:drevil: I always went to the track with my Lightning, I traded that in for an M6 GTO. I'm going to the track this thursday and I have no idea how to have a burnout and how to launch and shift my new baby. Can anyone help, remember this is my first manual sports car. I don't want to damage her but I do want to impress. Can anyone tutor me?

Well one thing you dont want to do is rev the engine and dump the clutch, a dump is where you take your foot off the clutch as fast as possible. Doing that just leads to massive wheel hop and broken parts. Idealy on street tires what you want to do, is to avoid the water box, maybe do a small peel out, and then launch.

At the strip they spray water on the lanes for cars with slicks to do a burnout, it works wonders for slicks, but ruins street tires traction. SO avoid the water by driving around it.

To do a quick peel out, rev the engine and slowly let the clutch out so the tires spin, you don't need to do it for long, just a bit to warm the tires up and clean any leaves or dirt off of them.

Now once your lined up and all the lights are on launch on the last yellow not the green, the last yellow will give you a good reaction time, where in the green will be to late.

To launch rev the engine to 2.5-3K RPM, and then slowly let the clutch out, mashing the throttle once the clutch is fully out. This should get you off of the line without spinning or bogging.

I think thats all you need to know, someone else might mention something I forgot though.

Thanks, now i should still take off on first right? Not being dumb, just wanting to be sure. Next should I ride the rpms to redline for all gears before shifting?

are you talking about the staging lights (top four) or the three count down lights?

If you want the best time then shift right before the redline, for your first trip and first manual I would suggest NOT powershifting as it can be tricky to do, so shift right before the redline just to make sure you don't hit it and bounce off the rev limiter. Try to make quick shift but make sure you arn't missing gears. You should only need tyo shift 2-3 times before the car hits the end of the track.

I have a M6 GTO to and have been to the track once with it. The only tip I can give you is dont miss the 2 to 3 shift. You will only need to get to 4th gear to finish the 1/4 mile off. I tried to powershift but it just got me side ways, to much power for me to try it. Another thing is turn the traction control off. You will probably experience a little wheel hop, but I figure it is normal. I have only been to the track once and the best time I got was a 14.6 at 97mph but I'm going again Friday so I will see if I can improve.