'The world's first purpose-built hydrogen-powered bike could be fitted with an artificial "vroom" because of worries its silence might be dangerous.
A prototype of the motorbike, which could cost more than $8,300 (£4,500), was unveiled in London on Tuesday.
The problem with the "fuel cell" bike, which produces no polluting emissions, is that it is too quiet.
But anti-noise campaigners said they welcomed the prospect of a motorbike without the usual excruciating roar.
For their part, manufacturers said the fake engine noise device, which could be switched off, would help alert road users. '
I'd go for a reproduction of my old Triumph T90 quite an exciting noise on it's siamesd exhaust.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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BSA Gold Star Clubmans'!
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Favourite?
Car - Inside a McLaren Mercedes SLR at the rev limiter on the A413. Awesome, and then some, with the dual soundtrack of V8 bellow and supercharger scream.
Bike - Original Duke 916 on race pipes.
Aeroplane - Gotta be any Merlin or Griffon if we're talking pistons, Dart if we're talking turboprop, or the Conway in a VC10 if we're not.
Most disappointing?
Race piped 180 bhp K series Lotus Elise, on the road. It made noise, in fact lots of it, but it was just noise. No soul or character. Handling was awesome though.
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Honda 750-4 hitting the rev band wiht reverse cone megaphones on it about 18 years ago.
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For those interested in more detail: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4353853.stm
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The least annoying noise is white noise . Equal volume of every frequency over the audio band. Least annoying because it contains no information, other than it is there.
For the non-technical, the sound is similar to that of a radio tuned off station with the volume turned up enough to hear the sort of hiss.
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Suzujk GSX-R 1000 at...er.....non NW friendly speeds.
SL500 Merc, BMW M3/5.
1.8 Zetec ;-)
--
Adam
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No - they haven't brought a new company out - I meant Suzuki of course
--
Adam
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>>Honda 750-4 hitting the rev band with reverse cone megaphones on it about 18 years ago.
Actually I just thought about that a bit more carefully. Make that 28 years ago [sob!].
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How can that be Mark? You're not a day over 25.
;-)
--
Adam
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Aston (any) BMW petrol six.
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When the chap says, "No problems, here's the new mot certificate."
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Aeroplane - Gotta be any Merlin or Griffon if we're talking pistons, Dart if we're talking turboprop, or the Conway in a VC10 if we're not.
Noooooooo. *4* merlins as in Lancaster
Turbo prop? yup a Dart - 4 of them
Conway? oooooooo nooooo nasty smelly smokey not nice noise windmill plant. It has to be the Olympus as fitted to Vulcan.
Car?
Has to be TVR with sewer pipe exhausts.
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Aston martin V8. You can keep your screaming V12's, I want my car to ROAR. :D
Does anyone else think there's a definite anthropomorphic pattern?
4-cylinder = just an engine
6 = purr
8 = roar (or growl possibly)
10 = dunno. Not sure I've heard one
12 = scream
I'm fantastically pleased with the sound of the 5 pot in my Coupe, as I think it growls in a way quite reminiscent of a V8. I may be trying to hear that though, if you get what I mean.
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Air - Concorde at take off!!
Car - Lambo or course, although the 5-cylinder Volvo 850 has a certain je ne sais quoi.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Conway? oooooooo nooooo nasty smelly smokey not nice noise windmill plant. It has to be the Olympus as fitted to Vulcan.
gotta disagree with you there, RF.
I grew up under the flight path of many an Olympus engined V-bomber at Coningsby, and they're great if you're talking ground shaking, ear splitting, take-you-breat-away exhaust noise, but for engine noise, two years at Brize means the Conway has it for me! The fact that they're also fitted to the most beautiful airliner ever made (marginally outdoes Concorde in my book) probably helps though!
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tyres on gravel
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I missed something - an ST220 - or an ST24...in fact, any Mondeo with the V6 lump in it...accelerating....hard.
Fantastic.
