out pointing the car straight down the track.

Is it going HARD to one side?

Check your drag radials and make sure they are wearing similar. Also check your tire pressure.


I had a set of DRs on a car and it would go HARD left....The left side tire was more worn then the left...put a new set on there and it never did it agian.


Just a thought...Really? I came in late yall sorry but .. my first pair of dr's ...well One wear uneven as u stated ..left or drives worn more.. the left side has no side cut lines left like it is 3 years old....the right tire looks like it only seen one season ??? any thoughts .. i thought because it was a limited slip



and :hijack: Two i cant seem to get them to launch .. i spin or bog or both.. im very new at drag racing on the track.. first season i worked at the track and had time and went 8.46 @ 83 on street tires .. next year on the road ... no seat time .. bad slave/master ( was not disengaging fully ) melted rear main seal out of motor trying to launch, $2000.00 later new clutch car runs strong

all 1/8 times
dr's 2000 rpm bog
3000 rpm bog 8.88's
3500 rpm spin to bog 8.7x's
4000 rpm spin to left off 8.68's
60ft 2.22 2.26

street tires
leaving at idle 2.20 60 ft 8.70's
leaving at 1000 2.1x's 8.60's
leaving at 1200-1400 2.0x 8.55 @ 83 at DFT5

i run slower to be constitant plus the guys on the street think its a 870 car :)
ran 8.70's in bracket class no problem ....but cant drive agresive or ill break out

When I do my burnout with my line lock the car always seems to go sideways forcing me to let out and take a very short burnout. I've thought about just staying in it but I don't really like facing the wall when I come out of the burnout in fear of catching and going straight into it. Any trick to getting the car to stay straight? At first I thought maybe it was a susspension thing but I don't think so because the car launches perfectly straight. Any ideas?
My old Z28 would always yank hard, but never to the same side lol. I never did figure it out.

I recall back in 1999-2000, some oldtimers would get their DR's a little wet, and then do their burnout so they could avoid stress on the factory diffs. If your tires are totally dry, and your not in the water, and you go to do a burnout with a factory diff, you can end up with one tire fire.

I'd get the tires wet, hit the tires hard, and keep the rpms up. I see a lot of guys trying to do burnouts with 1/2 throttle and the tires stop moving.

I don't know if this has been said yet (dial up takes forever to load), but did you check your rollout on the tires? I know sometimes at the same tire pressure one tire would be a little bigger than the other and it would make my car go sideways in the burnout... Just something to check