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As many of you are aware, I brought my 72 S30 to SZR Pro, in Houston, Texas, for a top to bottom evaluation of the car, and for any resultant work. The car was there for many weeks. When I picked it up, I had a long conversation with the mechanic who did most of the actual work on the car. He told me that he really liked the car and had been doing burnouts in it. I’ve been extremely dissatisfied with the quality of SZR’s work. I’ve been recently going back and forth with Brad, SZR’s manager, about the propriety of the burnouts. He gave the following explanation: “No, he didn't admit that he did burnouts in your car, but burnouts in sports cars on private property in front of a performance shop aren't terribly uncommon. It's an effective strain check on the drivetrain of the car, similar in applied force to a spirited acceleration on the road. Oil pressure goes up, fuel pressure goes up, engine, clutch, trans, driveshaft, diff, and axles are under load, and the rear suspension compresses. All of this without leaving the parking lot, endangering anyone, or breaking any laws. We're not going to fill the lot with smoke or burn the tires down, but it is an effective test. That being said, I can see how one might consider that mistreatment. Though examining the physical forces applied to the various vehicle components would show that they're either equal to, or less than the forces applied by an enthusiastic drive down the road, some might be disturbed by wheelspin and tire smoke. If Raul did do burnouts in your car, and this is distasteful to you, then I humbly apologize for our apparent mistreatment of your sports car.“ Even if I were to accept Brad’s explanation that the burnouts were done for testing purposes (which I don’t because it contradicts what the mechanic told me), is road testing a car with burnouts at all reasonable?