A man who performed a burnout and fishtailed down a Charlestown street, leaving 170m-long tyre marks and causing pink smoke to erupt into the air, was performing a gender reveal, Belmont Local Court has heard.
Magistrate Stephen Olischlager fined the man $1000 and banned him from driving for a year for what he described as "remarkably the worst idea you could possibly come up with".
According to a statement of facts tendered to the court on Wednesday, the man and his pregnant partner were having a party on the afternoon of March 2 ahead of the birth of their child when the 37-year-old got into a Holden Commodore ute and did a burnout in the street.
Special tyres had been fitted on the vehicle to send out "thick pink smoke" during the burnout, in order to reveal the gender of their unborn child to the group of about 20 people who had gathered to celebrate.
After the stationary burnout, the man drove the ute onto a nearby street, fishtailing from one side of the road to the other repeatedly.
The act left 170m-long skid marks on the road.
The sound of screeching tyres and the ute's V8 engine prompted several calls to triple zero from people nearby.
Police arrived at the scene - where there was rubber debris across the road - and collected video and photos from residents in the area.
The father-to-be showed officers the ute when they approached him, and they found the Holden's tyres "worn to the radial belt".
According to the statement of facts, the tyre marks showed that the 37-year-old changed gears at least twice during the burnout and fishtailing.
He pleaded guilty on Wednesday to driving with a sustained loss of traction.
Mr Olischlager said the incident was "simply silly" and "a poorly thought-out idea".
