Sound Evasion Protocol

A number of AcMo innovations have emerged from hard lessons learned at the track.  One of those hard lessons was the result of violating the noise limits on every lap.  We don’t appreciate sound restrictions at race tracks and that is why we ignore them.  One of the reasons we have been banned from so many tracks is that we are unable to lift off when entering sound measurement zones.  We used to have an AcMo associate distract the person taking the measurements when we approached on track, but the officials caught on after a few sessions.  Unfortunately we had to disavow any knowledge of that associate when she was captured, and we haven’t seen or heard from her since.  This is a rough business.

Laguna Seca is one of a handful of iconic US tracks that is internationally recognized.  Porsche loves it so much that the majority of the US Rennsport Reunions have been held there.  Shame on you if you don’t know what Rennsport Reunion is.  It is also one of the toughest tracks in terms of sound restrictions.  The track property occupies Monterey land with breathtaking views of mountainous brown dirt with sporadic green patches dotting the landscape and Monterey Bay visible on a good day from just the right elevation.

This is the type of land that entices people to establish homesteads that can share the same views.  The problem is that these eager homeowners didn’t seem to understand that they were building their very expensive homes within aural proximity to a RACE track.  As I was doing “research”, I came across this article about a petition circulating in the UK:  “Don’t move near a track if you can't put up with the noise”.  This is certainly not a new occurrence as the damage was done at Laguna Seca decades ago, but maybe the people who enjoy tracks are becoming more vocal about it around the world.

One might expect a reasonable and litigious homeowner to form a committee to attempt to shut down the facility that preexisted their homeownership.  Reducing the number of available days for unlimited noise events at the track would be an option if the closure attempt had failed, and that is how Laguna Seca currently operates.  I have heard that unlimited days can be purchased for use, but that there are not many and they are stupid expensive.

The sound restrictions mean that a lot of vehicles have to attach convoluted exhaust pipes designed to direct as much noise away from the sound meters as possible.  Some cars need to do that and also lift or coast through the sound zone in order to pass.  There are an unfortunate few who can’t run a car at all on the sound limited days.

When the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, and Ferrari LaFerrari were announced, I thought it would be a logical tech advancement to create a Bypass mode to circumvent the decibel limits in these vehicles.  Bypass mode would shut off the internal combustion engine and propel the vehicle forward on electric power only.  Since the cars are designed to transition between modes seamlessly, adding this mode shouldn’t pose any great technological hurdles.  I know the residents who managed to get the sound restrictions imposed on the RACE track wouldn’t have a basis to complain about this workaround, but they shouldn’t have built their homes so close to a RACE track in the first place.

The idea for a Bypass mode was marked on a napkin and then thrown in the corner while AcMo moved in other directions.  It was soon forgotten, buried deep within our daily drama.  Now that all three hybrid supercars are on the road and in the hands of their enthusiastic owners, some are going to take them to tracks around the world.  One of those owners posted videos on YouTube last week of his track adventure at Laguna Seca in his McLaren P1.  He was forced to coast through the sound zone on every lap.  Coasting in that manner is not beneficial to fast lap times.

Seeing the car lose time through the sound zone sparked my brain because it is not natural to be restricted at the track.  The track is supposed to be the one place where everything is unrestricted.  That includes track limits and sound limitations.  Please someone tell all of the professional race series that also.  I began to recall a fragment of an old idea that could provide a solution.  This solution might only slightly hinder lap times, but wouldn’t require a focus distracting and momentum sapping action by the driver.

It took quite a lot of excavation to find the Bypass mode note.  That time would have been better spent enjoying a quiet lunch because water damage had smeared the ink making it illegible.  We test our fire suppression system daily and I guess I had failed to protect the note.  The note wasn’t a mission critical item.

Enabling Bypass mode should be a simple programming addition.  The car would utilize its GPS and powertrain control algorithms to operate the vehicle in electric only mode when it passes through the user defined way points of the sound measurement zone.  The measurement zones may move for different events, which is why the user is responsible for indicating the location.  This method is also the most expedient upgrade path in case of measurement shenanigans.  The car would handle the complicated part of shutting down the ICE and propelling the vehicle on electric power through the detection zone before restarting the engine and switching back to full (loud) power.  It might take a few laps for the driver to become accustomed to the procedure, but we can help with that by doing at least 100 acclimatization laps.

The success or failure of Bypass mode would rest on the quality of the programming.  At Laguna Seca I know the 918 and P1 could traverse the sound detection zone on electric power without issue, but I’m not sure about the LaFerrari.  This is why we need to test.

We are committed to making this option a reality.  To accelerate development, we are volunteering to prove the concept’s viability free of charge.  All we would need is for an owner of the above-mentioned vehicles to provide one/all of them to AcMo for a minimum of six months for testing at Laguna Seca.  Again, we will do the research and development free of charge.  The owner will have to furnish suitable tires and brake pads and replacements as needed.  A 15% recovery fee exists on this offer.  The recovery fee is designed to help ease us back into life without the vehicles once we have completed validation testing.  Testing could take anywhere from 1-15 years before we have the programming production ready.

The manufacturers could offer Bypass mode as an alternative to AcMo’s proposal.  We are not in the habit of negotiating against our own interests, but we want our clients to be satisfied with our level of service, and our testing program may not provide complete customer satisfaction.  Thus the manufacturer option might be an easier route than the AcMo choice, but it would be a lot less fun for AcMo staff.  One important thing that should be checked before we get too far into this project is if the option is already implemented in the car’s code.  A lot of manufacturers like to use Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Start as the default secret menu access code, so I would suggest trying that first.  The code may void the warranty, or it may unlock unlimited power, or cause a total system cascading failure.  It’s hard to be sure.  Whatever happens next is up to the user.  AcMo is here to support you if it works, and we are unavailable if it doesn't.  If the secret code doesn’t do anything, call us and we will handle implementation, validation testing, warranty voiding, and lap times at all of your selected sound restricted venues.