The Best Engine Noise

[Intrepidation]

What, to you, is the best noise you've ever heard come from a car (or truck)? In your response you should, if possible find a video or sound clip for all of us to hear and enjoy it.

I've thought about this one for a while. I love the sound of V8's. Ferrari V8s make some fantastic noise, however I generally prefer a deeper note. Top examples include the Corvette ZR1, Challenger SRT8, Mustang GT500, and V8 Vantage. I love V8's and plan to own one at some point.

With that sound, the best sound I have ever heard is none of those. It's not a V8 either. The best sound for me comes from the Lamborghini Murcielago, specifically the LP670-4 SV. The way it revs and howls just makes my hair stand on end any time I listen to it. Nothing else I've heard sounds like it (the closest being the Gallardo's V10). So here's not one, but two videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e324MRs85sg

I love it.

So what about you? What's the best noise to come from a car?

[balthazar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TIdQFnUvCA

A little rough, but has huge potential. Advance to minute mark 3:15.

-- -- -- -- --

Done.

[FAPTurbo]

I'd say we have the winner here.

[Intrepidation]

I'd say we have the winner here.

There is no winner as this is all about your own opinion.

Anyway, that radial powered car is both insane and quite cool, though I was a bit disappointed not to see some sort of flat out acceleration, and that all that power is both cool and wasted going to a dinky little car with skinny tires. Still awesome though, especially to see pieces being hand made. The sound does nothing for me, but it's very cool nonetheless.

[balthazar]

How about this one- you get the frequency & pitch of the radial much better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwOVq5aC0As

[balthazar]

Holy frickin' crap:

Just amazing.

Edited May 31, 2010 by balthazar

[Intrepidation]

Naw, if it's gonna be a radial it's gotta be the Wright Cyclone Model R-1820-97 engines on the B-17.

Speaking of aircraft, equally awesome is the Rolls Royce Merlin engine equipped in the P-51 Mustang.

Of course this is a bit off topic since these are planes, not cars, but oh well.

[Intrepidation]

List to that baby howl!

[daves87rs]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=1TIdQFnUvCA

A little rough, but has huge potential. Advance to minute mark 3:15.

-- -- -- -- --

Done.

+1

[balthazar]

Something uncommon yet topical :

[Robert Hall]

One of the better I've heard in person was a '66 Ford GT40 race car. Hearing the 427 fire up w/ the engine cover open whilst standing a foot from it was quite the aural experience.

The sounds of a Ferrari F360 engine echoing off ancient stone walls in Milan 6 years ago was quite impressive also IIRC.

[balthazar]

I've heard a 427 dual quad Galaxie (race mill) run a foot away... with open exhaust. Nice.

[CanadianBacon94]

nah its to much of a "ragamuffin"

[Intrepidation]

Some of the top V8's for me:

[A Horse With No Name]

Not going to post a you tube link, because you almost have to actually be in the car to feel it...but I like the ford Modular V8's, esp. with a turbo or supercharger added.

And Balthazar, I've heard the 427 vintage drag raced in a Thunderbolt replica....very...very impressive.

[Cory Wolfe]

Any tuned VW VR6 is instant sex to the ears.

Clicky #3

[Drew Dowdell]

The only thing that leaves me cold about the Lambo and the Aston is sure they sound powerful, but they don't seem to have any personality.

It's slightly off topic, but still GM made. Scroll forward to 3:55 to skip all the chatter and hear the startup.

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name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

[RjION]

The entire 1972 CanAm field coming at you out of turn 11 or 14 .................

[Intrepidation]

The only thing that leaves me cold about the Lambo and the Aston is sure they sound powerful, but they don't seem to have any personality.

Couldn't disagree more, but that's your opinion.

[RjION]

The entire 1972 CanAm field coming at you out of turn 11 or 14 .................

PS: Turn 11 or 14 at Road America

[Robert Hall]

PS: Turn 11 or 14 at Road America

Anyone on here familiar w/ Infineon (Sears Point) raceway in Nor Cal? What turns are best for seating? Thinking about going to the Indy Car race there in August.

