Which Of These Classic Rally Cars Has The Best Exhaust Note?

An overall lack of traction is what makes rally cars sound so great. In low-speed corners, drivers compensate for less grip by applying more throttle, and in pretty much any rally car—Porsche 911 to Lancia Stratos—the resulting noise is quickly addicting. Don’t believe us? Here are some of our favorite classic rally cars, singing at speed.

It’s perhaps a bit unfair to lead with various versions of Porsche 911 rally cars, but their raspy flat-6 engines have been a fixture of all forms of motorsport since the mid-1960s…and sound great pretty much all the time.

“It’s a car enthusiast’s collection, right,” says John Campion. “I don’t have cars because I want to impress anybody. If you don’t know what a rally car is, you’re kinda like, ‘That’s a dirty car, there are cracks on it’… But I find the passion I have for these cars goes back to the individuals who drove them” begins our film on John Campion and his Lancia Delta S4 rally car.

It’s one of the most unique-sounding vehicles ever devised, all because of its super and turbocharged engine (!)

I’m a fan of this film for one reason: it does a great job of showing people what spectating a rally is like: you stay warm and cars drive by. Pick the right event, like the Rallye Monte Carlo Historique, and the soundtrack will be a proper throwback as well.

Group B Monsters in Finland is the title of this clip, which chronicles action during the 1000 Lakes Rally from 1983 until 1986. It’s one of the best settings for hearing these machines flat-out, with long straightaways and insane high-speed yumps.

The BMW E30 M3 was, indeed, a rally car, equipped with an engine that sounds like it’d  saw through an entire forest at 8,000 rpm.

Which of these European rally cars sounds the best? In one of our older films, Hans Abrahams shares why he just has to have three different-yet-distinct variations on the same theme.

Is the Lancia Stratos the best-sounding rally car? Here’s more than 5 minutes of evidence to that point, with most of it set to low-quality period footage of the car in action.

Light, fast, small, and loud—you may fall in love with the Alpine A110 after watching this film on Jürgen Clauss and his business, alpineLAB, specialists in this rare rally car.

Have we missed something? Please leave it in the comments, but not before checking out this YouTube playlist by amjayes2 that’s entirely made from rally car engine sounds.