'till my ears bleed!

[Matra]

I seem to remember the Taisan Porsche GT3 trailing around with it's exhaust hanging off towards the end of LM 2001. It made an even worse row than normal GT3s.

Or maybe my eardrums were truly shot by that point?

[Gordonwr]

Don't know if it ever got to Le Mans but in '71 at Spa I was working for a guy called Jack Wheeler in the 1000k race on the pit wall, and used to watch for the leader and a Belgian entered Chevron B 16 fitted with a Mazda Wankel engine. The reason to watch for that was because you had to duck below the barrier and cover your ears as the noise was so intense.  I soon learnt that all I had to do was watch up the wall to see the rest of the pit crews duck, then I knew it was close and my turn to cover up!! Don't know what became of him but the first  driver was Yves Deprez and no idea if he or the car ever got to Le Mans.

[neilsie]

Right Andy, Sauber-Merc gave the Sarthe a pass in 1990. They took part in the rest of the FIA Sportscar Championship and Schlesser was champ but they bailed on Le Mans, can't remember why off the top of my head but its all slowly coming back through the hops & bong residue.  I know Schlesser always hated the event.  
John

wasnt that the year that Le Mans ran outside of the Group C championship - or something to do with the no straight may be longer than your bathtub or 2mile rule?

N.

[Jonnyspa27]

I've heard the 787B and that is SICK!  but I've only heard the Matra's on the movie The Speed Merchants. Does anyone have a MP3 or WAV of them? They were fantastic and Cevert drove one 

[Papa Lazarou]

She had a face like a pan of smashed crabs and an arse to match.

--------------------------------

I truly believe that this is the funniest thing I've ever read in my life.  

Absolutely...  I'm giggling like a 3 year old...

[Andy Zarse]

She had a face like a pan of smashed crabs and an arse to match.

--------------------------------

I truly believe that this is the funniest thing I've ever read in my life.  

Absolutely...  I'm giggling like a 3 year old...

The smashed crabs thing was her happy face. You should have seen her when she was pissed off, which thinking back, that was most of the time. Her look of annoyance and disapproval gave her an appearance closely resembling a fox licking sh-it off a wire brush.

[alibongo]

I can stand loud noise but the jet funny car doing the 1/4 mile at santa pod dragstrip has to be felt to believe!!!!!!!!!!! that is loud even with yer fingers rammed in yer ears

[tommy84]

Even though I've never been to LM I've experienced a lot of endurance races.
Spa is pretty good also. Like the exit of Rivage on the outside, or opposite to the pit exit.
No need to talk about the exit of La Source (I can't tell you how I got there and an amateur photographer )

The 333SP's weren't that loud. But the sound was superb. I also noticed huge differences in the sound between those lovely cars. In ISRS there ran half a dozen of it.

The Panoz LMP-01 is probably on of the loudest I've seen.
Also a good call is the Jim Gainer Mugen.
The GT3 RSR's are may be not loud but they have a strange frequency that fight their way into the head (if you're 5m away from them)

But now being in my 14th year of watching races there's not much that impresses me.

The only thing were I covered my ears were the blowers during the German500.
Those pick-ups with a turbine on their back for drying/cleaning the track.
The Champcars themselves were pretty loud too, but it was rather hearing them all the time than their loudness. The turbocharger reduces the sound pretty much,