Zolder Noise Regs

[Heliox]

Im taking my pre-cat to Zolder in June and wanted to get an idea of what sort of decibel level the car is making.

Is there anywhere I can get this tested beforehand as it would be a little disapointing to find out on the day that it was in excess of the permitted 95dB(A).

cheers

h

[gerjo]

I had a warning last year and subsequently I had to back off the throttle to be able to continue. Not much fun. This year I'm bringing a long some silencers(Tower View).

[cjs]

All you need is a dB noise level meter, you can buy one here

www.maplin.co.uk/

product code is TB57M digital sound meter £54.99.

Its a bit of money to spend however you could share the meter with others in you region and share the cost???

Chris.




>> Edited by cjs on Friday 9th April 19:59

[VYT]

Heliox said:

Im taking my pre-cat to Zolder in June and wanted to get an idea of what sort of decibel level the car is making. Is there anywhere I can get this tested beforehand as it would be a little disapointing to find out on the day that it was in excess of the permitted 95dB(A). cheers h

I very much doubt a precat TVR will be less that 95dB. Cars fitted with Cats would likely not meet that. My '95 4.0 Chim was measured between 96 and 98dB. The test was made at 4000rpm with the noise meter at 45 degrees to the exhaust and 0.5m away.

[B16 RFF]

VYT said:

Heliox said: Im taking my pre-cat to Zolder in June and wanted to get an idea of what sort of decibel level the car is making. Is there anywhere I can get this tested beforehand as it would be a little disapointing to find out on the day that it was in excess of the permitted 95dB(A). cheers h I very much doubt a precat TVR will be less that 95dB. Cars fitted with Cats would likely not meet that. My '95 4.0 Chim was measured between 96 and 98dB. The test was made at 4000rpm with the noise meter at 45 degrees to the exhaust and 0.5m away.

I went to Zolder in 2001/2002. The noise meter was positioned at the trackside near the start/finish line, giving a very different reading to 0.5m away, which is I believe the method used at British circuits.
Cars going past it would be on full throttle. A couple of Cerberas with sports exhausts were pulled off the circuit for excessive noise. There may have been others.
To get round it, you simply had to remember to back off the throttle near the meter.

[bhardy]

I've had no problems with my 350i which has no cats and a stainless steel modified exhaust and wedges have a reputation of being the loudest standard TVR's. Also drove a griff 4.3 with only the main cat (i removed the other two which cost me a few years of my life healthwise, but worth it!!) and had no problems. Ofcourse i don't know what your car sounds like and if you want to be sure Gerjo's idea seems to be a very good one.

[NCE 61]

Last year at Zolder they were quiet high tech with each car having a transponder fitted (circled red device in picture) . and monitoring carried out at different points on the circuit.



Quiet a few cars even with standard exhaust systems were black flagged. My Tuscan was just OK but others were more than the 95 DB.

Some of the additional silencing was quiet extreme

[daftlad]

Last year Chim 500 in standard form, no problems.

Year before, 350SE stainless sposts exhaust, warned for being over the noise limit so resorted to backing off when passing noise test areas on the track.

This year, will be taking decatted T350 with sports exhaust, but I suspect the car will not be used as hard as if the noise limit was a little higher.....I will have it checked at my friendly dealer first to get an idea of the db level the car produces measured at a metre or so at high revs.

Food for thought two Tuscans the year before last? both with modified silencers, one warned, one not. The car that was warned changed back to his standard silencers, and was black flagged!

[B16 RFF]

The trouble is, it's difficult to reproduce the Zolder measuring technique without access to a circuit.
I suppose you could try it if you could find a quiet straight road with a suitable layby. The BiB might frown on it though.
I have a Griff 500 with a Fernhurst sports exhaust. I would hate to pay £100 for the trackday and then be blackflagged.

Paul

[Heliox]

NCE 61 said:

Last year at Zolder they were quiet high tech with each car having a transponder fitted (circled red device in picture) . and monitoring carried out at different points on the circuit. Quiet a few cars even with standard exhaust systems were black flagged. My Tuscan was just OK but others were more than the 95 DB. Some of the additional silencing was quiet extreme

I've got quad pipes on mine which doesnt help either, love the additional silencing design!!!lol.

Thanks for all your info,to be on the safe side im going to make a Tamora style back box.

Are the noise monitors placed on a particular side of the track (as the exhaust could be routed to exit away from the direction of them)or are they just placed in likely noisey spots?

cheers

h

[tvrmark]

I'm glad you like my silencers, you only get one chance after your blacked flaged so I made sure I was OK. New exhaust this year. The meters are on the out side of the circuit one at the begining of the back straight, I'm told there is another but I'm not sure where. My car currently measures 106db static, hope this helps

Mark

[daftlad]

A second meter has been spotted after the second chicane as you climb up of the incline, last spotted on the LHS of the track.