WHY HEARING IS BELIEVING
It’s a mantra which is often trotted out in motorsport that if a competition car looks right, then it tends to go right. Well, there is also the fact that if a racing machine sounds right, then it will immediately win a place in the hearts of fans. It is, clearly, a very subjective debate. What’s sweet nectar for one could be a bag of nails to another, but there are some stand-out machines that resonate, quite literally, with everyone who hears them.
Formula 1’s whispering hybrid era just served to show that the sound is just as important as the fury. And that is something Motorsport News wholeheartedly agrees with. Any competition car worth its salt needs to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
We have assembled a group of more than 20 experts to run the rule over Motorsport News’s shortlist, and we have rated the 25 greatest-sounding machines of all time. The results might not be quite what you imagined, but feel free to let us know at @Mnmotorsport or by searching for us on Facebook if you think our collected brains trust has dropped the ball. Let the debate begin.
Also this week, we look at the fallout from the cancellation of Wales Rally GB, which could lead to longer-term problems for the UK’S showpiece World Rally Championship event. Not only does the cancellation mean trouble for the make-up of the remainder of the WRC calendar, it has also ripped the heart out of the British Rally Championship too.
The landscape is still fluid when it comes to how national rally events will return. The uncertainty over British rallying is still high, which presents a nightmare for competitors and organisers alike.
It’s not much different in international motorsport, with more F1 races being cancelled this week too (see page 7). These are very delicate times for all involved.
Under the Motorsport News spotlight this week are David and Mark Higgins, the rallying brothers who have both trodden a hugely successful path in their respective careers. Although neither got the breaks at world level that their talents clearly deserved, they have both banked huge hauls of silverware over the past two decades.