Every film-maker will tell you that 50%, if not more, of what makes a film great is the soundtrack. You cannot have an award winning nominated movie if the soundtrack doesn’t match up perfectly with the mood of what’s going on the screen. The movie Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was absolutely notorious for its epic sound track from Hans Zimmer, and most of its success is largely due to the scores he created.
What does this have to do with cars? Well for those who haven’t figured it out, the sound of a car is what makes the experience complete. I’m pretty sure some of you reading have never thought about how important a soundtrack is to a movie, for those who have’t go try watching a film with the sound turned off for the non-dialogue parts; it doesn’t matter how magnificent the scenery and the cinematography is, what makes it complete is the soundtrack. Same thing with cars, if you have a car that goes like stink, but hardly makes any sound, the entire experience will be ruined.
Take a Ferrari 458 Italia for example, stunning car to look at, and even more awesome to hear that V8 engine howling to its redline of 9000 RPM and just running through those double-clutched gears without catching fire is a thing of beauty! Omit the sound, and all you get is a fast moving car that looks nice. The sound gives the craziness, appeal, and its personality, a mixture of all these elements, enthusiasts call the soul of the car. If you remove the sound of a car, it’s almost like removing its ability to speak.
We are currently in the hybrid times where super car manufacturers are starting to go hybrid. In all honesty, you cannot blame them since governments are being pushed by eco-mentalists to be more green, and in return, they push the car manufacturers. But at the rate it’s going, since the first step has already been taken, from here it looks like an un-inevitable doom of voiceless super cars in the near future. Or is it?
In the fourth episode of season 20 of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson drives the Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive, at first he was very skeptical about it, but then it found an awkward position in his heart for it, but it found a place. He found it strange that a supercar as powerful as that, and as crazy as AMG gets, created a car that doesn’t make any noise.
At the end of the day, reality has to sink in, and the reality is that green is the future for car manufacturers. But for all manufacturers and supercar manufacturers to go fully green and stop the production of petrol powered cars, is going to take a while, and I sure hope it won’t happen in my lifetime. In the meantime, get out there and take advantage!
