Exhausting question

[Brett Dikeman]

At 11:53 PM -0400 8/16/02, Audi Sport wrote:

>Bret,

Hey, Audi Spor ;-)


>The stock systems on these cars make no noise at all. Nothing, Zero, Zilch.
>The only thing you can hear is the engine itself reving up but not the
>exhaust.

I disagree!  I've been passed on the highway by a V8q 5 speed with
the engine around 5 grand and WOT, and it was -really- sweet sounding
:-)

I've also been present when a 200q20v has pulled out and passed me,
as I was standing next to the side of the road- trust me, the 200q20v
has an exhaust note and its pretty darn neat sounding too :-)

I once puzzled a tuner who was attending the NE aftermarket event- a
TT roadster in front of me left the parking lot "enthusiastically"
and I did the same, at the dinner the night before the event(which
was mostly organizers, friends of organizers, and the tuners.)

The guy came up to me the next morning during the show and asked if I
had followed a TT out of the parking lot.  I said I had, and he
replied, "well, I heard what I recognized at a TT 225, and then I
heard this other exhaust note that I couldn't figure out at all!"

The owner of the TT, also the owner of the V8q 5 speed mentioned
above, used to, when he saw the local town cops, drop it down a gear
and slow down a little, and give it a little gas back up to the
limit.  He said it never failed to get an instant head-turner, and
one time one of the cops flagged him down and asked "What the heck is
under there?"

Audi's exhausts have usually been two things- quiet under low load,
and quiet from the passenger compartment.  I was chatting with an '02
S6 avant(4.2l V8, with full dual exhaust standard) owner who attended
the winter driving school at the beginning of this year; I commented
on how quiet it was but how it had the nicest sound at even a hint of
pressing, and he said absolutely- it was once of the nicest exhaust
notes he'd heard.

Personally, I'm not about loud exhausts; it has NOTHING to do with
how fast you are.  One of the faster cars at the drag strip a week
ago was a early-80s Chevy wagon in mint condition, complete with
wire-spoke hubcaps, Pooh Bear windowshade and a car seat in the back.
Oh, and a Buick Grand National turbo engine hidden under the hood.
Absolutely no sign of this from the exterior- normal sized steel
exhaust pipe out the back corner, looking perfectly stock, tires
weren't obviously oversized, etc...and it was dead quiet idling and
driving around in the paddock, probably one of the quietest cars
there.  Even when he opened it up to do a quarter mile run(I think he
was in the high 12's, don't remember), the only thing you could hear
was a giant whoosh, and he was outta there...

Brett
--
----
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/
http://www.apple.com/switch/