That I have seen and heard 1st hand. Pre-turbo F1, 512 bb LM KTR displayed at show in Brookline. 333sp. V8 my former 355 with Capristo. Followed by 360 CS. Early V12s are another order of magnitude!
I used to love the 333SP sound and still do, but the Judd reengined 333SP sounded better. Shame to say but true. Lack of development by Ferrari on those cars made that happen.
Ferrari race engines from the 60's and early 70's had a deeper baritone sound, and they only really revved up to about 10 - 12K. F1 engines starting with the 312 boxer engines revved up to about 13 for short bursts... and it had the Ripping canvas sound.... 330p's and the 212 hill climb cars have a deeper growl at about 8500RPM... not at all like any of the Ferrari's of today. if you get to drive a 250 engine Ferrari - try to get above 5K RPM, its one of the best noises you can ever hear... one of the best videos is of the breadvan & 63 GTO at Goodwood you can find on YouTube... just awesome sound.
I agree. the high revving road car engines of the 90's are not anywhere close to great sound... its good - don't get me wrong but its way to high pitched. I remember the first time I heard the new Atmo F-1 engine cars in 89 at Imola, you could hear them from miles away it sounded like horns going off, then you would hear the backfire... like gun shots when we parked and walked over the bridge into the Paddock , I heard the V-12 Lamborghini in the Larousse go by, and woah, it was so loud my ears rang. Then Berger went by a couple of min later and it was even louder... even with ear plugs! On Saturday we got to the track at 7:30 and they were just warming some of the cars up... OMG it was heaven!!!! the other thing people don't note any more is the smell of the cars ... back then they used to run all these exotic fuels with Touluene and Benzine... the smell when they went past... so awesome!!!!
I had the opportunity to experience hearing a Miura blasting down highway 1 last summer and all I can say is it was the best sounding car I ever heard.
Actually for the highest pitch you would have to go for a 4 rotor Group C or IMSA Mazda race motor. Makes everything else seem silent by comparison. The Matra F1 motors also had a wicked howl to them. Back to Ferrari, I do like the sound of the 250's, they sound very nice but still not my favorite. I think you have the 212E motor mixed up with another?? The high revving boxer with a small displacement 212E has to sound great. I have heard many Ferrari motors over the years including them in anger at 18 F1 races. I don't go to F1 races anymore because I cant't stand the way the motors sound. The 1980's turbo motors sounded much better than the new turbo's. Speaking of F1 Turbo's, the Ferrari F1 1983-1988 cars sounded great also.
1. 412 T2 (last F1 V12) 2. 365 Daytona Competizione 3. FXX 4. Schumacher-era V10s 5. Early Colombos Of course not knowing (or remembering) the sounds of many others - in the end I love all of them. Even some of the turbos have their own charming character, despite being bashed as boring by many. But in the end nothing beats a hugh-reving V12...
Been watching a few videos recently about the 599XX. Not sure if it would qualify as a road or as a track Ferrari, but they sure sound good. 599 GTO is another great sounding F-car...T
I owned a 1973 Ferrari Daytona for almost 25 years and would run it through the Queens Midtown Tunnel from time to time just to hear the exhaust. There is nothing that ever came close. We owned many newer V-8 models and a few other 12 cylinder front and mid-engine models. Still, the 365GTB4 was the absolutely best sounding Ferrari!
In my 77 years, the three mechanical sounds that are unique and lovely are: the 250 V12 Ferrari "at full song", the Rolls Royce Merlin V12 in a fifties era unlimited hydroplane, and the Concord SST doing figure eights at low speed over the 1986 Vancouver World's Fair. Each is distinctive and brings you right back to the day you first heard them.
I am going to bring science into this. I only wish I could find the article. it was in Road and Track or Car and Driver about 25 or 30 years ago. The article compared the sounds of different engines. They had these print outs that kind of looked like EKG's, not sure what they were measuring. The Daytona had the cleanest graph of them all AND was the closest to the graph of sounds made by some Beethoven Symphony. So I say Daytona, based on personal experience and that article that proves it scientifically.
For me the best engine sound if the California N/A sound. Not the best performance car, but the best Ferrari sound. About the other cars, for me the Maserati Granturismo is the best sound
It's hard to beat the shrill of the high rpm F1 V-12s from the Schumacher era. But for road cars........unless I missed it nobody mentioned the 365 GTC/4. Better sound than the Daytona or 275s by a longshot. The most incredible sound of any car I have ever heard and felt was driving a C/4 at 5000 RPM in 3rd going through the Baltimore Washington tunnel. Absolutely unbelievable.....and fully stock engine and exhaust. Sends chills down my spine just thinking about it!!!
Manual 360 with an Australian made Milli Miglia exhaust blasting down Lakeside straight shifting into 4th at 7.5 revs doing 200km/h (blipped the on-track noisy person detector at 96.4 decibels.....)
Yes !!!!!!!!!!! I watched one run after a wood boat show on Gull Lake, MN, several years ago ... it was incredible to see and hear ... MDS