--
Adam
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car - almost any v8, bike it really has got to be the unmistakable sound of a Harley, not one of these jap copies mind i can tell the difference although some sound pretty good they aint got the noise quite right a Harley IS unmistakable...cheers...keo.
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Any V6 or V8 engine BMW going through the rev range, add a nicely tuned exhaust note & you are in heaven!!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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V6 BMW? All 6 cyl BMW's are in line.
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You just can't keep Mondeos out of any thread, I am beginning to realise. A Ford V6 sounds that good?
The nicest sound produced by a car I can recall driving, was from an Alfa 3.0 V6.
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"I grew up under the flight path of many an Olympus engined V-bomber at Coningsby"
You must be deaf by now then so what do you know! ;) tic
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You must be deaf by now then so what do you know! ;) tic
(Predictable response) Pardon? :-)
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Bike - Norton Commando
Everything else - Harrier jump jet hovering fifty foot above the ground, as witnessed at Brands Hatch a few years ago. Every bone in my body was vibrating, even a few I never knew I had.
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Aircraft:- Darts or radial pistons
Trains:- Deltic
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Simple tastes here, little pop-pop of a fishing boat setting off at dawn over a millpond Aegean sea. I also love those single cylinder stationary engines you see at village fetes.
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Why not just stick a lolly stick in the spokes
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Air: Actually, it would have to be the jet engine. I like the whine as they come up to full power and you hurtle down the runway. The jet engine has to win on size grounds anyway... ;)
It always gets on my nerves when people complain about airline food - they just ignore the fact that they're sitting, eating, in a tin can doing 700MPH 35000 feet in the air is a miracle in itself...
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The Foden 2-stroke supercharged FE6 diesel engine had a memorable sound. I used to live on a main road hill in the 60's and 70's and when one of these went past it sounded like a Triumph TR6. only louder and accompanied by a Hoover sound from the mechanical blower. Most Foden heavies had laid-back Gardner engines though, only a minority had Foden's own snarling 2-stroke.
On the curious subject of 2-stroke diesels (the Napier Deltic engine was another such), at the other end of the scale was the Field Marshall tractor, with a 5-litre single-cylinder diesel and a massive external flywheel. On tickover they'd rock back and forth going "num-num-num" and under load they'd bark "ponk-ponk-ponk"
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Top 3 would be:
Triumph Stag V8 cruising through town.
Ford Capri 2.8 V6 " " "
Suzuki X5 250 2-stroke Motorbike at full chat when I was 17 and sat on it hanging on for dear life with my chin on the tank......them were the days! :0)
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You might find this strange but a '95-01 Ford Transit 2.5 diesel flat out at about 80mph. wierd..!
Air- Harrier stationary in the air or a Tornado with afterburners on doing flypast.
Train- like previous poster Class 55 Deltic under full throttle!
Adski.. yeah my V6 Mondeo sounds superb too. Most mock it without hearing it.
Worst.. A 1.2 Polo or Fabia, sounds like a 2 stroke. Almost laughable!
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My mate's old Land Rover with a v8 Range Rover engine under the bonnet, and a straight through exhaust system with a Cherry bomb tailpipe at the end.
Shame he wrote it off by wrapping it around a tree.
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Thank you Tomo, I was also going to say Beeza Gold Star. That's if you could start the wretched thing. Not to mention the Castrol R aroma, but that's OT.
My 69 Mustang V-8.
My 2000 Harley Softail with Vance & Hines drap pipes. Blip the throttle as you change gear and watch cagers come out of their coma.
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Suzuki X5 250 2-stroke Motorbike at full chat when I was 17 and sat on it hanging on for dear life with my chin on the tank......them were the days! :0)
The X5 was a 200, rather weedy, the 250 was the X7, quicker though my Yamaha RD250 had them for breakfast!
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Four Olympus 593's on full reheat climbing out of Heathrow powering a Concorde across the Atlantic in 3.5 hours.
Merlin powered Spitfire diving to 100ft leveling out then going into a vertical climb. The doppler effect as they pass is amazing.
