Loud exhaust at Lime Rock
03-03-2011, 11:49 AM
#16
Rennlist Member
According to their website, and the contract for our April event, the limit is 89 db: http://www.limerockclub.com/testdrive/track-day-policy
I hope you're right but I think that's left over from last year
03-03-2011, 12:46 PM
#17
Three Wheelin'
I have to say the sound policy at LRP has always baffled me (no pun intended). To my knowledge the old policy was always officially an 89 db limit, though somehow 90 db was always what they enforced. I even saw some published limit of (I think) 84 db -- not sure where that came from.
So now it's 87 db. Does that mean we can pass with 88?
I'm going to have to show up to LRP with a pile of mufflers, turndowns, Supertrapps, blah blah the next time I go there just to avoid failing the sound police!
Scott
So now it's 87 db. Does that mean we can pass with 88?
I'm going to have to show up to LRP with a pile of mufflers, turndowns, Supertrapps, blah blah the next time I go there just to avoid failing the sound police!
Scott
03-03-2011, 01:27 PM
#18
Rennlist Member
03-03-2011, 05:04 PM
#21
Rennlist Member
03-03-2011, 05:29 PM
#22
Drifting
You can't make weekenders who read the NY Times and don't know how to check their oil enjoy the sound of race cars.... Lot's of those types around LRP...unfortunately.
03-04-2011, 07:21 PM
#23
I guess i have to shop for mufflers. i dont think turn downs will cut it.
heres what i got today:
From: Skip Barber, Georgia Blades and Scott Mayo
As you know, exhaust noise has always been an issue at Lime Rock Park. We operate under a 1959 Court Injunction that stipulates: the number of weekends (10) that we can run unmuffled; other times we arent restricted (Tuesday afternoons); the decibel limit for all other track days; and bans Sunday track use. There have been no changes in the injunction and we dont anticipate any court ordered reductions in noise levels. But we have growing criticism from some of our neighbors; some of which is justified:
1. Significant manufacturers like Porsche, Mercedes (AMG), and Ferrari are building street legal cars that at high speed and full throttle are on the edge of our required decibel limit. Given the right atmospheric conditions they go over the edge
2. There has been a major increase in the number of small manufactures building great track cars that are too noisy out of the box
3. More and more of our track users have cars in these two categories
4. The Skip Barber Racing School has steadily increased its use of noisy Miatas rather than relatively quiet single-seaters
5. There are a small number of SCCA race cars, mostly Porsches that turn up at multiple club events for cheap practice. They almost always need to test their improved exhaust systems, making too much noise in the process
For 25 years the track set a limit 1 dB level below the injunction requirement to be safe and never exceed the mandated limit, unless the exhaust system broke. Cars were checked while stationary, before going on the track, 1000 RPM below the redline, and theoretically never got on track if too loud. There was no on-track testing to check for compliance as there is now. Porsches had the most trouble complying and it was common to have a Lime Rock exhaust system.
Over the years the 1 dB margin has vanished and on-track testing has replaced stationary checking. A common scenario is that a car runs 4 or 5 laps; is too noisy; comes in to correct the problem (often with steel wool); goes out again; the steel wool blows out after a few laps and it takes a few more laps to get the car in. Then the process starts all over and by the end of the day the car has run multiple noisy laps.
And now we have more complaints.
We are going to deal with this proactively:
· We are going to reduce the total noise
· We are going to have a sound engineer calculate the total reduction
· We are going to tell the town what we have done and we are going to stick with it
We are NOT:
· Going to court to try to change the injunction
· Going to complain about the injunction
· Going to criticize the states motor vehicle laws or the measuring system
· Going to make the economic argument that the town needs a viable track they know that
We want to stand in front of the town and say:
1. The total noise is down_____%
2. All quiet days are quieter
3. Even the biggest professional race, the American Le Mans Series, is down 2 dB
We are going away from a one size fits all dB limit; assigning every club a limit we think is reasonable in terms of cost, impact on performance, and effect on entries. We know reasonable doesnt always mean easy or cheap. The new limit, effective immediately for your club, PCA CVR is 88 db.
The two big problem groups are the schools Miatas and some Porsches, regardless of what club they run with. The school is fortunate they have a new sponsor, Borla, who is building them all new complete exhaust systems. They have already tested under 83dB, their new limit at Lime Rock Park. This is a tremendous reduction they have been running 88-89 dB, and they use the track more than 100 days each season.
Not so easy for some Porsches, so all Porsche clubs go down 1 dB; but we are going to rigidly enforce this. This 88dB limit is for non-race Porsche days not for Porsche cars regardless of what club they are running with. So a Porsche limit would be:
88 dB Porsche Club Day
105 dB Porsche Race Day
87 dB BMW Club
86 dB PDA non-race
88 dB SCDA
88 dB Lime Rock Drivers Club
105 dB Tuesday afternoon Test & Tune
PLEASE dont let anyone come for testing or a club day with an unchanged car that was too noisy last year. This isnt about beating the system by short shifting or lifting off the throttle while being checked. This is about lending real meaning to the phrase, Were all in this together.