[A Horse With No Name]

Any tuned VW VR6 is instant sex to the ears.

Clicky #3

At the last auto cross got to ride along in a VR6 GTI...I would agree on the sound of that...

[balthazar]

Alcohol-injected Caddy 500 :

[balthazar]

Duramax Impala against lambo :

[Intrepidation]

Duramax Impala against lambo :

the Gallardo's V10 and how you can hear it over the Chevy. Both awesome, although the results are predicable: heavily modified car VS what sounds and looks to be stock car would love to see what happens when some corner are thrown into the mix.

[Intrepidation]

Speaking of the Gallaro...

And for you Balthazar, a Merlin powered Chevy:

[balthazar]

the Gallardo's V10 and how you can hear it over the Chevy. Both awesome, although the results are predicable: heavily modified car VS what sounds and looks to be stock car would love to see what happens when some corner are thrown into the mix.

What- you think the Impala's suspension is stock ??

Don't for one second think that a '65 Impala cannot be built to outhandle a lamborghini, because it absolutely can. There's nothing physically preventing that, and the aftermarket is there. The suspension doesn't know what body shell it's under.

The other point is- a lambo almost doesn't qualify as a stereotypical 'stock' car, if you get me (550-some HP).

I don't care for that high-pitched whine (lambo) in car engines- always sounds overstressed/struggling to me.

-- -- -- -- --

And WRT the Aston posted earlier- under load it sounds great, but at idle it sounds like sh!t IMO. The 'exotic's frequently seem plagued with this dichotomy.

-- -- -- -- --

I remember working at one client's house, and there were 2 'off-the-boat' Italian painters there, too. We all were out in the garage when the ex- shows up in his ferrari 355 spyder. We watched him start it, roll down the drive & take off at a decent clip, and the one guy sez something to me in effect 'Sounds so nice, eh?' but they scoffed at me when I answered that when it started, it sounded like an old Chrysler. Which it did.

-- -- -- -- --

Seen the '55 Merlin- but I don't care for it's sound- too broken up/sickly.

I've had fun so far poking around youtube looking at engine vids- neat idea, DF- thanks. The Duesey I linked to on page 1 is by far my favorite tho.

Keep in mind with that one: stock 1930.

[Intrepidation]

Anything is possible if you throw enough time and money at it. That Merlin powered Chevy is proof enough of that.

Glad you're enjoying it. I am too; all of the neat sounds posted in this thread, as well as people's different tastes.

[balthazar]

>>"Anything is possible if you throw enough time and money at it."<<{/i]

Exactly right- and the $205K lambo is likewise proof enough of that.

[Cory Wolfe]

To reiterate my opinion.

[67impss]

Searched You Tube & Google but couldn't find any vid.s but in my opinion(& everyone has 1 of those too) the stock blocks of Indy 76-77 made the best sound that I've ever heard NHRA is a close second with the 350 Chevy Indy the best it came out of an old school bus well seasoned IIRC it went out 3/4 of the race but 200mph + in the strait coming into turn 1 man oh man

[balthazar]

WRT the R32 : Getting the same thing out of that: on throttle/WOT it sounds good (tho raspy), but back off or idling and it sounds sickly.

Edited June 1, 2010 by balthazar

[A Horse With No Name]

To reiterate my opinion.

Balthazar will think we are nuts, but I agree on the R32 dude.

but then again I do like the dusey better than the Lambo...

...and one of the best ways to get sound track is to work corners at an SCCA event...ever be 15 feet from the track when 50 cars come by at 130 miles an hour?

[balthazar]

I don't think you weedwacker-lovers are nuts; to each his own. But I don't see it myself- just doesn't sound powerful/impressive to my ear and never will.

[A Horse With No Name]

Can't blame you there...