25 years ago Honda 400-4's, Kawasaki Z400's etc, small 4's sounded great with a simple 4-1 exhaust. Current 600's with an Akrapovic sound superb as they go through 15000 revs. My ZX7R with an Akrapovic also sounds good though does not rev as high and is rather more throaty.
Agree re V8's SL55's etc, Italian V12's sound great though.
Remember when Ferrari had the only V12's in F1, how different they sounded!
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the unique sound of a Morris Minor exhaust note - almost trombone-ish and rebounds wonderfully off walls.
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Used to live in York. Summers afternoon and the Battle of Britian flight would pass overhead awesome. York again - in the forests Makkenin (?) driving original Quattro at night - guy just never backed off. Concorde taking off, any chopper coming to get me for crew change!
2 stroke diesels still being made GM EMDs are standard oil field power guess they migrated for US locomotives hence Deltic connection. They also sound great when you load them up quickly ( shouldn't but goveners are slow sometimes)
Jim
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"Four Olympus 593's on full reheat climbing out of Heathrow powering a Concorde across the Atlantic in 3.5 hours"
Its that crackle as it passes away from you, never failed to raise the hairs on the back of my neck 4 times a day.
I miss it. Possibly the most awe inspring and beautiful thing created by man.
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Car: DB5
Air: Merlin powered Lancaster bomber in full power takeoff
Rail: Duke of Gloucester 71000 running at full speed on local mainline last year. www.dukeofgloucester.co.uk/
StarGazer
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Car: Driving my Alfasud Sprint Veloce 1.5 (in the 1980s). Fabulous exhaust note from its two twin Weber carbs.
Train: Eurostar passing by ... at any speed.
Plane: Take-off on-board an Scandinavian Airlines' MD-80 (a rear-engined plane with a very long fuselage). Tremendous lift and tranquil cabin if you sit if the first 12 or so rows.
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A1 Pacific?
Pah - The Footplate of my dads Britannia no 70037 "Hereward the Wake" pulling out of Liverpool St to start the journey to Norwich. He slipped the driving wheels for me for that full experience.
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When I was five or six I saved for months to buy a Hornby "Britannia" n.o. 70000, I still have it in my parents loft, have not seen it for years though I still remember the smell given off by the "real life" functioning funnel.
RF, not sure how long you have lived in the Woodham area though do you remeber when the model shop was in Addlestone High St, as opposed to Station Road, that is where I bought my "Britannia".
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Its now closing down. They have a sale on.
If i recall was that the one where you had to put special oil in the chimney
Anyway on the net you can get stickers to change your 70000 Britannia to 70037 Hereward..
I really must get up to Bressingham and see old Olly. (oliver cromwell 70013)
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A1 Pacific?
No, 71000 was a prototype of a class never built, comparable in size to a mechant Navy class or A1/A2 Pacific, but with 3 cylinders with novel poppet valve gear. After restoration when some construction errors were found and fixed it has proved to be much more powerful than its rivals.
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"Four Olympus 593's on full reheat climbing out of Heathrow powering a Concorde across the Atlantic in 3.5 hours" Its that crackle as it passes away from you, never failed to raise the hairs on the back of my neck 4 times a day. I miss it. Possibly the most awe inspring and beautiful thing created by man.
I agree, problem is that it was most beautiful and awe inspiring in flight, OK it is good to see Concorde's being preserved however they are like stuffed animals in a museum, i.e. no comparison with a real live one in it's element!
Hoping a Concorde might fly again one day, not totally out of the question.
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There is just something about the sound of a classic mini door being closed, that tinny clunk, takes me right back to my childhood.
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Having actually been sat on the runway edge at Heathrow in the following plane to Concorde I can vouch for the noise and also the smoke trail as she took off and I could always identify Concorde flying overhead when on my motorbike in London , even with the helmet on it was far and away the noisiest of the civil jets.
In the air I think my favourite had to be the Lightning or the Vulcan from my younger days at Biggin Hill although at Farnborough this year there were any number of contenders to set the hairs up on the back of your neck and the car alarms off in the car park.
