Is High End Audio catchin' up with you all?

The Hayabusa is a very expensive very neat engine, but there are many lesser modern engines that work well in street cars.

My daily driver has a 2.0 4 cylinder The sound they make isn't as nice, but it puts out 375 bhp and 375 Tq and gets 30 mpg when you keep your right foot out of it. (That is more than stock as I can never restrain myself from 'improving' things.)

And this is the race engine in one of my vintage race cars.

I think we can agree that the exhaust notes of Italian cars and bikes are the Stradivarius of internal combustion engines.  However, I'd like to introduce my list of

The WORST-SOUNDING cars I've owned.

#1:  '74 Mazda RX3 (showroom stock)

Bad:  On a good day this car sounded like a convoy of 2-stroke dirt bikes with exhaust restrictors added.

Worse: Broken Apex seal.  The audible equivalent of a dragging a Port-a-potty thru a construction zone while making a batch of microwave popcorn.  

#2:  '66 Corvair Corsa (aftermarket "Trombone" exhaust added)

Bad:  The "good news" is the car did achieve the goal of "not sounding like a showroom stock Corvair".  However, the car did attract the attention of local law enforcement (ticket read:  "Loud and excessive noise due to improper exhaust and rapid acceleration") while also having the attribute of rejecting the attention of 18-24 year old females.  I'm just thankful that the "man card" didn't exist in the late 60's.  If so, I would have been wrestled to the ground and had it forcefully removed.

Worse:  Automatic car washes in the late '60s operated by latching on the car and pulling it thru stationary washing equipment.  During such an event I felt a vibration and heard a loud "thump".  Checking the rear view mirror allowed a full panoramic view of the bulk of my 3-day-old exhaust system lying on the ground.  While, admittedly this is about as close to the car would ever come to mimicking the sound of a full-on race Porsche 911, it wasn't the result I was going for.

Even worse:  17-years old, freedom and a couple of quarts of Coors can lead to good times.  They can also lead to you backing your car off the road into a ditch and burying the exhaust tips into a dirt embankment.  The sound of car transitioned from spots car(ish), showroom stock, suffocation, and death.  As they say: "What's the most valuable tool in your tool box?".  Answer: "The one you have with you".  I can report that the "tool we had with us" (beer opener) can successfully excavate enough material to dislodge the tips of a Corvair Trombone exhaust from a dirt embankment if time is not a factor.  

Below is a really cool exhaust note you would rarely encounter. Jim was an absolute genius when it came to cars and aerodynamics. A world class driver, a Cal-Tech engineer, a curious mind and a very real desire to kick Europe’s butt results in something like this!

He once said that the suction created enough static downforce that it exceeded the weight of the vehicle. In theory, it could be stuck to the ceiling. Much of what he learned developing this car enabled him to develop his Penzoil Indy car that harnessed the venturi effect without the need for a power source like the chainsaw motors on the 2j.