Mechanical Music
I have been a big fan of international sports car racing ever since my Dad took me to the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona. I already knew and loved the sounds of the big American V8’s thundering around the tri-oval at full song in the stock cars.
But I had never experienced those engines (and many other types) going up and down the gears as they went thru the infield section and up onto the tri-oval for 24 hours!
Man I Was Hooked.
Back then there was minimal lighting just along the start/finish line and pit lane at Daytona and damn near pitch black at Sebring. So at night as you walked around the course you couldn’t see the cars except for their headlight arrays or the tail lights and exhaust configurations lit up with flames as they down shifted into the turns.
But you sure could hear them.
427 GT40’s, the 327 in the Chaparrel, V12 Ferrari’s, BRM 1.9L V8’s, Porsche flat 6’s and stout 4 bangers all had a distinct sound. After a while you could tell what just flew by their engine note.
It was fantastic.
Living in Ft. Lauderdale allowed me to attend the 24 hour, the 12 Hours of Sebring and later the races held at the Miami Grand Prix every year thru the 90’s.
Big boxer 12 cylinders from Porsche and Ferrari, screaming 3.5L BMW 6’s and V12 Jags, along with an array of other exotic 4, 6, 8 and 12 cylinder power plants were members of the band over the years.
The only annoyance was the shrill of the Mazda Rotary engines but they sure kicked ass in their class.
With all of the days spent at the races and the hundreds of pictures taken, I really regret not taking a cassette recorder with a good mic and recording the sounds.
I had a 1979 BMW 633CSi coupe with a heavily modified 3.0L SOHC slant 6. Allot of head work with a big cam and all of the emissions equipment removed made it damn sporty. A twin 3 into 2 header system with twin pipes out the back with a small resonator and twin tulip shapes tips gave it a sound all it’s own.
It started off as a growl that turned into a beautiful wail around 3500 when it came up on the cam all the way to 7 grand. That engine was built to rev so I drove around allot in 2nd gear on & off throttle listening to it talk.
Besides Auto Crossing it, the best was going up the gears thru the New River Tunnel in Ft. Lauderdale. It was too much fun. I wish I had movies of that car with good audio as well.
Thanks for the video clip, that was fun.
This is me long ago making some noise at a Auto Cross event in Boca. ww
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/65cobrajet428/My%20Bimmers/scan0010_zpsec800ca8.jpghttp://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd31/65cobrajet428/My%20Bimmers/scan0003_zpsf0c201ce.jpg