I also like the sound of our company heliport in the morning with some powering up, others taking off or coming in , up to 12 Bell helicopters in close proximity - that helicopter noise has never failed to excite me since an RAF Air Sea rescue helicopter landed on the school playing field in the 60's .
My personal favourite car noise is the burble of the exhaust on an old 1920's Bentley.
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I vote for Concorde. I have heard it on take off and coming into land 1000s of times. I do at least have video of it including its last night take off to NYC so not just the sound but the reheat X 4 in the night sky followed by a chorus of car alarms as usual. From a view almost underneath it, at the end of 09R runway, as it left LHR, it was just so impressive.
Having travelled on it, on one of the occassions, with only six other passengers on a shortish, commercial, scheduled flight and light fuel load, the take off performance was quite something. I was also able to see two sunsets on the same day and see sunrise in the West.
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Bike: Triumph triple, or any old Guzzi or Ducati (not the new Ducatis - they sound completely different - change of firing order?
All jap fours sound the same to me, apart from the VFR.
Car: Anything with an Audi 5cyl engine.
Plane: Vulcan bomber (Don't set your car alarm)
Train: I'm not that much of an anorak!
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Favourite vehicle noise is the sound of gentle snoring from kids on a long car journey.
Other noises - always loved the sound of the old LT bus that I used to go to school on (1969 ish). This would have been the double decker immediately prior to the Routemaster. The interior smell was great too - although that's for another thread.
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LOL - there will be quite a demand for engine tones when we run around in our hydrogen powered hush-mobiles!
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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An Alfasud on the red line, a Harley burbling along at zero revs, any aircraft with a Merlin engine, and some others that bring back memories of my Alfa but the mods would remove them.
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Best sound: Triumph straight-six on triple Webers.
Makes me laugh all this hype over hydrogen power. The tree-huggers really do think it's completely non-polluting and utterly sustainable - when will they accept the long-established principle that energy cannot be created from nothing?
Ok a hydrogen fuel cell doesn't pollute as it operates. But just how do they propose to create all this hydrogen? Last I checked it required quite a lot of fossil fuel derived energy.
No energy form is completely sustainable. The nearest any comes to it is nuclear power (fusion better than fission), as the yields and fuel reserves mean it is viable for many hundreds of thousands of years. Just a trifle unsafe when badly managed.
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"The nearest any comes to it is nuclear power"
And what happens when your Peugeot 3069 "atomique" throws a rod through your block?
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The rod and block is somewhere else. The 3069 runs on nuclear-generated electricity.
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More of a problem is when you accidently select Warp Factor 5 away from the lights and rear-end a bus in the next county!
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0-60 times will be measured in nano-seconds.
The new M2005 will open, linking London and New York. 50 lanes either way, speed limit of 500 miles per hour.
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I think you mean speed limits of 5 MPH
;-)
--
Adam
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No, definitely 500 mph.
But it you do so much as 500.1mph, a giant robotic arm will come out of the sky, pick up your car, and drop it (and you) to the bottom of the Atlantic.
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Shhhh! You'll give them ideas!
--
Adam
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The best noise is in fact one of the quietest.
Take a 911 (996) out for a drive. Drive with care, but show some spirit and enthusiasm. Use the car as it was always intended to be used.
Then return to the garage, switch it off and close the door. Wait a few minutes.
Wait for the "ticktickticktick" of satisfaction from its engine.
And smile. :o)
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Then return to the garage, switch it off and close the door. Wait a few minutes. Wait for the "ticktickticktick" of satisfaction from its engine.
Wife's '98 Clio does that, just think you could have saved £50K!
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Then return to the garage, switch it off and close the door. Wait a few minutes. Wait for the "ticktickticktick" of satisfaction from its engine. And smile. :o)
So now we know that Patently sits outside the garage door waiting for his car to talk to him.
Hmmm.
