> the hard bit is putting that power down in corners.

Or even just getting it from tyres to ground. Traction control exists to avoid the car just spinning its wheels in place as it’s completely lost grip.

At high speed downforce can do the job, but at low speeds not so much.

How scary would it be to be in one of those 1,400+ horsepower supercars and to hit the gas just to immediately see all four wheels start spitting smoke as they spin in place and start abrasively cutting through the asphalt?

Four wheel burnouts from a roll aren't that impressive from inside the vehicle. It's basically like being on "high traction" ice but with more noise. The vehicle mostly continues doing whatever it was already doing before you stomped on it.

> How scary would it be to be in one of those 1,400+ horsepower supercars and to hit the gas just to immediately see all four wheels start spitting smoke

Not very, unless the car suddenly gets a patch of grip and launches you into a tree.

> to hit the gas just to immediately see all four wheels start spitting smoke as they spin in place and start abrasively cutting through the asphalt?

You'd have to wear down the entire tyre first, which isn't going to happen unless you're already at the thread (though supercar tyres do wear down very quickly).

Tyre rubber is much, much softer than asphalt, and for good grip you want pretty soft rubber. By the accounts I've seen, even cold F1 tyres feel sticky. And drag tyres outright crinkle on takeoff.

Based on experiences with 72hp Suzuki SV650 all you need to do is grip the front brake and give it some gas. Digs asphalt at about 5mm/sec just fine. The tire gets totalled pretty fast too. So it's not rubber being too soft.

Apparently you've never walked on hot asphalt or been a hooligan doing donuts and/or burnouts in asphalt parking lots. The tire rubber and asphalt binders/tar basically become one and the gravel comes along for the ride caught in the crossfire.

I've seen both (as I work in civil engineering). That is all dependant on the asphalt mix. Parking lots are usually not done with a proper performance graded asphalt, so they'll deteriorate very easily under strenuous loading conditions. Roads (in well-regulated jurisdictions) use strong asphalt mixes with a lot of large granular aggregate and a lot less asphaltic content (and asphalt that's stable at higher temperatures). This makes roads a lot tougher in these loading conditions, but also tough (and therefore expensive) to put down - need to roll it fast while its still hot, with both steel drum rollers and rubber tyre rollers.

Not saying they can't be damaged, just that a parking lot is a poor comparison

It's scary enough in a 400hp/3600lbs RWD car. Even with traction control enabled, the car likes shaking it's ass any time you tap the gas and turning the wheel on anything remotely slick with power in will break the traction wheels loose.

Hence the fans sucking it to the tarmac giving it more traction

Ken Block Hoonicorn : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Tl7Zn-KRE The V2 version of the hoonicorn is about 1400hp and he does spend most of the time smoking tyres.

But the asphalt is mostly fine. It's a lot tougher than rubber.

It would be scarier if the tires didn’t break loose. Have you ever seen a top fuel dragster in real life? It’s a surreal sound and site.