Ohhh, I gotta reply to this.... :-)

The people who have the best, um, idea of noise from competing cars are certainly not the drivers, the neighbours, the clerk of the course, event organisers or the track owners......it is us flag marshalls!!!!!!

We are the ones standing right next to the track, the car's exhaust pipes pointing towards us, so if we think it is loud, then it is.......loud!

Now, to give credit where credit is due, I have actually been troubled by very few cars in my fairly short time of flagging, obviously I DO wear hearing protection for most races, depending upon what classes are racing.

In fact, if I recall correctly, the only time I have suffered from PAINFUL noise, was during a sports car race at Pukekohe, where I was at point 4 down the back straight. In fact, I actually reported it officially, however I couldn't work out which car out of a group of 3 it was. As it was, the CoC was unable to action it....I believe Morty said it was because the sound meter was monitoring elsewhere. He did admit however that yes, there was a couple of cars that were making his ears ache.

Not trying to be a goody-two-shoes, but I believe it is everyones duty to report a car or cars that is/are obviously causing painful noise to persons wearing ear protection.

Unfortunately, unlike some of Brunty's flaggies, I can't just go and remove hearing aids...lol :-)

Rant over!