Do you want to tell this nice person here how often it happens? ;-)
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>>>2 stroke diesels still being made GM EMDs are standard oil field power guess they migrated for US locomotives hence Deltic connection. They also sound great when you load them up quickly ( shouldn't but goveners are slow sometimes)
We have GM diesel heavy freight locos working round here on long quarry trains, some EWS and some Mendip Rail. These have 2-stroke supercharged engines but they are remarkably quiet.
Also there is a fairly modern Foden lorry operating round here with that unmistakable 2-stroke snarl - doubt very much if it's been retrofitted with a 30+ year old Foden engine, more likely a GM V6 or V8 has been fitted.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Also - the sound of a Rolls-Royce door shutting.
Cheers, SS
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Something you don't hear much nowadays - the exhaust of a Morris Minor! It's quite distinctive and sends me into a fit of nostalgia!
Graeme
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Anyone remember the scream of those old (1960s?) Commer trucks which I think had horizontally opposed 3 cylinder supercharged (?) engines? Another memorable sound - the 1930s Auto-Union GP cars at Donington a couple of years ago - V12s perhaps?
And perhaps we ought to include "favourite smells"?
Here are a couple to start with - smell of my uncle's old paraffin (?) fuelled tractor on an early summers morn at harvest time many years ago, Castrol R, and the smell of LHM bursting from a leak on a Citroen (well, not a favourite, but certainly memorable!!)
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Ah, the tractor fuel smell, TVO I think it was called. Tractor volatile oil? The old Fordson was started once a year, on the handle, and never failed.
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I'd go with Syd on the Foden two stroke. Nothing I ever heard has matched that continous ever increasing wail which could be heard on a cold night three miles away from where I lived.
And for the LNER brigade did you never have the privilege of hearing the LMS Stanier Princess Royal and Princess Coronation class Pacifics with over 40000 lbs TE.
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Alvin,
And for the LNER brigade did you never have the privilege of hearing the LMS Stanier Princess Royal and Princess >>Coronation class Pacifics with over 40000 lbs TE.
Unfortunately too young, steam was still around when I was born but rapidly being replaced.
StarGazer
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So now we know that Patently sits outside the garage door waiting for his car to talk to him.
She talks a lot more sense than some people!
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She talks a lot more sense than some people!
;-)
touchée!
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And a lawnmower powered by a Villiers 2 stroke and not some screaming manic thing like most people seem to use today
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Reading through this thread I was hoping someone would remember the Commer lorry - I agree, Phil: nothing can quite beat that, even a Foden, or the 1940s Bedford petrol lorry whose sound was also quite distinctive.
Agree also about the Morris Minor on the overrun - for some reason it was only the 1000s, not the 918s and 803s.
There were also some memorable first gears of that era - the Austin A40 (Devon) and Riley RM series, and then of course the 1920s Bullnose Morris (which I think they used as sound effects for Postman Pat's van!).
And finally - anyone remember the tinkling starting handle of the Austin Ruby?
(That was a bit down to earth after all those jet engines and suspersonic motorbikes...I must have been sad in my youth.)
What goes around comes around - I'm sure we had this thread a year or so ago. But we have lots of new backroomers now, so a good thing to have it again.
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Car: TWR Jaguar XJ-S at Bathurst, Australia, with in-car camera and microphone. Watched this live on TV in 1984? and have never forgotten the V12 howl and instantaneous gear changes. I vowed that I'd have a V12 one day, and in 1993 I got an XJ12. I've still got it, though mine's very quiet in comparison to the TWR.
Aircraft: Full speed (450mph) low pass by Lockheed P-3 Orion. Hummmm - roar - vroom - whistle. We must have scared some of those fishing boat crews out of their skins over the years. Hee hee...
Motorcycle: 1979 - 84 Suzuki GSX1100, preferably Katana.
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A few years ago now, at Avon Park raceway when you gould get close to the cars in the paddock.
The start up of a full spec alcohol durning funny car, the sound was just incredible.
A TVR or Ducatti with carbon fibre exhausts, just thinking about that sound is making my stomach ache.
