The term “burning rubber” has been around for decades, that is exactly what you’re doing; burning the rubber off of your tires. It can be a dangerous maneuver for a variety of reasons, and doing an improper burnout can lead to damage to both you and your automobile.
We’ve seen lots of burnouts go wrong, but this video Jalopnik stumbled across of a Holden Ute going up in flames following a burnout…but it doesn’t appear to have been the tires fault at all.
For about the first minute or so, the video is your standard Aussie-hooning-his-Holden-Ute sort of video. This appears to be an Aussie car show, where burnouts are both expected and encouraged, and the driver is clearly putting a lot of effort into putting on a show. And we have to admit, it’s a pretty good show, until about 1 minute 20 seconds in.
Then things start to get hot..
That’s about the time we can see the first licks of flames coming out from underneath the Holden Ute. The driver doesn’t seem to notice right away, until fellow spectators scream out, and his passenger gets in his face. By then the fire has spread, and it’s not apparently where exactly the flames are coming from, though they seem to be right about where the engine and transmission meet. Could be related to the exhaust, for a fluid leak; we’re not sure, but it doesn’t take long for the fire to get big.
Whatever the case, the driver gets the Ute off of the skid pad and on to the grass, and an army of firemen with extinguishers rush the car and put the fire out. There is no doubt that there was a lot of damage…but could it be saved? We dunno, but the driver and passenger appear to have escaped harm, and your life is a lot more important than your Ute.