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The mini that roared

September 20, 2002

ANTIPOLLUTION laws have taken all the fun out of driving, according to two American inventors who miss the meaty roar of engines. Their answer? A car radio that plays the throaty sound of the classic car of your choice in synch with your driving. So any rusting old hatchback can sound like a Ferrari, or even a Harley-Davidson.        

Inventors Jay and Jason Plugge of Sunnyvale, California, lament the disappearance of "the endearing and unique audible sound signatures" of 1950s, 1960s and 1970s classic cars and motorbikes. They blame new engine technologies and noise pollution controls that have concentrated on reducing road and engine noise.

But if a quiet and serene drive is not your thing, the Plugges` hope their patent will resupply the "rumble and throaty sound" of what they call the "muscle cars" and hot rods such as early Corvettes and Ferraris. And best of all, the noise is kept inside the car.

The inventors suggest recording the sounds of many of the classic cars kept in collections around the world. Failing that, they can be synthesised. These sounds would be stored away in memory chips for building into a new breed of in-car entertainment system, allowing the engine sound of the driver`s choice to be played back alongside the music or news station they`re listening to.

But if the Plugges` idea is ever realised, you won`t hear a simple monotone drone- the sound samples will be linked to sensors that measure the engine`s revs, so the "engine" sound will respond to the car`s actual accelerations and decelerations. Their patent is highlighted in the latest edition of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (vol 112, p 798).

While the idea might sound far-fetched, the technology has already been proven, albeit accidentally, says Mike Edwards, car hi-fi product manager at the Japanese electronics company Kenwood. "Our engineers developed something like this but in reverse, when we were developing an antinoise system for a car," he told New Scientist. By feeding back engine sound and inverting its waveform, they cancelled a lot of engine noise. "But before we inverted it, we found we could make a Ford Escort sound like a Ferrari," he says.
Paul Marks

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New Scientist