OT: Wonderful Noises

[Brian Smith]

It's probably an opinion shared by some members here that although bicycles are perhaps the best transportation machine devined, some others are pretty darned interesting as well. There have been plenty of car-related threads here. Although the weblog posting I found this video on is a bit old, and doubtless some of you have already seen it, the noises produced by a true Ferrari 250 Gran Touring Omologato echoing around (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ewQaikxTUJs) this lonesome road are phenomenal, and despite the hundreds of photos I grew up enjoying of these cars, I've never previously encountered a representation of the noises one produces. Whether it is the sensibility of a professional-level driver selecting shift points, 12-cylinders at full song, or rather as I suspect the proper selection of transmission ratios by the manufacturer, the gear steps themselves add to the music for me in a way that most automobiles detract. I find it somewhat inspiring, and I hope someone here enjoys it as well. My apologies in advance to those who've seen it, but then favorite songs are often replayed as well. I wonder if it was serendipitous that these Petrolicious folks were able to gain access to produce this, or if instead they are some very well-connected folks...

[mack]

Ha.......and I thought you were going to talk about spring peepers!?

[thwart]

Ha.......and I thought you were going to talk about spring peepers!?

I recorded some (with chorus frogs) the other day, while out on a ride.

This time of the year it's one of the very best things to hear.

Dare I say even better than a vintage Ferrari...

[dave thompson]

I grew up loving mechanical noises, particularly internal combustion engines. In the mid fifties I'd go to the car races at Palm Springs, the old Riverside racetrack, then later to motorcycle races at Ascot, Daytona and many European courses. When I joined the Air Force in the early 60s I was crew on a C-124, which was the aerial equivalent of a barge but it sported 4 28 cylinder, 4350 cubic inch radial engines. They made wonderful noises at full song, the ground literally shook! I loved every ear-splitting minute of it.

[Mike Lopez]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing Brian!

[Ken Robb]

Hey Thompson: Me too! How's your hearing now-a-days?

[dave thompson]

What?

[fuzzalow]

Thanks for the reference to that Ferrari 250 GTO video. The beautiful sound from that era of Ferrari is unequalled. Mr. Hill was driving that car at speed and not puttering around with it - there is a shot from the video that shows the windshield wipers lifting off the windshield from the air pressure speed of the car. A very handy feature whilst driving down the Mulsanne Straight!

I get to see many exotic cars out on the roads around where I ride and hearing them in the wild is not too bad either. Some of the owner/drivers of the car give a healthy prod to the throttle if you come across them on the right section of road and the music is often fantastic. Nothing truly exotic like a 250 GTO which is not anything other than a special events car because of the value but anything from a 365 Daytona to the current crop of supercars. McLaren, AMG, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ferrari are all fairly common around these parts. All the newer sports cars, say from 360 Modena and newer, sound like they do a take on the pre-2014-turbo Formula1 wail as far as the engine note. The bigger Enzo-class GT cars with the V-12s don't do the wail; the ostentatious sound of that kind of youthful exuberance is beneath that class of car.

None of the other marques of exotic cars sound as good to my ears as a Ferrari. Although a F-40 was the lousiest sounding Ferrari I have heard and the Flat-12 on the Miami Vice-era Testarossa was not that great either. Best was probably the 365 Daytona.

[avalonracing]

It's interesting what appeals to us. I love the sound of a Japanese, Italian or even German sportbike but to me a Harley sounds like a piece of gurgling junk that is about to stall out.

[FlashUNC]

Always been partial to an Aston Martin V-12 wide open, or even some good ol' American V-8 big blocks.

[Cat3roadracer]

I thought this was going to be about a Chris King rear hub.