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If you have stock exhaust, your probably around 82 @ 100.

Club Racing Sound Control rules are being altered for 2009.  Details are/are not final - See Feb 2008 fasttrack.

I suggest Solo watch that as you move forward.

Similar rules with appropriately different limits would make sense to me.

I Do support the notion that loud soloists should be as miserable as loud racers.

 

Wayne Hill

DA, Sound Control, SOWDIV

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W. Hill
SCCA 1966-83,93-now
Sr. F&C, Nat. Sound Control, ex crash-rescue
1971 Martin Tanner Award co-winner, 2007 VOY

I just got back from the Deven NT and they announced they are most likely losing the site next year.  Devens is one of the sound restricted sites in the NE with a 90 db restriction.  Loss of the site, however, has nothing to do with sound but rather the site is being developed by a developer.

I make this post to point out that loss of good sites should not be always blamed on sound but rather there are a myriad of reasons sites are loss, and having a restrictive sound restriction on this site did not save it for us, only perhaps delayed the inevitable.

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Ted

2003 C5 AE Coupe AS
2004 Z16/Z06 SS

TedDBere:

I just got back from the Deven NT and they announced they are most likely losing the site next year.  Devens is one of the sound restricted sites in the NE with a 90 db restriction.  Loss of the site, however, has nothing to do with sound but rather the site is being developed by a developer.

I make this post to point out that loss of good sites should not be always blamed on sound but rather there are a myriad of reasons sites are loss, and having a restrictive sound restriction on this site did not save it for us, only perhaps delayed the inevitable.

As the one who was the New England Region Solo chairman when the sound complaints at Devens began happening, I can say that without a doubt, implementing sound regulations saved the site for us.

When the first complaints came in we were then presented with a site contract that stipulated only street legal, registered, and insured cars would be allowed to compete. NER-SCCA has more non-street-legal cars than most of the clubs that use the site, so this would have been a huge problem for NER. To salvage the site for us, we did research and did what was necessary to get us in compliance with state regulations for sound levels, and that's how we ended up where we are. It got us, and all the other clubs that use Devens, at least 5 more years than we would have had. For any organization which has lost a site, it's critical to find out why and to share that information with other clubs.

As for 2009, we really don't know whether Devens will be available for autocross- nothing is definite at all.

-Chris 

Is there any record from the Tour of what db the cars were at? I noticed the sound person was handing in sheets with the readings.

 

Eric

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2009 Top Kart ICC

2004 Dodge Ram Hemi

1991 AWD Civic SI Turbo

Part of what makes Devens such an enjoyable event is the fact that there IS a sound restriction.  I didn't work course for F Mod (thank G-D) but I did work during BM, EP and FSP, which tend to be among the louder classes when you take FM out of the equation.  It was downright pleasant to not have to wear earplugs while working course. 

If Devens is lost, I am not alone in being an out-of-towner who will miss it a great deal.

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John Vitamvas
1990 GTUs - STS fodder

I'm with John.  At Devens it was really nice to not get a splitting headache from loud cars.  If it's okay there and in San Diego, then it can be okay everywhere.  And if everyone has to play by the same rules, then no one can complain that they are being unfairly treated. 

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Jer
1993 MR2 #196 ES
2005 Lotus Elise (retired)
2002 diesel Ford Excursion 4X4 tow vehicle
1993 Miata (future LeMons car)
1987 Corolla Lemons car
1984 Citation Lemons car

SIMMONS-RACING:

Is there any record from the Tour of what db the cars were at? I noticed the sound person was handing in sheets with the readings.

Eric

Records were kept, though I am not sure they were kept all day, both days. I don't know what happened to them but will see what I can find out.

-Chris 

SIMMONS-RACING:

Is there any record from the Tour of what db the cars were at? I noticed the sound person was handing in sheets with the readings.

