RE: PH Blog: noise matters
Discussion
VeeDub Geezer said:
For "Pound to Purr" value the Mk3 Golf VR6 is hard to beat at the moment...
Agreed. My old Mk2 Golf VR6 Turbo (T3, 250bhp, 271lb.ft!) with custom straight-through stainless exhaust used to gobble, rasp and burble like a good 'un. Must get the Corrado VR6 back on the road, really, really must..! 
Oakman said:
AURAL SCULPTURE ?
Dare we admit that the noise a vehicle makes is ooohh so important to us ?
Bringing out the true 'boy' racer in us all - as alluded to in your chidhood memories of the Alfasud.....Yes I am plenty old enough to remember that sound when they were new too !
Owning up to my 54th birthday yesterday, another 'confession' at the alter of PH.
My 993 C4S, courtesy of the two previous owners (thank you both) has:
1/ The Porsche induction air fiter (more holes in the airbox).
2/ RSR Exhaust modification (Opening up original silencers & removing a certain amount of sound absortion materials).
Result = One very gutteral, slightly louder but more meaningful sounding flat six (read brutal).....that will eat the pants off any later 911 variant with 'sports exhaust valve flap' standing still - let alone on the move !
Ha ha - ooops! ........'Boy' Racer moment......too old, too old ;-) :-)))
Regards and turn up the hearing aids.
PS. Must own up to the shock that when the car starts up parked near to another vehicle, the pressure waves set off that vehicles alarm - plus if you go down an urban street of parked vehicles there is a trail of alarms.....naughty German thing, good job there's no Chip Shops nearby (Stan Boardman joke).
Reply to Topic
Pardon me for quoting from page one. I've only just got here but what an absolutely gorgeous colour for a Porsche. Fantastic!Dare we admit that the noise a vehicle makes is ooohh so important to us ?
Bringing out the true 'boy' racer in us all - as alluded to in your chidhood memories of the Alfasud.....Yes I am plenty old enough to remember that sound when they were new too !
Owning up to my 54th birthday yesterday, another 'confession' at the alter of PH.
My 993 C4S, courtesy of the two previous owners (thank you both) has:
1/ The Porsche induction air fiter (more holes in the airbox).
2/ RSR Exhaust modification (Opening up original silencers & removing a certain amount of sound absortion materials).
Result = One very gutteral, slightly louder but more meaningful sounding flat six (read brutal).....that will eat the pants off any later 911 variant with 'sports exhaust valve flap' standing still - let alone on the move !
Ha ha - ooops! ........'Boy' Racer moment......too old, too old ;-) :-)))
Regards and turn up the hearing aids.
PS. Must own up to the shock that when the car starts up parked near to another vehicle, the pressure waves set off that vehicles alarm - plus if you go down an urban street of parked vehicles there is a trail of alarms.....naughty German thing, good job there's no Chip Shops nearby (Stan Boardman joke).
Reply to Topic
Edited by Oakman on Friday 2nd March 12:36
Edited by MissChief on Friday 2nd March 16:11
Watchman said:
The 4.5 V8 Cerbera is the ultimate noise-maker. It makes the sort of noise you'd imagine the Devil's car would make. Various people said mine sounded "hardcore", "motorsport", and best of all "my god - should it sound like that?".
The AJPV8 seems to switch up a gear through the rev range, from "two Lotus Cortinas" to something not made by man but forged in the depths of Hades. Absolutely mental noise.Whne I had the 5 litre Griff at 'full tune', before all the sprints and hillclimbs got silly about noise, it would peak around 110dB. For those who are unsure, this is LOUD. Like, front row of a Motorhead concert loud.
The way it generated noise and the effect on passengers was fascinating. I used to try and burble along and use as few revs as possible on unsuspecting victims, right up until we hit some good clear roads. Passengers always wanted to talk about sports cars and stuff - always full of stories or questions, like "my brother in law let me drive his BMW Z3" - but everyoneshut up once the taps were fully opened and we'd breached 3,000 rpm. Some of them barely said another word after, my "Z3" mate summed it up after his dose of full-Griffith; "a Z3 isn't a proper sports car, is it?"
Thats one of the things I love about my Subaru Impreza GX. It's not particularly quick, but it has a new exhaust on it custom made for the car which gets that lovely boxer engined burble coming through. It really sounds glorious and makes every double de-clutched downshift even more satisfying as you get the exhaust growling away at you. In a car that has to shine and feel special in every area to make up for it's lack of outright pace that offbeat burble really gives it some character. Noise is a hugely important aspect of car ownership for me. A huge part of the thrill of owning an MR2 Turbo for me was the wild chorus of induction roar and the whistle of the turbo behind your head as you drove it.
