Croft noise levels

[mrh3113]

Anyone experience of how anal they are at Croft with regards to noise levels? I know places like Bedford and Donny are a bit of nightmare. I was about to book there, but last time I had a static noise test done I was just a whisker over the 98db. If I tell a slight fib about my max revs, are they likely to let me off? £130 is a lot to pay for a drive up the A1 if I get sent packing.

Cheers

[Craig!]

Not too sure about cars, but recently I've had a nightmare when it comes to noise levels on the bike. I once had to tell them that it's purely because the bike is cold and as soon as it's warm it'll drop to the 95~98db range.

Wouldn't let me on, so did a 120mph flyby down the paddock asked them to test it again and voila, 104db was 99.9db (100db limit).

I've never bothered to take the Lotus as with its Sage 3 its over the 100db limit, even been clocked at 109db on drive by before!!

[mrh3113]

Mmmm. I have an Exige with Lotus stage 2 exhaust and if I can keep the revs under the cam changeover point (5800) I should just be ok. Wonder why this day is 98db as opposed to 100db... Anyone used these exhaust baffles to reduce the noise?

[fridaypassion]

Its very strict at croft and they test every single car. Have seen a standard 911 carrera get turned away lat time I was there.

[purdy84]

I have the same Stage 3 on my Exige S as Craig, I was tested at 98.9 @ 4.5rpm static at Croft.

[mrh3113]

If I only have dial in 4.5k revs I might be ok. Do they normally ask for 3/4 max revs?

Edited by mrh3113 on Monday 3rd November 12:15

[MGRacer]

Don't blame Croft. They are only doing it because of the noise restrictions placed on them as a result of locals complaining so much. Be prepared for the fact that Croft my sooner or later no longer exist as a race circuit as a result.

In respect of Lotus Elise I would recommend you buy a Quicksilver sports exhaust. As far as I am aware most of the Lotus ones seem to put you over the noise limit for tracks.

Edited by MGRacer on Monday 3rd November 16:35

[mrh3113]

Not blaming Croft at all; fully understand why they have limits, just want to make sure I don't miss out by a tiny amount. Has anyone even tried shoving some wadding like this up the tailpipes before being tested? I'm only concerned about failing by 0.5db. If they are strict then that's all it will take.

[millband]

I'm not an expert, but at the Croft-organised day I did in the summer they tested every single car at 2/3 redline (I think it was).

A fairly standard Sierra Cosworth and a Skyline owner who'd just spent 30 minutes changing his wheels were stopped in the pitlane before even reaching the track.

They both got on later in the day after fixing tubes with wadding on their exhausts.

S.

[MGRacer]

mrh3113 said:

Not blaming Croft at all; fully understand why they have limits, just want to make sure I don't miss out by a tiny amount. Has anyone even tried shoving some wadding like this up the tailpipes before being tested? I'm only concerned about failing by 0.5db. If they are strict then that's all it will take.

If you will excuse the phrase "where are you gonna stick it?" No point buying this stuff unless you have a repackable silencer. If you just stuff it down the end of your tailpipes as soon as you give it some throttle it will come flying out in a bit of a hurry.

Best advice is to make sure that the car is really warm before you go and get tested. Cold engines and exhausts tend to be more noisey.

They will test you at 3/4 max revs, 0.5m away from your exhaust at 45 degrees. Also make sure that they are not doing it near a wall or anything else than can reflect the sound and make things worse.