 

Eric

There was supposed to be a recording of every car's dB, but that notice didn't get out to the sound person until late Sunday. So all that most cars had was Pass/Fail -Mike

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Mike Shields
1993 BMW 325is | 92/192 DSP

I can tell you that my car got called for 91db on my third run Sat.  Same exhaust I've had on it in the 2 years since I got the car so I'm not really sure what happened.  I added a deflector that was pointed down and had no issues on Sunday, when I was actually going faster  and had more time at full throttle and high revs.  I have never had a warning or been told I was close before in the 6-7 times I've run there and was surprised at being over the limit.  Bill Goodale had a selection of stuff to try and meet the rules available which was greatly appreciated as I was not trying to run near the limit on purpose.

 

To the poster at the top of the page, I was driving the green EP Rabbit.  Did it seem louder than the others to you?  I have no problem with having to meet the sound limit and in fact have no interest in dealing with loud cars, either my own or others.  I have run at sites that do not have limits but have never bothered taking off the muffler at those sites.

 

The section that Andy Hollis quoted from the rulebook is one I have wondered about before and I agree that some minimum, objective standard added to it would be more useful.  I know a number of people were surprised I was over on sound as they thought a number of other cars were much louder/more annoying.  If the standard is purely subjective, numberous cars at the event could have had issues even though they meet the objective standard.  From the viewpoint of neighbors, the subjective standard would probably make them happier from a "make the annoying cars quieter" viewpoint but it would be awfully hard to show up at an event not knowing which side of annoying your car fell on until after someone told you that.

 

Andy F

 

The other part of this debate is that what you measure at 75' is not what you hear from a mile away.  Sound energy dissipates differently based on frequency.  Running at FedEx in DC really points this out.  Last time I was there I remember being surprised at one 4-cylinder something-or-other.  Standing next to the car leaving the start line it wasn't very loud, even when it got the revs up pulling through 1st gear.  There were several cars that sounded a lot louder.  But once it got pointed away from the stadium, the echoes coming back were just ridiculous.  From that standpoint it was the loudest car there.

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Dave Heinig

07 GXP Z0K (Thanks Rob!)

Mohudsolo:

To the poster at the top of the page, I was driving the green EP Rabbit.  Did it seem louder than the others to you?  I have no problem with having to meet the sound limit and in fact have no interest in dealing with loud cars, either my own or others.  I have run at sites that do not have limits but have never bothered taking off the muffler at those sites.

 I was working right next to the sound meter (captain for station 1) but I was not working sound.  I remember the sound guy calling in your car.  I think it was the only car over the limit during our heat.  It was loud.  It wasn't painfully loud like a mufflerless rotary.  It wasn't "I want to kill that guy" horrible sounding like an F Mod.  It didn't "seem" a lot louder than the other EP cars but the sound meter doesn't account for sound quality, just quantity. 

I distinctly remember you being on the gas right after you went by the meter on that third run.  Most of the other EP guys weren't hard on the gas at that particular point, for whatever reason.  You got a bit unlucky with that, I suppose.

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John Vitamvas
1990 GTUs - STS fodder

Mohudsolo:

To the poster at the top of the page, I was driving the green EP Rabbit.  Did it seem louder than the others to you?  I have no problem with having to meet the sound limit and in fact have no interest in dealing with loud cars, either my own or others.  I have run at sites that do not have limits but have never bothered taking off the muffler at those sites.

John V:

I distinctly remember you being on the gas right after you went by the meter on that third run.  Most of the other EP guys weren't hard on the gas at that particular point, for whatever reason.  You got a bit unlucky with that, I suppose.

 

Andy,

Next time don't scream "yeeee haaaaaa" so loud as you drive by the sound meter guy.

 

 

 

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Jim

"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them ... well, I have others." -Groucho Marx

John V:

It wasn't "I want to kill that guy" horrible sounding like an F Mod. 

John, you are my hero. 

--Andy

 

Any way to find out what the db levels were for my car at Seneca? 

96 SS

Thanks.

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Ted

2003 C5 AE Coupe AS
2004 Z16/Z06 SS