heres what i got today:
From: Skip Barber, Georgia Blades and Scott Mayo
As you know, exhaust noise has always been an issue at Lime Rock Park. We operate under a 1959 Court Injunction that stipulates: the number of weekends (10) that we can run unmuffled; other times we arent restricted (Tuesday afternoons); the decibel limit for all other track days; and bans Sunday track use. There have been no changes in the injunction and we dont anticipate any court ordered reductions in noise levels. But we have growing criticism from some of our neighbors; some of which is justified:
1. Significant manufacturers like Porsche, Mercedes (AMG), and Ferrari are building street legal cars that at high speed and full throttle are on the edge of our required decibel limit. Given the right atmospheric conditions they go over the edge
2. There has been a major increase in the number of small manufactures building great track cars that are too noisy out of the box
3. More and more of our track users have cars in these two categories
4. The Skip Barber Racing School has steadily increased its use of noisy Miatas rather than relatively quiet single-seaters
5. There are a small number of SCCA race cars, mostly Porsches that turn up at multiple club events for cheap practice. They almost always need to test their improved exhaust systems, making too much noise in the process
For 25 years the track set a limit 1 dB level below the injunction requirement to be safe and never exceed the mandated limit, unless the exhaust system broke. Cars were checked while stationary, before going on the track, 1000 RPM below the redline, and theoretically never got on track if too loud. There was no on-track testing to check for compliance as there is now. Porsches had the most trouble complying and it was common to have a Lime Rock exhaust system.
Over the years the 1 dB margin has vanished and on-track testing has replaced stationary checking. A common scenario is that a car runs 4 or 5 laps; is too noisy; comes in to correct the problem (often with steel wool); goes out again; the steel wool blows out after a few laps and it takes a few more laps to get the car in. Then the process starts all over and by the end of the day the car has run multiple noisy laps.
And now we have more complaints.
We are going to deal with this proactively:
· We are going to reduce the total noise
· We are going to have a sound engineer calculate the total reduction
· We are going to tell the town what we have done and we are going to stick with it
We are NOT:
· Going to court to try to change the injunction
· Going to complain about the injunction
· Going to criticize the states motor vehicle laws or the measuring system
· Going to make the economic argument that the town needs a viable track they know that
We want to stand in front of the town and say:
1. The total noise is down_____%
2. All quiet days are quieter
3. Even the biggest professional race, the American Le Mans Series, is down 2 dB
We are going away from a one size fits all dB limit; assigning every club a limit we think is reasonable in terms of cost, impact on performance, and effect on entries. We know reasonable doesnt always mean easy or cheap. The new limit, effective immediately for your club, PCA CVR is 88 db.
The two big problem groups are the schools Miatas and some Porsches, regardless of what club they run with. The school is fortunate they have a new sponsor, Borla, who is building them all new complete exhaust systems. They have already tested under 83dB, their new limit at Lime Rock Park. This is a tremendous reduction they have been running 88-89 dB, and they use the track more than 100 days each season.
Not so easy for some Porsches, so all Porsche clubs go down 1 dB; but we are going to rigidly enforce this. This 88dB limit is for non-race Porsche days not for Porsche cars regardless of what club they are running with. So a Porsche limit would be:
88 dB Porsche Club Day
105 dB Porsche Race Day
87 dB BMW Club
86 dB PDA non-race
88 dB SCDA
88 dB Lime Rock Drivers Club
105 dB Tuesday afternoon Test & Tune
PLEASE dont let anyone come for testing or a club day with an unchanged car that was too noisy last year. This isnt about beating the system by short shifting or lifting off the throttle while being checked. This is about lending real meaning to the phrase, Were all in this together.
03-04-2011, 08:08 PM
#25
Rennlist Member
No ****. We don't want to upset the out of town asswipes that bought up the property around a RACE TRACK because it's screwing up their time on the front porch reading the NY Times... and if Borla can design a muffler system for a ****-ant like the Skip Barber Racing company why wouldn't they do it for the cars run in a juggernaut like PCA?
03-04-2011, 08:39 PM
#26
Drifting
No ****. We don't want to upset the out of town asswipes that bought up the property around a RACE TRACK because it's screwing up their time on the front porch reading the NY Times... and if Borla can design a muffler system for a ****-ant like the Skip Barber Racing company why wouldn't they do it for the cars run in a juggernaut like PCA?
03-04-2011, 10:46 PM
#27
No ****. We don't want to upset the out of town asswipes that bought up the property around a RACE TRACK because it's screwing up their time on the front porch reading the NY Times... and if Borla can design a muffler system for a ****-ant like the Skip Barber Racing company why wouldn't they do it for the cars run in a juggernaut like PCA?
What is needed is a more organic shape that utilizes all the available volume. It would be easiest to do w/ a carbon fiber shell, w/ glass or ss wrap around perforated pipes
fill this space
03-04-2011, 11:02 PM
#30
Rennlist Member
Bill - my point was why TF is Borla working with a BS tiny non-entity like Skip "I'll lie and steal your money until I die" Barber and not looking at gargantuan like PCA? They would sell exponentially more exhausts for Porsche's than they will for some has-been sell-out open wheel BS "racing" school. I would pay good $ for a good tuned exhaust that was built for our cars, as it is we are all just guessing at what MAY work and doing what we can. My current exhaust is a backpressure nightmare, and even that barely makes LRP (last year) restrictions.