adminNgoni Dapira
THE Raylton Club Burnouts held in Mutare last Saturday proved popular, drawing scores of people who were eager to see the adrenalin-rush sport.
The venue, normally used for basketball drew hundreds of people despite a $5 gate charge.
Spinning is an extreme entertainment sport usually orchestrated by professional drivers and stuntmen in a safely barricaded area. The idea in burnouts is to keep the vehicle stationary while spinning its wheels, causing the tyres to heat up and smoke due to friction.
This was the second burnouts tournament in the city with the first one having held two years ago at the Florida Recreational Centre.
This year’s event was hosted by Eddie Fundira the proprietor of BarCode Nightclub at Raylton Club and organised by Elisha Nyamundanda aka King Lusha and Tanaka Shumba who both competed in the race.
Prominent Harare burnouts spinners from the Ice Motors Crew (Voltron Force) that include Red Lion, Cici Boy, Boss Ice , Getto Fabulous, Papa Smiff, Gazza General and Creepa took part in the event.
Locally, King Lusha and Leon the spinner took part in the event exuding some impeccable skills on the steering wheel matching the standards of the Harare spinners.
The pimped-up BMWs paraded in the burnouts were mostly 320 and 325i models which are typically used in the extreme sport because of the agility of the box shaped, rear wheel drive models in stunt drives. The usual maneuvers of spinning 180 and 360 turns were displayed, as well as the doughnut.
A doughnut is a maneuver that entails rotating the rear or front of the vehicle around the opposite set of wheels in a continuous motion, creating a circular skid-mark pattern while emitting a lot of smoke from the friction.
However, performing the doughnut has often been considered to be very hazardous.
The tricky stunts where the driver doing a burnout jumps out of the car and jumps back in where also put on show to the amusement of the crowd.
Despite the dangers that are associated with the game, Nyamundada (King Lusha) believes the sport is a development worth marvelling at.
“We had over 700 ticket sales, but there were more people than that definitely which was a good turnout. We thank the Mutare community for their support and hope that they will continue supporting the sport and all other sports, be it basketball, soccer, rugby or cricket. It was good to see all races in the crowd from whites, Indians and coloureds just like in Harare. We need to see more of that as we support local sports,” Nyamundada, who doubles as the organiser of the event, said.
In the 21st Century burnouts have become a serious form of competition and entertainment in their own right. The contests are judged on crowd response, with style and attitude therefore being important factors.
For safety precautions on the vehicles, line locks are usually used to reduce wear to the rear brakes, a common problem otherwise. The line lock prevents vehicles from rolling by allowing the driver to control the clutch and accelerator using foot input and braking with the hand.
Online Reporter