DanDC5 said:
Agree 1000000% that noise is important. It's one reason why I love Honda's VTEC engines so much. Now I just need a completely unsilenced system on the Integra now...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_LmFqwwfqw
Ah, the Buddy club Spec II, my favourite exhaust http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_LmFqwwfqw
that video makes it seem way, way quieter than it is though. Here is an old Civic with a Spec II - imo the best sounding car on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0pHcIlIADc
A car with that exhaust and a decat manifold (like this car here) will run into the mid 120db range, more than enough to damage your hearing if you don't wear ear protection while driving! As you can see, unless you tip toe past parked cars, you will set their alarms off easily. While I'd love to stick a Spec II on my EP3, I think going deaf driving it and my neighbours (not to mention the police) wanting to kill me would make it impractical. As it is, I'm going for a Spec III, which has an N1 style Jap cannon backbox, with no silencing from the cat to the tip, so it will still be seriously loud. A friend of mine has a WRX with a Blitz Nur Spec (cat still in though) and I think mine will probably be louder than his on the move. Here is a video of a Civic Type R with a Spec 3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Z0Uk-Q7xM
Speaking of the WRX, I do like the Impreza tone, that deep burble combined with the way the flywheel makes the revs drop off slowly gives them an instantly recognisable sound. With a Blitz Nur Spec, one of the louder exhausts available for the Impreza, they sound absolutely wild. My friend's sounds like a helicopter taking off when he pulls away as it accentuates the "whump whump whump" of the engine turning over, and at high revs it cracks and bangs like a rally car when you let off the throttle. It is loud now, but I'd be happy to go even louder and whip one of the cats out to make really make it go ape s
t.I absolutely love the Honda tone though, that high-pitched sear that they have is so much appealing to me than the bassy thrum that most cars make, and it's a noise I prefer even to a V10 or V12. I just love that raw, raspy tone they have, its an amazing trick that the K20 engine can have the rasp of a competition car without being harsh like some 4 cylinders can higher in the rev range. When I first test drove my car (cat in, unsilenced centre pipe and standard backbox), the salesman fired it up and blipped the throttle a few times. The metallic Type R rasp sold me there and then, I already knew I wanted it. The stereo is totally redundant in my car, I've never used it with the vehicle on the move. When it sounds so good, why would I want to listen to music or the radio?
I think the noise is one of the most important aspects of a car to me at least, if I drive a car which is quick but silent, the lack of a willing soundtrack makes it feel like it's not worth driving fast. When I drive my Type R, with the exhaust howling away on those 8000rpm upshifts, it makes it feel like the car is enjoying the drive as much as I am, so it makes the car feel much more like a companion and less than a mere vehicle, and I'm sure anyone here can agree - even the diesel drivers, who must surely miss the tuneful hum of a petrol, while they turn the radio up to drown out the clatter of the derv.
Watchman said:
The 4.5 V8 Cerbera is the ultimate noise-maker. It makes the sort of noise you'd imagine the Devil's car would make. Various people said mine sounded "hardcore", "motorsport", and best of all "my god - should it sound like that?".
Still remember 10yrs or so ago, there was an underground car park next to my mates work, and a guy used to keep his Cerbera in there. This thing was race car loud and was probably one of the most evil sounding engines I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. If Satan came to earth he would drive a decatted Cerb.
MissChief said:
Oakman said:
AURAL SCULPTURE ?
Dare we admit that the noise a vehicle makes is ooohh so important to us ?
Bringing out the true 'boy' racer in us all - as alluded to in your chidhood memories of the Alfasud.....Yes I am plenty old enough to remember that sound when they were new too !
Owning up to my 54th birthday yesterday, another 'confession' at the alter of PH.
My 993 C4S, courtesy of the two previous owners (thank you both) has:
1/ The Porsche induction air fiter (more holes in the airbox).
2/ RSR Exhaust modification (Opening up original silencers & removing a certain amount of sound absortion materials).
Result = One very gutteral, slightly louder but more meaningful sounding flat six (read brutal).....that will eat the pants off any later 911 variant with 'sports exhaust valve flap' standing still - let alone on the move !
Ha ha - ooops! ........'Boy' Racer moment......too old, too old ;-) :-)))
Regards and turn up the hearing aids.
PS. Must own up to the shock that when the car starts up parked near to another vehicle, the pressure waves set off that vehicles alarm - plus if you go down an urban street of parked vehicles there is a trail of alarms.....naughty German thing, good job there's no Chip Shops nearby (Stan Boardman joke).
Reply to Topic
Pardon me for quoting from page one. I've only just got here but what an absolutely gorgeous colour for a Porsche. Fantastic!Dare we admit that the noise a vehicle makes is ooohh so important to us ?
Bringing out the true 'boy' racer in us all - as alluded to in your chidhood memories of the Alfasud.....Yes I am plenty old enough to remember that sound when they were new too !
Owning up to my 54th birthday yesterday, another 'confession' at the alter of PH.
My 993 C4S, courtesy of the two previous owners (thank you both) has:
1/ The Porsche induction air fiter (more holes in the airbox).
2/ RSR Exhaust modification (Opening up original silencers & removing a certain amount of sound absortion materials).
Result = One very gutteral, slightly louder but more meaningful sounding flat six (read brutal).....that will eat the pants off any later 911 variant with 'sports exhaust valve flap' standing still - let alone on the move !
Ha ha - ooops! ........'Boy' Racer moment......too old, too old ;-) :-)))
Regards and turn up the hearing aids.
