Well, being an auto and an aviation enthusiast I've heard quite a variety of
wonderful noises. As a kid I vividly remember the Lockheed Super Constellations
coming out of Burbank with four great Wright 3350 radials at takeoff power
issueing six foot blue exhaust flames. I've never heard a Lancaster but I once
had a formation of 6 B-25 Mitchells and 17 P-51 Mustangs fly over the house at
5000 feet! Just last year I got to experience a Messerschmitt Bf-109 with the
correct DB inverted V12 engine flying in concert with a Spitfire and a
Hurricane. The DB in the Messer has a very different sound from the Merlin,
deeper, a bit more gruff. Jonmac probably has less than fond memories of this
sound.
On the car end, you name it, from 510 cubic inch injected aluminum Chevies in
the old Can-Am cars to pre-war supercharged Mercedes and Auto-unions, Ferraris
of every arrangement, supercharged Millers and Alfas to hot rodded flat heads.
One of the most distinctive has to be the straight eight Bugatti, imagine
taking a very large piece of canvas and ripping it continuously. Another one
that stands out is a monstrous FIAT Grand Prix car of about 1908. This beast
had a 4 cylinder engine displacing 14.5 litres with four stub exhausts and
chain drive. You could hear each individual cylinder firing! What usually gets
me about the sounds of '30's era race cars is the variety of sound from a
single car, the boom of the exhaust note, the whine of straight cut gears, the
shreik of a Rootes type supercharger all mixed together.
Two cars really stand out for me in terms of engine note. The first is the
Matra V12 used in the late '70s Ligier F1 cars. I went to all the F1 race at
Long Beach and the sound of that engine echoing off the buildings was just
incredible. It was a full magnitude above the Ferrari flat 12 or the later Alfa
V12 or flat 12. When that car went by at close to red line I could fell the
bones in my arms resonate! That sound could completely overpowered all the
other cars. The other car that gets me is the MkI or MkII V16 BRM. What an
amazing car! 1.5 litres, 16 cylinders, supercharged, 500 plus horsepower at
10,000 rpm, all in the early '50s! I've seen the car run in person but I also
have a CD recording of this car doing a solo lap at either Goodwood or
Silverstone. Fantastic to hear the rise and fall of the throttle, the stabs of
the gas on the downshifts, almost fading away as it rounds the back of the
course and then rising in a huge rush of noise as it charges down the front
straight and sounding as if it is going straight through your head! It's almost
enough to make your ears bleed.
Cheers,
Kurt Oblinger
Triumph Register of So. Cal.
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