A sweet mechanical symphony

  It is not often you hear the sound of a 12 cylinder engine anymore out there in the wild, real world.   Most of you are not 'car people' , I know.   But trust me, when you hear the steady low humming of a pancake-twelve at idle, you would stop and take notice.   So many tiny cylinders firing so often, even at a slow idle (although they never idle slowly) you can not make out the 'POW'  of each individual ignition cycle.  They are exactly the opposite of a 4-cylinder in this way , or god forbid, a V6 with it's uneven 'Put-Put-Put-PUT!PUT!-Put-Put-Put-PUT! PUT!..'  or even the relatively smooth VW Flat-four idle , with each explosive burn sequence seemingly seconds (but evenly) away from each other : 'PUT. PUT. PUT. PUT. PUT. PUT. PUT. PUT..' 


   No.    The only way those engines can sound smooth is at a moderate throttle setting, 3000 or more RPM, in which case you can detect the increased volume of the load on accelerator pedal.   These engines are incapable of sounding smooth AND silent at the same time.     This is why, when walking tonight, I heard the sharp low hum of exhaust behind me, I had to turn around because something SPECIAL had to be approaching.


     It was getting dark, but even at two blocks away I could tell the headlights were extra low to the ground and incredibly far away from each other.    Immediately I thought Ferrari or Lambroghini - but in this neighborhood?    I actually stopped walking to wait for the thing to approach and pass.   It did. 


    A relatively pedestrian Ferrari 512 drove by, and they look 'cliche' or 'boring' in pictures maybe, the customary Ferrari look which you have seen three hundred times already, but in person, burbling by, they are quite unusual.  Low. Impossibly wide, barely fitting in their traffic lane.  The boxer engine is perfectly timed and balanced, and breathing through tiny silencers, so the sound is a sharp one - but still even and pleasant.   Like the rolling of a Latin 'R' through a tin can,  it is a warm and calming sound while presenting a latent threat.     You know if the driver were to mash the gas pedal to the floor, there would be an immediate scream and screech, a cloud of white/blue smoke issuing from the rear tires. You do not have to be a car person to detect this.  


         BLAH BLAH BLAH,    I know.   Oh, Fuck it.   I was trying to make something technical and boring interesting.      I give up.