27 replies to this topic

[rtcoman]

A simple question. How do the pilots manage to do them? How can you do them with your everyday street car?

[Frank R. Champs]

Let me handle this one...


A Donut can only be done with a rear wheel drive car. First you must get the rear wheels spinning. In a manual transmission, it just means giving the engine a bootful of throttle before popping the clutch out. Once the wheels are spinning, crank the wheel all the way to the right or left, and watch the world spin! All you really have to do is keep the throttle floored and keep the wheel turned for the donut to go on as long as you like. You can get creative by turning the wheel in the other direction after a couple of spins, but this is not necessary. The more power the car has, the better the donut will be.

A burnout is a little different. You can do one with front or rear wheel drive, and the techniques differ, as well as if you have an automatic or manual. Automatics are actually better for burnouts, because you can hold them in place for as long as you like. (Although I've done in-place burnouts in really powerful front engine rear wheel drive cars with manual transmissions, it just requires some fancy footwork.)
If you have rear wheel drive, just floor the throttle and pop the clutch, or in an automatic, hold the brake with the left foot while flooring the accelerator. With front wheel drive, forget about the brake pedal. In either a manual or automatic FWD, pull up hard on the emergency brake handle, and then floor the accelerator. The rear brakes will hold the car while the fronts spin freely. More power is always better.

As always, make sure you have plenty of room in case things don't go as planned, don't let the police catch you, and be prepared to spend a lot of money on tires. I'm glad I grew out of my tire smoking days.

Frank

[wingsbgone]

And do NOT try it on a two lane road with walls on either side:eek:
Try it with your father's Viper or corvette, in a VERY LARGE parking lot first!
And you didn't hear any of this from US!!
;)

[sennadog93]

Slightly OT but something that I have found useful driving the dreaded FWD is the following.....

Assume that you are in a tight parking spot or just for the hell of it. To get out, crank the wheel right over and pull on the hand brake as hard as it will go and then boot it! The now will move out without the car going forward (possibly into the car in front) and you can let off the handbrake and off you go.

[texfan]

And while you are gleefully doing this,know that you are taking years of lifespan off your transmission,and miles of your tires.

With that said..................................enjoy.

[mhferrari]

What if you put the FWD car in reverse.;)

[klipywitz]

One suggestion: close your windows and turn the AC on if you dont like the smell of rubber if you are planning on doing extended doughnuts or a really bad burn out. Not that I ever did it, you know

Something else that just came to my mind.... I have a rear-wheel drive car, so I cant do this, but let me know if it is possible.
If you have a manual car with some good torque, could someone try to do reverse doughnuts if they have a front wheel drive? You know, slap it in reverse and see what happens? It would get a little crazy and probably not as much fun because of the front wheels angle when turning, but anyone ever gave a try?

My favorite still is going out when there is light rain and slidding away in the corners via powering manual downshifts or the famous hand/e-brake. Nothing more fun. Theoretically speaking, that is...

[Janzen]

HAve you seen those Rally Cars with AWD they do donuts to but with all the wheels spinning. I guess it helps that they have sofisticated power transfer. Slightly OT I heard that the WRC cars have a solenoid switch by the hand brake that goes to the central diff. Would that mean that it basically handles like a FWD when you pull the handbrake?

[schuy]

ciao,
ah guys, a very nice post for me
well, a few weeks ago, i went up north, to a certain airfield, which is hardly ever used.
they did a karting race there.
anyway, we parked on the runway.
so, let's see: on one side, you've got the karting track, very nice, and on the other side, you've got this mile of stretched road, a fantastic handling road, and it's just straight!
so, of-course, i jumped in the car( Alfa-Romeo 33 ), and saw what i can do.
of-course we did drag races, and some other stupid stuff.
but, then, the more complicated deals came.
we did some hand/brake turns, and stuff like that.
but, what i really recommend, and i am saying this, with a very big warning tip, is to do a J flick!
you put the car in reverse, get to around 40mph, and move the steering wheel, and get the car lined up exactly 180 degrees from the turn, put it into 1st, and drive away!
absolutely brilliant!
and one more thing, it's not impossible to do doughnuts with a FWD.
i did it quite easily.
it's so fun, to see the tyre smoke around you!:yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn:
BTW: the Alfa has 105bhp.

ciao,
Liran Biderman.

[moog101]

Originally posted by klipywitz



If you have a manual car with some good torque, could someone try to do reverse doughnuts if they have a front wheel drive? You know, slap it in reverse and see what happens? It would get a little crazy and probably not as much fun because of the front wheels angle when turning, but anyone ever gave a try?

Indeed

Many of Britain's 'Bargain' Mini 1000's are in need of new donuts.... (the rubber ones ;) )

[BRG]

Originally posted by Janzen
Slightly OT I heard that the WRC cars have a solenoid switch by the hand brake that goes to the central diff. Would that mean that it basically handles like a FWD when you pull the handbrake?

