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Sounds fun.. but personally I prefer doing about 20mph and pulling the handbrake on whilst keeping my foot on the accellerator, although that only really shows up if the clutch is pretty much knackered.

I don't seem to be having any problems with slippage or anything.. only just topped 80,000 miles and it's had some very careful owners, so it should be good for a fair while yet.

Should probably work too (2nd or 3rd?)

Mind you i think doing that trying to get a burnout was what finally did for mine

Yeah, you should hopefully be good to go for another 5 or 10k at least (any idea if the previous owners ever had it done?). Mine's only really in this state already because of the amount of abuse it's had. Never really thought a 1-litre could do for a clutch
But, innumerate fast starts, a friend who convinced me that the fastest way to progress was to not lift off during gearchanges (...she's probably right, but it's not worth the damage or foot-disorientation), and getting jammed in 3rd a couple times certainly did!
Now i'm just attempting a couple of those things (well... in truth... merely pulling onto the driveway in 3rd real slow with the engine going RRRR) to take the rest of the edge off it before the end of the week

Hah, I'd be impressed to see you do a burnout in a 1 litre polo

Glad you asked if the last owners had had the clutch done.. I just checked the service history, found nothing about the clutch (other than a new cable), did find some worrying notes though, things like the coil having been replaced 5,000 miles ago and yet having just tested it I know it to be practically knackered..

Strangely interesting looking through this lot...

Ah, my mistake.. "Ignition coil - HT lead".
Makes more sense

You got a service history with yours?

I assumed mine would be in the driver's manual like in mum's rover and most cars i've seen before... checking it out a week after buying (after cleaning it up, scraping the algae off, polishing etc ) there was nowt. All I really got was a few receipts for the last couple of MOTs, a new pair of tyres and some part of the exhaust (didn't do much!)...

Not that it seems to have hurt the car much.. and my own collection of servicing receipts are a bit rubbish.

And as concerns burnouts in a 1-litre - try it. You'll be surprised. Certainly in an injection, as it's got an almost diesel-like quality low down (well, like the gutless 1.4 *VW* diesel anyway!) so even if it ends up being a slow, one-wheel burnout, it'll keep it up. Could even still manage it (just) when the clutch was shot... in the wet!

The max torque for the carb is a few percents weaker and a couple hundred rpm higher, but I don't think it should make a real difference. Keeping it still might be the problem because of the weight distribution and the brakes the front wheels will spin, the rears *may* remain locked if you have the handbrake pulled hard enough..... and still you'll start moving, probably in a bit of a crablike manner!

And then you may as well go banger racing down the nearest greyhound or motocross track.