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Any 2 valve Ducati engine. Much deeper and satisfying than the 4 valve variants.
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Re: the Commer TS3 2-stroke supercharged diesel - that must have been one of the wierdest engines of all. 3 cylinders - not exactly horizontally pooposed but 'opposed piston' - open ended cylinders containing two pistons punching towards each other. Connecting rods operated rockers, which operated secondary connecting rods attached to crankshaft underneath. One piston uncovered inlet ports as it reached maximum displacement, the other the exhaust ports. Thus, supercharger blew a surplus of air through engine to blow away exhaust gases and re-charge with fresh air. Look up Commer or Rootes TS3 for diagrams.
Another memorable HGV - when Dodge brought out the stylish K-series in the mid 60's, the heavier variants had a Cummins V8.
Early models had poor silencing and were extremely noisy - sounded like a racing Ford Mustang. Where I lived at the time (same place as mentioned re the Fodens), I remember hearing one of these Dodges thundering along one still night for miles before the sound finally disappeared.
Later I got to drive some Ford D series with these Cummins V8's, but they had much better silencing and were very temperamental.
One further footnote re the Foden 2-stroke. A local coach company owned a very rare early 1950's Foden rear-engined coach fitted with such an engine and a flambyant body built, I think, by Windovers. And, yes, it did make a lot of noise!
Cheers, SS
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Yes I remember the sound of those Cummings engines. At the time I also used to hear them in the night and had no idea what they were. Had to ask contacts in the haulage industry and they knew immediately what they were and recall them saying they were American Cummings engines.
Regarding the Commer TS3 I drove one of these many thousands of miles and they were a remarkable engine. One fault with them was the supercharger was prone to give up and when it happened power was immediately lost. Also black smoke poured from the exhaust which resulted in my case being stopped at Harpendon and being given my only motoring conviction of £5.00 at St Albans Court in 1960.
Now here is one for you SS. Do you know what the initials TS were??? Some though it was Two stroke but not so.
I?ll give you time to see if you can find out.
In the same era there was a very well know HGV tractor unit which was a one off owned and built by Toff and Tomlinson who were well known diesel specialists at Darley Dale in Derbyshire. It was named NORD and used to be operated from that area down to North London. It was quite remarkable being a huge semi-trailer unit with also a Cummings engine and what was described as a French electric shift gearbox.. No idea what that meant!.
It did two trips a day and God knows what speed it achieved but recall being overtaken many times on the new M1 by this monster. It used to run in the outside lane and with no speed limits. You could sense and hear it well before it ripped past at a tremendous speed. sounding like Concorde taking off. I don?t know how long it lasted for but it was a legend at the time.
I remember being told that its drivers couldn?t stand the noise and speed for long and perhaps that caused its demise.
I would be interested to hear if any others have information on the NORD.
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"Do you know what the initials TS were??? "
I do now after looking up the engines - but I'm not telling! SS probably knows anyway!
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a competition engine revving up in the paddock. With stuff all flywheel effect they sound like they're breathing.
John
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Alvin,
Was intrigued enough to look TS3 up.
Seems to be three cylinder opposed piston two stroke diesels.
But if TS does not stand for two stroke I am stumped.
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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The new Corvettes accelerating away from Turn 10 at the first ALSM race of the year at Sebring on Saturday... :-)
And the cheer from our lot when the Astons won their class...
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Car:1980's Audi Quattro rally car
Aeroplane:Any Merlin powered WW2 aircraft,but especially my personal favourite Avro Lancaster PA474 with it's 4 Merlin's.Poetry in motion.
Truck:14litre Cummins
Smell:Castrol R.I use it in my AX autograss car.
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Glaikit,
Try this site - may be a hint!!
