Is drag racing louder than a NASCAR speedway?

摘要

A professional racing facility with an oval track speedway used for NASCAR events recentlyexpanded by adding a major drag strip track with large grandstands. Residents in the nearbycommunity have been exposed to noise from races at the speedway for many years, while thedrag strip racing noise is new and very different in character. The goal of the noise study, basedon a commitment from the speedway owner, was to determine whether the noise from the dragstrip on its opening weekend was comparable to, louder than or quieter than the noise from thespeedway. Noise measurements were made during both drag strip and speedway races atmultiple locations in the community. Several metrics were used to compare the noise, includingthe average hourly Leq and Lmax for the entire racing period and a representative loud racinghour. Also discussed is the complexity of dealing with insect noise which contributed to theoverall noise levels during the evening speedway race, but not the daytime drag racing. Thecontribution of insect noise during the speedway race measurements needed to be addressed toenable a comparison of the noise levels from racing activity alone.