[Russell Dawkins]

I found the record thanks to your last link, Bob, which mentioned Riverside records.

Here it is: http://www.discogs.com/Barrett-Clark-Sounds-Of-Speed/release/1025440

Now I just have to figure out how to get it!

R.

[dhrab]

How about a little small block action and I do mean small block ... listen for the wack of the throttle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8TXMUaC9Os

[Bob in St. Louis]

Russell, you owe me a drink. 

> BINGO <.

Bob

[GeorgeHudetz]

I'll toss the rotary on this list.

My RX-8, when I installed an aftermarket exhaust and a brand-new cat at the same time, had an amazing sound.  It has mellowed a bit after the exhaust/cat broke in (I can see the debates coming already!) but when it was fresh my car would draw envious stares from guys on the street and make me giggle like a school girl every time I ran through the gears.

But, for the real thing, check this out:

http://www.worldcarfans.com/9080717.011/mazda-furai-concept-hits-the-track


Music.

[mfsoa]

Nothing like the sound of an F1 engine at 19,000+ rpm to peel the enamel from your teeth.

Fun tidbit from last season: One of the announcers was commenting on how quickly the engines come to a stop when turned off, and the engine guy says that when switched off from 19,000 rpm, the engine comes to a complete stop in 0.2 seconds!  Mass is indeed the enemy.

And for you chemists out there: The fuel Honda used during the turbo era was 85:15 toluene:heptane. OMG what those exhaust fumes must have smelled like 

-Mike

[Bob in St. Louis]

Ditto on the F1 engine!! 
Before I got rid of DirecTv/Tivo, I had an F1 race saved on the harddrive for four or five years. I had it 'paused' at the beginning of an in-car sequence (the one where you can just see the top of the drivers helmet) where they allowed that particular camera angle for much longer than normal. Also, the blabbering on air 'mouths' didn't say a word for an entire lap (quite a long time in an F1 race). Every once in a while, I'd crank the home theater system up real loud, with the 140" diagonal screen and play that lap over and over. The sound was incredible.
Can't imagine what it would sound like for real in that car.   
MAN that was great, it really gave me wood. I loved that sequence. Too bad I don't have that TiVo box anymore. 

Bob

[mcgsxr]

On the topic of amazing F1 noises, I think the sound of the brakes being applied HARD also makes my list.  I made it to one F1 race in Montreal, and we once took up a position near an underpass, near a sharp S curve series.

You could FEEL the WHUMP that the cars made, as the brakes were stabbed, and the cars shed speed tremendously, before heading off through the S, and then that fateful WAIL as they ran back up through the gears.

HHHOOOOWWWWAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIII!

[Russell Dawkins]

speaking of shedding speed tremendously, I heard a story secondhand from someone in the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) highway patrol where they had reports of a Ford GT40 going at an insane rate of speed at night down the 401 (east-west highway through Toronto). He was going too fast to catch, so they radioed ahead to another detachment to be on the lookout. A very short time passed and this GT40 cruised at legal speeds past the waiting police.

The only giveaway - his brake discs were glowing orange!

[Russell Dawkins]

Russell, you owe me a drink. 

> BINGO <.

Bob

No kidding! Thanks Bob - I'll have to repay you some other way - how about one of my recordings? PM me.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks Russell. 

Not sure what The SAAB Turbo X sounds like here (no speakers on this PC), but in person they sound very cool here at the dealership.

Bob

[Russell Dawkins]

Doesn't sound like much!

It always kind of bugs me to hear an engine revved at all high with no load.
Used to be a no-no - early sports/racing cars had different redlines for each gear which explains the multiple redlines on some good old cars, like the AC Ace and the like. The lowest gear had the lowest redline, because with the engine relatively "unloaded" you were more likely to get piston skirts slapping the sides of the cylinder bores ("piston slap"). In higher gears, though, the extra load caused higher pressures in the combustion chamber, forcing the piston to be more square in the bore.

Three related habits are earmarks of the unknowing.
1. revving high just after starting cold
2. sustained high revs with no load (a quick jab is different)
3. a quick jab of the throttle just before switching off - the jab introduces a rich mixture for a fraction of a second which dissolves whatever oil there is on the cylinder walls, so the next time the engine is started, the bore is dry.
Nice!
Stupid.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Well, sorry about that. I was hoping it would have sounded better. The "real deal" actually resonates windows in the service department when they are cold started, idling in the shop.  aa
Pretty surprising for a modern day (emission legal) turbo six cylinder.

[Russell Dawkins]

Maybe it was the microphone - there was no bass. It sounded kind of strangled!

Nice picture!

[jaywills]

When it comes on cam, my E34 M5's unblown six sings like a Siren.

[doug s.]

i have four rides that make beautiful sound:
-alfa gtv6 w/cammed 3.0 and stebro exhaust, including euro cat-box
-de tomaso pantera w/ford 5.8 cleveland and headers
-ducati darmah w/bevel-drive & desmo walves & conti cans,
-buell s2 w/race kit exhaust

but, there is nothing like following a lamborghini miura when it's accelerating, for pure f1-type sound on public roads - even when you're in a pantera!  if i ever come into big money, a miura will definitely reside chez-sedon! 

doug s.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Russell, you're correct about the guy in the Saab Turbo X. 
Now that I'm home and have heard it, it really does sound like crap.
PLUS, he's revving the Hell out of it. 
I hope the engine was at least at operating temp when he did that and not "dead cold". 

Bob