Yahoo Autos Top-Exit Exhausts Make Supercars So Much Better
The sound a supercar makes can be intoxicating. From the wail of a Lamborghini V-10 to the grumble of a McLaren V-8, there's a power and excitement in supercar exhausts that conveys the same sense of drama that the flared bodywork alludes to. And yet, for the most part, that sound is as far away from the driver as it physically can be while still being attached to the car.
Think about how absurd that is. Your supercar—which you paid a lot of money for—sends most of its roar rearward, toward lowly peasants and fellow drivers on the road. It gets attention from onlookers and, sometimes, police. But it doesn't hit you with maximum force. Instead, you're left waiting for a tunnel to truly enjoy the exhaust note you paid up for.
That's why the McLaren 600LT Spider I drove last week was so delightful. It's not the fastest or most expensive McLaren, but the exhaust goes out the top. In addition to having a few important performance benefits, top-exit exhausts bring the fire and fury closer to your ears. And since it's a Spider, you're letting in all of the noise.
Even if you keep the top up, there's a little window in the 600LT that you can put down just to let in the grumpy gargling of the 3.8-liter V-8. You're no longer waiting on a tunnel to hear it roar.
If you do happen upon a tunnel, lord have mercy. At full throttle, the 600LT sends so much noise skyward that a reflective surface above it creates a hilarious tidal wave of sound. Other drivers will hate you. You won't care.
Get off the highway and on to some tight roads and it gets even better. As you brake and downshift before a corner, the 600LT sends a few drops of fuel into the hot exhaust. Not only does this cause the McLaren to literally spit flames, but it makes a noise so explosive that it's closer to a gunshot than to the machinations of an internal combustion engine.
Of course, a top-exit exhaust is not as close to you as it technically could be. In a perfect world, cars would shoot exhaust noise directly into our faces. But I've been told that for a variety of boring technical reasons like "carbon monoxide poisoning" and "ruptured eardrums," that's not feasible. So for now, top-exit exhausts are the best we can do.
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