PS. Must own up to the shock that when the car starts up parked near to another vehicle, the pressure waves set off that vehicles alarm - plus if you go down an urban street of parked vehicles there is a trail of alarms.....naughty German thing, good job there's no Chip Shops nearby (Stan Boardman joke).
Reply to Topic
Edited by Oakman on Friday 2nd March 12:36
Edited by MissChief on Friday 2nd March 16:11
Thank you so much for appreciating the colour - I like it of course!....that's one of the key reasons I bought it too, that and a few others ;-) Including the noise !
It's called Arena Red Pearlescent - a true deep Burgundy Metallic and much less commonplace than the Silvers, Blacks and dark Blues so popular on so many Porsche variants.
Best regards,
Paul
mikey k said:
I moved to a MY09 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster.
That thing sounded great when you first started it, but got quieter and quieter as the thing warmed up
(even with the valve fuse pulled
)
I've now got a Vantage S roadster (with the Sports Exahust option) that also has the fuse pulled.
it pops and bangs even at idle 
Tunnels, walls & narrow streets are fantastic, it's never attracted any
looks
Sounds appreciation is very subjective buy V8's just seem to hit the spot.
In a roadster its even better as you get the full effect with the roof down
Oh look its sunny outside might go for a
I can confirm after our little drive out last week that your V8VS does indeed sound fantastic! That thing sounded great when you first started it, but got quieter and quieter as the thing warmed up
(even with the valve fuse pulled
)I've now got a Vantage S roadster (with the Sports Exahust option) that also has the fuse pulled.
it pops and bangs even at idle Tunnels, walls & narrow streets are fantastic, it's never attracted any
looksSounds appreciation is very subjective buy V8's just seem to hit the spot.
In a roadster its even better as you get the full effect with the roof down
Oh look its sunny outside might go for a
But still not as good as that roaring V12
My particular favourite for noise....
http://youtu.be/A2442Ubof8A
http://youtu.be/cn1gzfscbfU
One day I may well have to sell a testicle or two to fund one of these ...
http://youtu.be/A2442Ubof8A
http://youtu.be/cn1gzfscbfU
One day I may well have to sell a testicle or two to fund one of these ...
My personal favourite sounding car is this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is1tlIqgAeQ
and partially because of this utterly fantastic supercharger whine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-LMk4vl1pM
A close 2nd favourite is this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJoVrovWnZg&fea...
and partially because of this utterly fantastic supercharger whine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-LMk4vl1pM
A close 2nd favourite is this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJoVrovWnZg&fea...
Noise is the tool with which we can all connect.
I love it when I see a performance car approaching and I always make a mental note of how it sounds.
It's usually size that makes the difference. Be it Ferraris with their flat plane crank, V12 - V8 Astons and all other large displacement units.
If you have never heard an F1 car up close then do it, and do it very soon before they drop to 4 cylinders.
Classic racers are beasts, a 70's Can Am racer actually shifts continents.
Dropping down the food chain I find many modern hot hatches have the life sucked out of them but they still sound better than their workaday brothers.
A common theme here seems to be the Alfa flat four which I was lucky enough to own in carb and 16v form. I can tell you that the carb version was far and away the better unit than the more developed 16v, again due to the noise. More guttural and organic.
My current noisy car is a Westfield with a race spec Cosworth 205 block Pinto. It spits flame, pops and bangs, scaring anyone in the locale. Too loud for any track day at 113db, I really need to get the silencer changed for a bigger one, but you know what, I'm not going to, I love the noise too much.
And in the immortal words of Chuck D.
"Bring the noise!"
I love it when I see a performance car approaching and I always make a mental note of how it sounds.
It's usually size that makes the difference. Be it Ferraris with their flat plane crank, V12 - V8 Astons and all other large displacement units.
If you have never heard an F1 car up close then do it, and do it very soon before they drop to 4 cylinders.
Classic racers are beasts, a 70's Can Am racer actually shifts continents.
Dropping down the food chain I find many modern hot hatches have the life sucked out of them but they still sound better than their workaday brothers.
A common theme here seems to be the Alfa flat four which I was lucky enough to own in carb and 16v form. I can tell you that the carb version was far and away the better unit than the more developed 16v, again due to the noise. More guttural and organic.
My current noisy car is a Westfield with a race spec Cosworth 205 block Pinto. It spits flame, pops and bangs, scaring anyone in the locale. Too loud for any track day at 113db, I really need to get the silencer changed for a bigger one, but you know what, I'm not going to, I love the noise too much.
And in the immortal words of Chuck D.
"Bring the noise!"
DanDC5 said:
Agree 1000000% that noise is important. It's one reason why I love Honda's VTEC engines so much. Now I just need a completely unsilenced system on the Integra now...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_LmFqwwfqw
Would ruin it. Get a kakimoto Regu 06. Real screamer in VTEC. Not boomy or basy or chav around town at all. Quality bit of kit.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_LmFqwwfqw
R32's sound nice!
I think what we all need in our lives is the sound of a V16 BRM in our lives. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZMPDCNyQxE
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