FruiTay

Why do people move next to a racetrack and then complain about the noise? Leguna Seca used to have no restrictions. I know Monterey is a nice place with wealthy people but how lame is that? Most track stuff is during the day anyway. The "Monterey Muffler" they call it....
Thank goodness my local track (Pacific Raceways) got this all dealt with with so I can have an aftermarket exhaust.

I just wanted to rant about this a little. Maybe you have some good input?

What other tracks do you know of that have noise restrictions?

VOoDOoGTX

Lime Rock

Bluefire

Portland International Raceway. 90 dB limit during the week. I believe that it is 103 dB on weekends.

Zoxxo

Laguna Seca is a special case. It's not a privately owned business. It's owned by the Monterey County Parks Department (since 1974) and is officially a county park. So the rules that it operates under are directly controlled by the community and it has no real ability to challenge any restrictions put upon it since "it" is "us".

Also, it's a non-profit - all proceeds are donated to local charities.

Be grateful that the community hasn't (yet) decided to just turn the entire thing into a business park.

Z//

TKOGTO

C7 owners might have a real problem @ Lime Rock. The db limit with SCDA is 86. The C7 is rated 92 @ WOT - not a good mix.

Larry Myers

Tracks that enforce overly restrictive noise limits...I just don't go there. 86 db is just above normal conversation. lol

FruiTay

Cool with the proceeds but up the sound a bit. Maybe the proceeds will grow! Unless the noise is ruining your golf swing. We wouldn't want that...

c4cruiser

I think that the 90 dB level is for Mondays only. The rest of the week days are higher and the weekends are 103dB but after 10PM everyday there are restrictions. PIR is also a city park. The track owners have a long term lease but local residents have been trying to get the city to curtail operations for a long time.

I got tagged by the "sound police" last August at PIR. The '87 hit all of 92 dB and I got a meatball flag...

Fortunately, The Ridge has no noise restrictions

Zoxxo

The number of folks for whom making a lot of noise with their "toy" is of supreme importance is quite low, I expect. Even ALMS and Grand-Am had to tamp down the db levels in order to race at Laguna Seca (and elsewhere.) Doesn't seem to have stopped the pro racers from coming as the new United Sports Car series is racing there May 3-4 with the noise restrictions in place. Then there's "Ferrari Days" with F1 cars that for sure will have to be made quieter (which, I must admit, could arguably be considered a crime but on esthetic grounds .) The F1 cars in stock form might actually KILL some of the sound techs there

I wonder how the NHRA/IHRA folks will quiet their cars

Z//

Solofast

It's not just race tracks, small airports have the same problem.

The root of the problem is that some people are simply greedy. The real problem is that some people bought their property for a low price BECAUSE it was near an airport flight path, or near a race track that was noisy. They full well realize that their property will become a lot more valuable if that noise issue is eliminated. These people go to great lengths to lodge complaints and create operational restrictions simply to increase their quality of life and their property values.

At some airports (like John Wayne in Calif) there have been numerous complaints of noise lodged when there were actually no aircraft flying in the area (the complainers got tricked by radio traffic that "faked" aircraft in the pattern and this went a long way to discrediting them).

The bottom line is that if you bought your property with full knowledge that there was a noise emitting site nearby, you have no right to complain. If you don't like it, move, but don't try to make a gain from eliminating a "public nuisance" that was there before you moved in... That's not the way it works, race tracks and airports continue to see noise restrictions that continually get tighter, but that's not the way it should be.

OptimaJim

I decided to buy property near Road America, because it was close to the race track and made sure I let the track management know I am in full support of any events they want to run there, regardless of the noise level. Even though communities have sprouted up around many racetracks that were once in the middle of nowhere, I have to believe there are enough racing enthusiasts who would be willing to buy property around these tracks (I want to do the same thing when I buy property in Texas), that they could make a real difference within those communities to support those venues.

Maybe as technology moves us further away from requiring people to go into an office every day for work, that will start to happen?

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

rfn026

Noise restrictions? We could have fewer tracks. Don't complain.

Richard Newton
My Facebook Page

BierGut

Spot on. Raceway Park in Englishtown/Old Bridge NJ is a perfect example of the 1990's residential McMansion craze nearby. I've heard the interlopers say "we're getting on the town counsel and will shut that track down." They didn't even try to hide their strategy.

RedLS1GTO

Don't complain? What good is having "more" tracks if those tracks are completely unusable? If nothing beyond a Prius can run there, I say good riddance.


Look no farther than Bluegrass Motorsports Park if you want to see the most amazing display of sound level stupidity imaginable. A shame, seeing as it was only an hour away.

JeremyGSU

I agree and won't go to any tracks that have noise restrictions. I mostly go to Sebring, VIR, and Road Atlanta. Road Atlanta only has restrictions for a few hours on Sunday. I will say that not having them can get quite annoying at times at Sebring because you can't talk in the pits the cars are so loud.

wtb-z

And listen to the noise all day long?

The amount of sound reduction some "track cars" leave on the table can be huge. Requiring some kind of muffler doesn't have to be the same thing as banning NPP vettes.


On another note, will a stock C5Z06 pass sound at Laguna Seca? Hope to get there in 2014 sometime

UstaB-GS549

A few years ago at Autobahn Country Club a guy in a bone stock Honda was running open exhaust and got black flagged for noise violation. The track manager manager told him that he had not exceeded the dB limit, but that the sound was obnoxious and therefore he was done for the day unless he got a muffler. Almost everyone cheered.

2 GTOs

In populated areas, in the end the greenies will win. If not now, then later. It's a shame, but I personally think it is best to try to work with it. Every year my wrench guy wants to remove my exhaust but I keep the stock c5z exhaust as I don't want to deal with the sound headaches for a few HP. Sounds like that isn't gonna work for the C7. Bummed.

Looking forward to an electric track car one day, then see what they complain about.