Indeed, that was one of the reasons...I was there, ran one, went through it.
I can also remember when getting the BMW 320i after (this was IMSA radial
tire challenge series), that even though the Mazda was far louder outside
the car, inside the RX4 was much quieter than the BMW from a driver's
standpoint. Mine had something like a 6" megaphone out the back, that's
where the noise went and the headers and exhaust pipes had to be thicker
wall to put up with the heat...that made it more comfortable in the car but
painful outside. Even then, some had a portable muffler they'd put in the
megaphone around the pits.
At that point, I had already obtained my regional SCCA license, FIA license
and IMSA. Still miss the rotary though. 13b had great torque up the hill
at Laguna...had to run stock carb and brakes though...neither worked...
Chas
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ba-autox@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-ba-autox@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of Sethracer@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 3:41 PM
To: charlescox@coastalbay.com
Cc: ba-autox@autox.team.net
Subject: Rotary Noise
In a message dated 5/30/2006 9:42:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
charlescox@coastalbay.com writes:
I can still remember back when running my RX-4 road-racing with a megaphone
out the back...was the loudest most obnoxious noise you could imagine.
They
instituted the mufflers for rotaries the following year...made the cars
quieter but the rule was intended to make them slower...didn't work.
Chas
I disagree on the purpose being to slow them down. I went through SCCA
drivers school at Sears Point. Izzy Sanchez in an RX-2 was gridded to my
immediate left for the "practice races". This was well before the Mazda
Muffler was
required. The RX-2 had a straight pipe exhaust coming out under the
passenger
side door. As we came around turn 11 and brought the power up - The noise
coming into my left ear from about 6 feet away was not just defining, but
painful, ear plugs or not. I backed off the throttle and dropped back 25
feet to
regain any composure I might have had. I remember sitting in the pits. You
could hear every shift from the rotaries rounding turn seven at the back of
the
course. Something had to be done about the cacophony coming out of those
cars.
It was and, indeed, didn't seem to slow them down at all. - Seth Emerson
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