Track Day Sound Limits

AndyCr15

AndyCr15

AndyCr15

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Barnet, London
I've booked, with a couple of friends, a track day at the beginning of March at Snetterton. (Mustang V8 btw) I've since become a little nervous about the sound limit of 102 static and 92 drive by.

I have three questions -

1) How can I check in advance what I am likely to score? I've thought about maybe heading to Bedford or Brands for someone else's track day and asking if they can check mine. (I would contact them in advance) This is still a good 2 or 3 hour round trip though.

2) Am I worrying over nothing? I've only ever done bike track days before, my bike probably isn't as loud as the car, but I don't think I was ever even close. With the bike I always had the option of putting the muffler back in though.

3) Is there anything I can do if it does fail, to make it quieter? (Given I have zero technical ability with cars)

Thanks.
 
i think a lot of tracks supply something you stick up the tail pipe to reduce the noise
 
Someone at some point will have been on track in the same car and had the same question, get your goggle hat on!

If that fails, find a friendly local garage with a decibel meter and get him to measure 3/4 revs @ 0.5m on a 45 deg angle.

Most times if you go to the track day and fail the drive-by they will tell you and you will just have to be careful as you drive around. But you'll only get on track if you pass the static test. Oulton has a static test but Donington, Anglesey & Silverstone only have drive-by.
 
92 drive by is pretty quiet, Donnington is 98 drive by I think and my Porsche in sport mode could trigger it.

If your Mustang is stock you should be fine, but if you have an exhaust its a gamble.

To make it quieter you can buy baffles/cans to insert into the exhaust pipes, they look aweful but do the job and is what a few of the GT3 guys run to pass stricter sound limits imposed on some tracks.
 
Thanks. I think the importer put a 'Flowmaster' exhaust on it. A universal baffle something like this one? (I'll go an measure mine shortly)

I guess the drive by can be just rolled past, if you know where it is?
 
Yes, if you know where to lift as you pass the microphone then you can do that, but sometimes the organisers might still pull you up on it if your car is obnoxiously loud elsewhere on the track.
 
tsinc80697 said:
Someone at some point will have been on track in the same car and had the same question, get your goggle hat on!

If that fails, find a friendly local garage with a decibel meter and get him to measure 3/4 revs @ 0.5m on a 45 deg angle.

Most times if you go to the track day and fail the drive-by they will tell you and you will just have to be careful as you drive around. But you'll only get on track if you pass the static test. Oulton has a static test but Donington, Anglesey & Silverstone only have drive-by.
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I've tried Googling, the problem is, many Mustangs have many different exhausts and different setups generally. From what I can see it will be floating around the 100-105db mark.

I do have a sound meter, I'll try at 1m (that's what I'm hearing from others) and a 45 degree angle and see what I score. Right by the pipe was 115db. Thought this might be just inaccurate. Didn't realise they did it from a distance.
 
Havana_UK said:
Yes, if you know where to lift as you pass the microphone then you can do that, but sometimes the organisers might still pull you up on it if your car is obnoxiously loud elsewhere on the track.
Click to expand...

Yeah, see I don't think it's that bad, which makes me think I'm worrying over nothing. But then I tend to hear it from inside I guess.


Maybe around 1:35 gives an idea of the exhaust, bot not easily replicated through a mic I guess.
 
My GTR used to hit 107db for the static test but I was never flagged for 92db drive-by, it can also depend on the tone of your exhaust as certain tones/frequencies travel more/less which I assume happened with the GTR as I could be heard from the other side of Oulton but never pinged the meter!
 
Yeah, my friend said as I drove of up the road he could hear me for ages... which had me a little worried.

Looks like setting it up 1m away, 45 degree angle means I am more inclined to believe my sound meter and perhaps I'm worrying over nothing.

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Twice at around 5,300rpm.
 
Go to your nearest track and ask them nicely to test it for you. Don't even bother trying to use a phone they are hideously inaccurate.

edit. Just seen you have a meter of your own, nothing to worry about then. They do tend to measure at the same height as the pipe at an angle if that makes a difference though.
 
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Yea, people move close to a track that's been there for the best part of a century, then complain about the noise. What did they expect :/
 
Duke said:
NIMBYs complaining about circuits that have been there for decades :(
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How crap :( Nothing better than the sound of an overly loud car I don't think. :cool:

Well the guy that feels the need in super to go up and down the road I live in with his Ferrari is a little annoying once he's gone by for the 50th time.

PS only because it's not that nice of a Ferrari.
 
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