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Comment by ImprovedSilence | Hacker News Reader

If you ever have a chance to go to an F1 race, do it. You might have a terrible view of the race, but it is the greatest sound you will ever hear. It's like the sky is getting ripped apart by a million banshees.

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Very true. I was able to attend the inaugural F1 event in Austin last weekend and it was a great experience. Although not the same as in person here's a video to give you an idea: http://f.cl.ly/items/2e3T093G2Z1N3A3Z1m1n/F1.MOV

I have not been able to visit an F1 race, but for another wonderful sound (that you feel more than hear) a Top Fuel drag race is right up there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Fuel

Apologies for those of you living outside of the United States, I'm not sure how widespread this form of racing is.

In the UK we have Santa Pod which runs Top Fuel drag races. Its definitely an experience. I have been to a few F1 races and the top fuel dragsters are noisier.

I got a free ticket to one of these races and woah... it was unreal. My favorite part was how awful the engines sound while they're lining up to start. They sputter and generally sound like crap until a crew member hits a switch. The engines suddenly settle into some sort of perfectly tuned resonance until the lights turn green and they simply explode down the track.

And the smell. Nothing quite like it.

I'll second this. If we get close to trackside without ear plugs in it actually hurts your inner ear, I've never experienced anything like it.

It's probably hard to believe, but the V10s sounded even better than the V8s. Even louder, higher pitch at higher revs, and traction control out of the corners sounded like a fully automatic shotgun.

Yeah, I hear they are trying to change the engines to a 4-cylinder these days too. That would be really unfortunate, and would probably sound awful.

I went to the Indy 500 this year, I heard in years past their noise rivals F1. But this year they downsized their engines, and the cars there were not impressive/loud. It would have been downright disappointing if I wouldn't have been so.."well hydrated" with beer. I really hope that doesn't happen to F1

FIA currently plans to move away from the existing 2.4L V8s at 18k RPM to a 1.6L V6 turbo at 15k RPM in 2014.

Bernie (the godfather of F1) doesn't like the sound of the new engines, and may torpedo the planned change based on the sound issue alone.

Yeah, you hear them all right, but that's not the point. You "feel" them. It reminds me of being near a hovering Harrier Jump Jet.

That and drag racing. For me just outside the airport with concord overhead whilst not supersonic it left memory you just don't forget.

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