The idea for this came to be when the former head of vehicle engineering for Ford, Steve von Foerster, backed his Shelby GT350 Mustang out of his driveway one morning in suburban Detroit and had the police called on him due to loud noise coming from the V8 engine.
This led to the development of the Quiet Start which will be featured on the 2018 Mustang GT and allows drivers to keep engine sounds to a minimum if they wish.
The feature allows for the scheduling of when it is activated: for example, users can set the Quiet Start to be activated between 8pm and 7am to ensure no neighbours are disturbed, by using steering wheel-mounted controls to toggle through the menu in the instrument cluster to select when owners want to start their Mustang without the typical V8 rumble.
In addition to Quiet Start and Quiet Exhaust mode, the 2018 Mustang will be equipped with an Active Valve performance exhaust which provides different exhaust volumes for Normal, Sport and Track modes.
https://rpmcanada.ca/2018-mustang-to-feature-industry-first-quiet-start-2/
Seeing that I may be the only Harley owner ever asking the dealership if they sold mufflers that were quieter than the stock ones (1983 XLX), I think this is an excellent idea. I have seen an early version of this on Harley-Davidson muffler from the 1920s, and just found that the idea has resurfaced in modern guise: http://www.nationalcycle.com/peacemakers-hd.htmlhttp://www.nationalcycle.com/peacemakers-hd.html
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I noticed inside a 1930s Rolls-Royce a small lever labelled 'for continental use only'. Now on The Internets this promptly showed up: "Further North again, beyond Boroughbridge, came opportunities of trying the all-out speed, which was found to be in the neighbourhood of 92 m.p.h. This speed was attained with one of the two silencers cut out ; with the two in operation the maximum speed is about 85 m.p.h. The figures shown on the graph were also obtained with both silencers in use, and were recorded at Brooklands". (https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/march-1935/37/40-50-hp-continental-rolls-royce).
I agree, quieter Harleys would be nice.
DeleteWell.... wow! I never heard that about Rolls!
I need to post about that
I particularly liked the 'for continental use only': Behave here in jolly old England, but once you're in Africa (begins across The English Channel) you can make as much noise as you please.
DeleteBastards.
Now I learn that the word "silencers" has a different meaning on your side of the Atlantic... muffler is what we call it here. I'll still try to find anything online about a lever labelled 'for continental use only'
DeleteI'm in full support of this. Still it will not stop those jackasses in tuned candy cars that just need to have the loudest possible exhaust. Damn I really don't like those people. Let the Machine God give them itching balls!
ReplyDelete