How do you prevent going sideways when doing a burnout? It has been an issue for me. Thanks, Joel

I think you can fix that with either tire diameter, make sure both tires are within 1/4 inch circumference of each other, or in the posi unit.

My car has a spool. I better check the tire daimeters

Needs more wheel speed.

Tire speed like said above. If the tire tries to grab hold instead of spin it will make you go sideways. I personally smack the gas hard to make sure I get my tires spinning than ease off to keep the rpms in check.

How much wheel speed is required?

Agree more wheel speed also make sure your front brakes are working evenly

Make sure tire pressures are the same. 4 spd or Auto? What gear are you doing your burnout?

Worn track surface will do that. Wonky corner weights and different size tires will as well.

More wheelspeed plain and simple..If it launches and drives straight after the launch then it clearly is not a brake, chassis or tire thing. Since you say its a burnout thing I assume only when which means you need more wheelspeed. HIgh gear and how much depends on the car but enough for it to go straight is the answer

It's a manual transmission car. I've been doing a burnout in second. When I have attempted it in third a couple times it has slipped the clutch or been right on the verge of slipping. I'm getting rid of the soft lock clutch. That should make 3rd gear burnouts no problem

What gear and what type tire?

What rpm are you holding it at during the burnout?

As already mentioned, wheel speed. And a quick snap of the throttle. I snap the tires in 2nd and immediately go to 3rd gear. Car never moves, stays perfectly straight. And a line-lock makes the whole thing much easier and quicker.
My Duster street car had 3.23 gears and no line-lock, I only had 5 passes on the car before selling it last Fall but that combo was causing me to go a little sideways also, I had to get real aggressive with the throttle to make it go straight. Making sure the tires are wet helps also of course.

I've had it happen in one lane and not in the other lane.
Probably the track surface.

I've had mine do it as well. My burnouts are high gear only at 6000 rpm. I would think that would be plenty of wheel speed?
Doug

I had a friends car do this once, and it turned out that we had the scaling of the car screwed up. Simple fix by just adjusting the torsion bars...

I'd start by putting the car on a flat surface, and measure from the ground to the front fender lip on both sides with someone of your weight in the car. They should be very close in height, with the driver side being a TOUCH higher to help put some pre-load on the right rear.

My car was a four speed. 3,000 rpm in 3rd, let go of clutch. Bring up to 5. Line loc on, hold steering wheel tight. I found that with the line loc engaged, I can put left to right pressure on the steering wheel to push the back of the car straight.

I have been able to just go up or down a bit on the torsion bar. If the rear moves right I would lower driver side, but it doesn't take much. You could split it, up half on one side down half on the other.

I press the brake pretty hard and set the line lock. Dump the clutch at 5000, try to hold it at around 5500-6000. 4.57 rear, 1.78 2nd, 1.30 3rd,
Rear tires are MT ET Street, LT 30 x 13.5-15, Bias-Ply, front are 6.70-15 bias ply. Straight front axle, wilwood discs, 4 link rear, afco coil overs on all 4 corners.

So in 2nd gear 5500 rpm is 60 mph. 3rd gear at 6000 would be 90 mph

The faster you spin the tires the sooner they will get hot enough to smoke, correct? I use to do all my burn outs in my old Hemi stick shift car in 3rd gear per some other SO CA Mopar factory back racers advice back a long time ago.

Check the front brakes. The only time my car would do this is when I spit the front brake pads out of the left front. Took awhile to figure out what happened. These were little funny car brakes with the tiny little pads.

Never mind, sorry not torsion bars.

Dont know if anyone said this yet.

You can straighten out the burnout by adding spring pressure on the front tire that is on the side of the drift. Back of the car goes left, crank more weight onto the driver front. Should everything else be correct, that will straighten it out. Most fast cars have less weight, or negative preload on the right rear. That tends to drive the car left when spinning the tires. You're just evening the forces by cranking on that spring. It won't effect the launch if the car goes straight before. At the hit it all comes back on the rear anyway, and the preload differences come back into play.

I do my burnout in 2nd with 4.10's and 28 inch tires, only starts to kick to the left when tires start to grab. Does your car go sideways instantly or after some smoke? maybe the tires are ready sooner than you think. Soft Lock clutches seem to be preferred among many stick car guys, Takes allot of shock out of the system, I would think twice before getting rid of it. What clutch do you plan on switching to?

You can aggravate the car going sideways by steering into it as if you were drifting. It's a natural reaction but if its going sideways while not moving forward during the burnout try holding the wheel straight.

Since it was asked how much wheelspeed is enough, my answer would be however much it takes to straighten it up. I know manual trans cars have a bit of an issue as you have to get it rolling and not kill the clutch. FWIW my current car the burnouts are 6-6500, in high gear I use a limiter to get going at 5900, once it blips that I let it rip. In this car in high gear 6500 is probably 130+ mph. Have to look at the racepak to see where that is?

Just for sake of conversation, we all have to do what al is talking about sometimes, or cruddy burnout boxes, out of level areas, you name it. Just blip it up quick, and high. Personally, I like the car to go straight on the burnout whether I'm barley spinning, or near on fire. Spinning super fast just vulcanizes the center of the tire, and if the situation means that's all you can do, you do it. Setting the car up to go straight on the run, then adjusting the front springs till the car will burn straight no matter what RPM is a better way IMO since you can let the tire settle down and flatten out some. Just personal preference.

I never thought of that before, but it makes sense. Good info!

Thanks everyone for all of the replies

Sanoma has a well worn groov in the burnout area in the left lane. Just have to adapt😁

I've learn to pull my cars out of the bottom of the burn out box before starting my burn outs, I pull it up to the front edge of the box where it is flat

It's pretty impossible to go sideways without the front tires moving when the car is stationary unless it's on a slope. If the car is sideways on flat ground the front wheels are either skidding, rolling or turning.