The Sound Of Excitement

12 October 2020 Redazione News, Supercars Lounge

by Marco Mancino

I do not like half measures. I love driving on a mountain road – those curvy ones – as much as letting myself be lulled by the waves, far enough not to hear the cackles of people that on a day like this mid-August one have literally invaded the beaches. Two situations at the antipodes such as water and asphalt which, however, complement each other and manage to erase the stress and boredom created by everything in between and I am referring to the hours spent stuck in traffic, or to the spasmodic search for a parking space, or even those long motorway journeys that over the last few months have become one of the most shameful aspects of our country. But if the sound of the waves gently colliding on the bow of my little boat (mind you, it’s a small motor boat, I haven’t won any lottery yet!) is my way to unwind, at the same time I am here fantasizing on how much I would be willing to interrupt this moment of meditation and swap it with the din of an engine that pushes the needle of the tachometer towards the red line.

The most exciting sound is that of a naturally aspirated V8 mated to a manual gearbox, where you can be the undisputed conductor driving a dizzying march to the sound of decibels. In this view of mine, there is no room for hybrid units, not even for turbochargers or lightning-fast double-clutch transmissions. I want everything under my total control and steer an expedition of horsepower that climbs a winding road made for hard use of low gears, increase the volume and unleash this ensemble as if the world were about to end later in the evening. The same road that until a moment ago was immersed in total silence, now definitively broken by a roar that God knows how long will echo while trying in every way to get lost towards the horizon, pushed by a new and even more violent push on the throttle.

The calm before the storm no longer has the form of a memory and that tremor that pervades you the moment before starting all this and sweeping away the accumulated thoughts and stress has now disappeared, letting you enjoy that game of sensations spreading from every pore surrounded by noises you will never get used to. These are moments from which to take as much as possible, which allow you a stop to appreciate the work done by mother nature in creating authentic corners of paradise on earth. And while with my eyes I scrutinize every smallest detail of what I see all around, of those mountains that seem to close us in a fraternal embrace, I find myself looking that object commonly called car, the only instrument (but for others it may be one’s own motorbike or bicycle) that I need up here, in a world that often lets smartphones just for taking quick pictures, providentially isolating us from the connection with that increasingly fake world. It is the moment to enjoy this incredible show and feel like real protagonists, unleashing our herd of horses and leaving a few autographs with the tires as the only sign of our passage.

In this moment, despite the total peace that I am gifting myself, almost hidden behind a cove hundreds of meters from the shore, the only other place I would like to be is the exact opposite, at over 2,000 meters, where the air is thinner and the only sound that merges with that of the wind is the ticking of the boiling-hot exhaust, now resting after an intense symphony played and still busy echoing throughout the valley. And believe me when I tell you that many times I have tried to explain this to those crazies pointing cars as the worst evil of the world, thus ending being just a foolish person capable of appreciating material things. This is precisely the point, we driving enthusiasts are much more, because we are able to combine the purity of a postcard landscape with the mechanical pleasure that a combustion engine is able to give, establishing an intimate relationship with the road below and creating memories that enrich our personal album of memories, printed and sealed in our mind, the same one that the next time will transmit that slight tremor starting from our feet and running along our spine, almost as if to warn us that we are about to live another unforgettable day.