[Sixty8panther]

Soon as I saw the title of this thread I thought of two things immediatelly:

1. The F4U Corsair powered by the Air Cooled, Supercharged 18 cylinder (Radial PW) R2800 motor

2. The Legendary, Infamous Messerschmitt Bf.109 & its 600-series Daimler Benz Supercharged, inverted V12

------

The Imperialist Japanese pilots' nickname for the F4U was "Whistling Death": very telling of how feared it was.

Almost a decade before the P-51D Mustang saw combat the German War machine developed a fighter plane that became the mother of ALL modern mono-wing, liquid cooled fighters: the sleek, form-follows function Messerschmitt Bf109. The ultimate evolution, still very close in airframe to the original 1935 prototype, was powered by a Supercharged, inverted V12 built by Daimler Benz and in a war where planes went from state of the art to obsolete in a manner of a couple of years the Bf109's carreer begain in the Spanish Civil War in 1937 and it fought until the very last day of the European conflict 8 years later.

As a naive kid I was conditioned to think the Spitfire & Mustang were the the $h!, now having read up on & watched dozens of documentaries on WWII/Military Aviation for years I've come to love the Bf109. It's so unique and yet immitated more than almost any other aircraft ever made. The license built, Italian Fiat G55, Reggiane Re2005 & Macchi Mc205, as well as the elegant Japanse Kawasaki Ki-61 were litteraly just immitations of the Bf109, powered by a license built DB601/603/605 motor.

Here's a good clip of a genuine (very rare!) Bf109:

No buzzsaw Ferrari motor or fart-can Honda Ricer can even come close to either. Certain Muscle Cars come close in a Mini-Me kind of way.

Also, the SR-71's JT11 turbojets are quite impressive too.... but they're in a category all of their own and have nothing in common with piston powered motors.

[Intrepidation]

Soon as I saw the title of this thread I thought of two things immediatelly:

1. The F4U Corsair powered by the Air Cooled, Supercharged 18 cylinder (Radial PW) R2800 motor

2. The Legendary, Infamous Messerschmitt Bf.109 & its 600-series Daimler Benz Supercharged, inverted V12

------

The Imperialist Japanese pilots' nickname for the F4U was "Whistling Death": very telling of how feared it was.

Almost a decade before the P-51D Mustang saw combat the German War machine developed a fighter plane that became the mother of ALL modern mono-wing, liquid cooled fighters: the sleek, form-follows function Messerschmitt Bf109. The ultimate evolution, still very close in airframe to the original 1935 prototype, was powered by a Supercharged, inverted V12 built by Daimler Benz and in a war where planes went from state of the art to obsolete in a manner of a couple of years the Bf109's carreer begain in the Spanish Civil War in 1937 and it fought until the very last day of the European conflict 8 years later.

As a naive kid I was conditioned to think the Spitfire & Mustang were the the $h!, now having read up on & watched dozens of documentaries on WWII/Military Aviation for years I've come to love the Bf109. It's so unique and yet immitated more than almost any other aircraft ever made. The license built, Italian Fiat G55, Reggiane Re2005 & Macchi Mc205, as well as the elegant Japanse Kawasaki Ki-61 were litteraly just immitations of the Bf109, powered by a license built DB601/603/605 motor.

Here's a good clip of a genuine (very rare!) Bf109:

No buzzsaw Ferrari motor or fart-can Honda Ricer can even come close to either. Certain Muscle Cars come close in a Mini-Me kind of way.

Also, the SR-71's JT11 turbojets are quite impressive too.... but they're in a category all of their own and have nothing in common with piston powered motors.

Saw the title but didn't see the part where it was for car and truck engines, not plane engines.

But since we have posted planes anyway, you're forgiven.

[Camino LS6]

Big

Block

Chevy

Someone else will have to provide a clip as I still have no sound.

Recent cars: Ford GT

[AAS]

First generation Lexus SC400

Jeep Cherokee 5.9 Limited

[Sixty8panther]

Speaking of Chevrolet Big Blocks one of my

favorite cars in the world ever is the 427

powered 1969 COPO Camaro and by

extension the ZL1 & Yenko Camaro YSC.