In rallying, you really need to be able to use the handbrake to get the car around tight hairpin bends, even on tarmac. In the early 4WD rallycars, like the Quattro and the Metro 6R4, you couldn't use the handbrake to do this because it locked the back wheels and then, through the centre diff, it locked the front ones as well, causing you to slide to a stop in a straight line. - not the desired effect!

So now with the increasingly sophisticated transmissions, with programmeable hydraulic and electronic active front, centre and rear diffs, it is possible to use the hand brake to lock the rear wheels. For that moment, the car is indeed essentially a FWD, but in practice, you are probably off the throttle whilst the car slides around and changes direction. Then, as you release the handbrake, you can clog it and all four wheels take up the drive again. Performed by an expert, it can be a joy to behold...

[Janzen]

Thanks BRG it is incredible how technical rallying has become also and it sure is nice to watch. Especially on the tarmac races, but will look forward to the incoming WRC race also.

[juanjo24]

I do beautiful doughnuts with my FWD car over gravel (using the hadbrake)

[Spunout]

"What if you put the FWD car in reverse."

If you ever have a chance to drive on snowy roads you can do something quite similar easily (on tarmac you just need a powerful car). Just go in reverse, turn and push the throttle, and your car will turn nicely, basically just like if you were spinning backwards. If you have RWD car, just gather more speed and brake! As we know brakes affect more on front wheels and therefore you have similar effect.

"HAve you seen those Rally Cars with AWD they do donuts to but with all the wheels spinning. I guess it helps that they have sofisticated power transfer."

Main part of the power simply goes to rear wheels. This is why the handling of WRC car is close to RWD but it accelerates faster on gravel, due the power going to front wheels too.

[sennadog93]

60:40 split rear to front. On the road going Scoob, the rally car has a variable torque split.

[Kjut]

This is where us norwegians are fortunate. With snow on the roads a few months each year, all those tricks mentioned above are qutie easy to do:) So doughnuts with a frontwheel drive car is quite easy: put it in reverse and nail the acc. Also it is quite fun to pull the handbrake at speed, swivel around a few times, and then hit the soft snowbanking at the side of the road, no damage to the car whatsoever:lol: Lots of fun with snow you see...

[PDA]

You may have no polar bears in your streets, but I hear that you do have the occassional hard tree hidden in your soft snowbanks!
re practice: The club of which I was a member when in the UK used to regularly hire a skid pan for a day. This allowed us to try all sorts of spectacular antics at low speed before comitting ourselves on gravel or tarmac. Great fun, and instructive too.

[Kjut]

There have been contact with trees, yes...

[CanMike]

"If you have rear wheel drive, just floor the throttle and pop the clutch, or in an automatic, hold the brake with the left foot while flooring the accelerator"

From the original post. I've always wondered: if your holding the brake with your left foot and flooring the accelerator with your right, aren't the brakes on the back wheels (assuming a rear-wheel drive car) heating up and be damaged?

[desmo]

More the torque converter I'd expect, but no matter. These stunts aren't for the mechanically sympathetic!

[Viss1]

Originally posted by CanMike
From the original post. I've always wondered: if your holding the brake with your left foot and flooring the accelerator with your right, aren't the brakes on the back wheels (assuming a rear-wheel drive car) heating up and be damaged?

Yes. But the rear drum brakes in my old 1977 Impala still lasted for a fairly long time anyway.

[desmo]

Rental cars are ideal for "experimentation."

[kober]

Originally posted by desmo
Rental cars are ideal for "experimentation."

Which car is the fastest?















The rental one.

[Prostfan]

Originally posted by wingsbgone
Try it with your father's Viper or corvette...

Seems I've got the wrong father...

[Yelnats]

Frozen lakes are the ultimate doughnut pads. Particulary if you can get up some speed on a snow covered bay and launch yourself unto glare ice at 100 k. You'll get carsick spinning dozens of times. But be sure the other shore is at least a half k distant!

[random]

Spinning on ice or a skidpad is a lot of fun. But I'd recommend keeping the speed under 50 or 60kph. At 100kph it could be hazardous. I occasionally run at a wet skidpad. It's a large circle of painted pavement with sprinklers in the center to keep the road surface wet.

Someone I met actually rolled a car on it and at fairly low speed. I think their speed was about 50-60kph. It's a tight circle so you can't go any faster than that without spinning out. Spinning at 50khp is no big deal, I've done it dozens of times on the pad, spinning at 100+ though could be nasty. One rut and you're over.

[AS110]

In my shop at the moment I have a 1991 Nissan Skline,black of course,with all the things young dickheads put on these.Also racing rubber all round.
Under the guards is coated in molten rubber,and all tyres shredded.I have it because he says someone loosend some of his wheel nuts,and the left rear wheel came off,on the Auckland Harbour bridge.
I think he might be right,possibly a kind neighbour trying to do the community a sevice.

[rtcoman]

Funny how some of you thought I was just planning to do some burnouts. I was just curious to know how it`s done - theoretically.
But now, it`s YOU who have given me some interesting ideas and useful information...;)