So how loud is it?

It kinda depends on where you sit:

If you are in an open grandstand, which are normally at least 100 feet or more away from the track, you don't need any ear protection. You will notice the cars as loud and much more intense than on TV, but it won't be painful. But you won't be able to talk to your buddy while a car goes by.

If you sit very close to the track (e.g. Monaco) or in a motodrom (Indy, Hockenheim) or in a covered grandstand, then you will need regular ear plugs. Even some rolled up Kleenex tissue would do in a pinch. Or get a nice comfortable pair of headsets.

Unless you work in the pits you won't need anything fancy.

Yes it is loud, but only compared to the TV. I sat in a Cher concert and found it more painful. Go figure.

 

It is loud and unreal. My first race, I didn't wear earplugs the whole weekend and my head and ears hurt by the end of it...but it is awesome.

These engines are unbelievable, hearing all the teams starting and revving them today reminded me of how great they are.

It definately is manageable, but this weekend in Montreal, I will be wearing earplugs.

Alex

 

It's loud but it's not insane loud. At Indy, I only considered earplugs while sitting on the main straight in grandstands with a metal roof. The sound really echoed and "pinged" off the metal roof in a way that was less than enjoyable. Once I moved out to a section that wasn't covered, it was pure heaven. The sound and feeling when the cars go past cannot be described in words.

Mark

 

+1

My fav sound is the acceleration and then the up shift. I often "help" my fav driver with the upshifts by pumping my fist in the air.

 

A few members here have mentioned that the new v8s sound like crap. Kind of sucks that I wasn't able to watch/listen to the v10 versions.

 

Dont worry. You'll like them when you hear them.

 

I love how they sound... I love how your eardrums sort of tickle as the cars pass close by

 

The last race i was at - long time ago... Montreal in 2002 you needed ear plugs in the stands across from the pits... when at the Paddock Club... you needed ear protectors...

I love the smell of the cars... but the ones back in the 80's with all the touluene and exotic petrol... smelled fantastic!

 

I have never been to a race but, at the Ferrari Challenge at Homestead, they ran Gerhard Berger's F1 car around the track. Holy crap, the sound was unlike anything I have ever heard. I was in the pits at the exit where they go onto the track. so, I was right where they give it the beans coming out of the pit lane. I was maybe 6-feet from the car when it went past. HOLY ****. It was as if someone blown a freaking grenade 8ft away. Such an amazing sound. Best thing I have ever heard/seen


http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonferrarifl/4667786260/in/set-72157623745058096/

 

I sat in the paddock club in 2006 and i was only able to stand 5 minutes without ear plugs.

 

I wouldn't worry about it if you forget them. Now if you had to watch the race in a tunnel like at Long Beach, or Monaco, then you would go deaf without them.

 

In the Indy grandstand, going without "Ears" would have caused permanent hearing loss!

 

It is very loud if you are close to the cars, and you must have ear protection.
I've been lucky enough to be in the pits and literally on the pit lane during a few F1 starts. I've been in pit lane during Friday practices and gotten to stand 50 feet directly behind the cars as they did practice starts out of the end of the pits. At Indy it seemed a little louder because of the echo off the grandstands, at Montreal it is a little more open but still VERY loud. The loudest experience ever was atop the pit garages at the Phoenix F1 race. The start was between buildings that were fairly close together so the echo was big. I was in the McLaren hospitality suite directly on top of their pit with a lot of F1 people. After the start, and after the cars cleared the first couple of corners everyone looked at each and made comments like "Holy *&#^". That's the only time I noticed that happen!
Those little foam ear plugs that you squash down then let expand in your ear do fine if you use them properly.

 

Here's what you need...

$2.17 at the local Wal-Mart in the medicine section...

Frank

p.s. Not only is it good for being at the races, but when I REALLY need to concentrate on database work and have to think things through without constant chatter all around to distract me...it is a godsend!!!
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been to la raccasse in monaco and it wasn't bad. sat in the covered stands at indy, not bad. stood next to the out of the hairpin at montreal and as an exiting car rapped the throttle, very bad. i couldn't hear from my ear for days. soft ear plugs are adequate for any outdoor event. andreas, you went to a cher concert?

 

Andreas is right. It depends where you sit AND the venue. If you're high up in "open" stands you won't need any ear protection. If you're in Monaco in a restaurant next to the track or on a low balcony between the buildings you WILL need ear protection. Same for under the covered stands at tracks like Shanghai where the sound reverberates off the enclosed area. In terms of comparing Indy cars to F1 cars - they don't compare. F1 cars - IMO - are at least 25% louder and more high pitched.

 

Chermacher?

 

Very true. I have never felt I needed to wear hearing protection at Long Beach.....

 

The V10's were louder (or maybe I'm more deaf)

If you walk up to the fence when they are doing 200+ your ears will bleed. In the grand stands you can do it without earplugs.

 

For example, where I'm standing here, your ears would bleed without earplugs.


They aint as loud as a funny car.
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Compared to me Schumacher is a spring chicken.

But my comment was serious: Inside her Las Vegas hall some of the frequencies really started to affect me in a very negative way (no, it wasn't her singing). Must have been some harmonics, or simply too loud. I had to improvise some "ear plugs" with Kleenex. It is somewhat similar with F1: Except when you're simply too close for comfort you have no problem with the sound unless the waves get amplified/reverberate in an enclosed grandstand.

 

I hear you..

Henry Rollins Liverpool Royal court back in the day, it hurt and my ears are still whistling today, not nice.

Yet nutters were in the bass bins at the front, I was pinned back to the wall at the back fingers in ears looking rather sheepish.

 

IMO, the V8s are more louder, or rather, more higher pitched, compared to the V10s

 

I think the V8s are louder, less melodic than the V10s as well. The V12s of the early 1990s were pure nirvana! I loved going to Montreal 1992-1995 when you had the V8s, V10s and V12s all on track at the same time. That being said, I sure wish I would have been able to make it this year.