Every 1969 Camaro is magical, but stuffing

a BBC between the fenders makes them

damn near exotic. The 2+2 layout makes

them the 1960s equivalent of the BMW M3.

[balthazar]

Sixty8panther ~ >>"The ultimate evolution, still very close in airframe to the original 1935 prototype, was powered by a Supercharged, inverted V12 built by Daimler Benz..."<<

Merlin: water-cooled 60-degree SOHC 48-valve V-12 with single-stage SCer.

American licensee Packard fitted a 2-stage SC and boosted HP from 1030 to 1700. Packard also replaced the troublesome Brit SU carbs to Bendix units. British Spitfires topped out at 350 MPH, but Packard-Merlin P-51s went 437 MPH.

[Nick]

My car sounds pretty good actually. Not the best, but for stock (with the resonator removed) it sounds great.

I love the sound of an Eisenmann on these cars though...

(the M5 helps, but it sounds equally amazing on my lowly 540...may be time for an upgrade within the next year...)

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I'm a bit biased, but I think I own 2 of the best sounding V8s I've ever heard. My '73 Camaro runs a cammed 406 SBC through Hedman Hedders and 3 inch Flowmaster Delta Flow single chamber exhaust. It's so loud it's scary (Neighbors can hear/feel me fire it up 2 houses down) and it sounds amazing. It's quite the ego builder when you're driving it.

The second would be the Mustang. I've always had a sweet spot for the 5.0 and modular motors. I think they're some of the best sounding motors ever built.

That Vantage sounded really sweet too, and who WOULDN'T love the sound of a Ferrari. I'm also a huge fan of the radial motors like on the B-17. I have fond memories of them as a kid because that sound always meant that some 'cool old plane' was flying over. In fact, the last time the Liberty Belle came to Charlotte, it actually woke me up when they did a relatively low flight over the apartment. I remember being barely awake and having a smile on my face, because I knew immediately what it was. That was a great day.

All biases aside though, probably the best sounding factory car that I've heard in a long time was this:

the (6.0L GTO)

New cars sound too 'clean' to me. IMO, a good sounding V8 is a lot like a good heavy metal guitar riff, it needs to be controlled chaos. Usually that requires adding a bigger cam. For instance, IMO, that ZR1 sounds really lame... First thing I would do with that car is rip the factory exhaust off of it and make it 'loud and proud'. A car that mean needs to sound like it's going to eat your soul, NOT like a finely manicured IRL racer.

Then again, I guess I'm not really the target demo for the ZR1. And, as I've stated numerous times, I'd take the Z06 over the ZR1 anyday. It's 'rough around the edges' character is more my style and for the $$$ I would save, I could make the Z06 dance circle around that ZR1.

Edited June 3, 2010 by FUTURE_OF_GM

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

My car sounds pretty good actually. Not the best, but for stock (with the resonator removed) it sounds great.

I love the sound of an Eisenmann on these cars though...

(the M5 helps, but it sounds equally amazing on my lowly 540...may be time for an upgrade within the next year...)

That BMW sounds sweet and I have a lot of respect for those cars. But one guy in my old complex had an older three with the six in it and insisted on revving it sky high every time he came in. Such a horrible annoying sound. I tried to bounce a beer bottle off of it one night as he was coming in, but my girlfriend (not enraged and obviously showing better judgment) stopped me.

In retrospect, that would've been a pretty asshole-ish move. Glad I didn't follow through.

[SAmadei]

Best noise... broken rod bolt leading to bent rod and/or rod/piston exiting the engine at speed. But you can only do it once. Preferably, you want to hear this coming from the car alongside you.

[Camino LS6]

Best noise... broken rod bolt leading to bent rod and/or rod/piston exiting the engine at speed. But you can only do it once. Preferably, you want to hear this coming from the car alongside you.

Experienced that once - don't care to repeat it.

[SAmadei]

Experienced that once - don't care to repeat it.

So have I. Worst part... I could have driven home... on 5 cylinders... but the shrapnel from the engine block flattened one of my tires. Talk about insult to injury.