Lexus LFA - road car that sounds like a Grand Prix car.

LEXUS BREAKS THE SOUND BARRIER...

LEXUS isn’t the first company to acoustically engineer its sportscar, the new LF-A, to make it sound as sexy as possible but it probably has gone further than most. Follow the link below to the YouTube video and you’ll see a road car but hear a Formula One.
There’s lots of trickery involved to make the LF-A sound as fruity as possible to those inside while still staying within the stringent `drive-by’ noise laws.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg and I think in the next few years we will see engineered sound become a big thing in new cars.
I was talking to a Lotus boffin a few months ago on the subject of electric cars and he made the point that because they are silent there is a need to add some noise so pedestrians, and especially those who are visually impaired, are aware of one approaching. It is quite feasible to make the sound directional so that it only beams ahead of the car, maintaining the peace and quiet elsewhere.
But isn’t there something potentially really exciting here? Lotus has been working on sound engineering for years, since it was commissioned to help find a way of reducing accidents on North Sea oil rigs. Workers were getting so tired by the constant noise on board that they were making mistakes. As I understand it, Lotus measured the various frequencies around the sleeping quarters and essentially fired back sound of identical wavelength, effectively cancelling out the noise so the men could get some rest.
Now, translate that into cars and what do you have? Well, why not have, say a Vauxhall Astra 1.4 that sounds like a V8? Or a V12? The world is your oyster and it is surely not beyond the bounds of possibility to make a tailored acoustic package the next big thing in car personalisation. Choosing an alloy wheel or a trim colour will be so yesterday compared to selecting what you want to hear while driving!
Click onto the link below and you’ll see or rather, hear what I mean.
Now then, how can I turn my wife’s diesel MPV into a V16 BRM

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNeHwmjcI7c