Phil
www.fleetdata.co.uk/tilling-stevens.html
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And here's another favourite sound - when I were a lad in Scarborough, I used to sneak in to see the m/c road races at Olivers Mount. Parked my bike (pushbike that is) and snook up through the trees and lay face down just behind the fence on the long lower straight where the road only seemed to be about 10 feet wide and was overhung by trees, the bikes came along at God knows what speed but made a noise that made me, and the trees and the very leaves on the trees shake. I can feel that sound now.
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GWS, TS stands for Tilling Stevens a Maidstone company who designed and made this legendary engine. There is a huge amount of info from enthusiasts and collectors on this engine and its unique design.
I was told once that it was designed initially as a marine engine.
Local company Phillips of Wirksworth Derbyshire not that far from yourself had a few hundred of these Commer TS3s back in the fifties and early sixties. One of the strange sights was the TS3 periodically decarbonising itself. The exhaust would blast out showers of sparks and at night looked as if it was on fire.
One of many sites
tinyurl.com/45c2g
alvin
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TS stands for Tilling Stevens a Maidstone company who designed and made this legendary engine.
Tilling-Stevens came to my mind too, but I wasn't sure. I think T-S designed the engine but Rootes (also with Maidstone origins?),who owned Commer, built it. On one website there were details of a 4-cylinder TS4 engine which never entered production. The napier Deltic engine was also an 'opposed piston' design.
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"the TS3 periodically decarbonising itself. The exhaust would blast out showers of sparks and at night looked as if it was on fire."
Alvin,
I'd forgotten about that - but now that you mention it!!!
And thanks for the link - now on favourites!!
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The link Alvin posted contains an excellent link with diagrams of how this unusual engine worked. Interesting that the Rootes engine had a Roots (sic) blower.
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The Nord truck rings a bell, probably from my years of reading Truck magazine - can't find any reference on the net. Midland Red built their own motorway coaches C5, etc)in the late '50's that would cruise at 80 mph on the M1.
cheers, SS
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Went to le Mans a few times in the 90's and saw the Panoz front-engined racer in action. It was the loudest, thunderiest V8 I can remember. One year they swapped engines to a flat-plane crank type V8 which sounded more like a Cosworth DFV.
Also the Dodge/Chrysler Vipers, with their 8-litre V10s, had a deep, mournful throb.
And then there were those little Honda S600 sports cars in the 60's, whose 600 cc 4 cylinder engines revved to about 11,000 rpm!
All three of the above cars can be played with on Gran Turismo 4, by the way. I've just bought it (for my son, of course!) Lots more cars and tracks than GT3, graphics perhaps just a little closer to perfection!
Cheers, SS
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>>>One fault with them was the supercharger was prone to give up and when it happened power was immediately lost.
I'm surprised the TS3 worked at all with the supercharger caput as there was no longer anything maintaining airflow through the engine.
cheers, SS
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Favourite noise? The burbling of my Capri 2.8i as it idles.
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My favourite noise has got to be (any) Chav car fitted with Bling and Bean Can exhaust pipe being hit by a Rapier missile...
....oh I can dream can't I?
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I like the sound of my 82 2.8 Granada when idling, a quiet but nice burble. Sounds great when pressing the go pedal into the carpet with the box kicking down and the V6 giving a great roar above 3K rpm! Modern V6 engines don't sound as good to me.
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Wouldn't a selectable theme-tune be more appropriate?
Maybe it could automatically sense the situation/speed/braking and alter the tune as incidental music?
If you brake hard it could change to dramatic, if you're weaving in town Charlie Chaplin, or what abour Benny Hill sounds? If, you're just cruising, an unobtrusive railway type music should suffice.
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Most favorite sound? Defintely a Porsche 911 turbo on full song, makes the old hairs on the back of the neck stand up. Alos get a kick from the sound of the turbo waste gate going "TSHHH" every time I change gears under even moderate accelleration in my Saab 9000 areo. Cheap thrills!
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My Daughters Yaris as she pulls onto the drive at gone midnight, so I know she is home safe and well! I can only sleep then, and I drift of as she shuts her car door.
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A Transit Diesel being broken up for scrap
-the sound of one of them being driven hard through the gears is my least favourite noise
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