We are on the outer edge of the Mojave Desert in California. It was early in the morning, the sun had just started to rise, and it was still chilly. A load emerged from an 18-wheel trailer. First, the Lancia Stratos Zero, owned by collector Philip Salofim. This was followed by Paul Greenstein’s 1941 Tatra T87 and a 1950 Pearson Brothers Coupe now owned by Bruce Meyer. It was brought here for the purpose of recording the sound – although it is not a big deal to leave it for posterity. Recorded under the direction of Pink Floyd drummer and avid collector Nick Mason, the special exhibition of Sir Norman Foster at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.motion”, and play it as BGM.
Nick’s sound designer, Bryan Watkins, sets up the microphones on the taxiway at the California City airport. According to the weather forecast, it will be windy today. I don’t know how strong it will be, but it’s definitely getting stronger.
Basically, each car makes five round trips in a straight line, recording normal acceleration, hard acceleration, upshifts, and downshifts. Occasionally, the crowing of roosters and the noise of planes interrupt us. Chris Callum will ride the first Stratos. The wind is blowing and it’s still cold. Lancia has its 1600cc engine and Solex carburetor, and the megaphone-shaped exhaust snorts and bites through the air. Brian moved the truck to shield the recording equipment from the wind. Wind is a strange thing, it seems to push sound away from the microphone. It became necessary to increase the number of sandbags to secure the microphone.
Next is the Pearson Brothers Coupe. Tom Kenny, who works for the Blues collection, is the driver today. With a specially tuned and blueprinted 296cu-in flathead engine, it surpassed 140mph even then. These cars are designed with forward movement in mind, and little thought of reversing. Positioning the car near the microphone requires the guidance of another person. After capturing the start and subsequent acceleration of the coupe with the first set of microphones, we move on to the next set of microphones to capture the sound of a car approaching and driving away at high speed. Oh, another rooster crowing.
The coupe is just as dramatic as the Stratos. Bathed in the desert sun, the red, white, and blue paint shines. As we drove more and more, it started to overheat. The clutch is slipping and the brakes are fading. This hot rod is made to go fast. It’s incredibly fast, but it’s not designed to run over and over once more. The wind got stronger and started to threaten us. It shoots up huge clouds of dust from the desert, knocks down mics, and slams sand into glass and paint. We ran into the back of the truck and took a breather.
Next is the turn of the Tatra with an air-cooled V8. Inside the car are the owner Paul, his wife Didia, the terrier Archie, and two friends. Brian explained the recording to Paul and when the car was in position the recording started. Tatra rushes through the straight. When Paul came back, he yelled, “Let’s do it once more!” he repeats this over and over once more. Then suddenly, a terrible gale blew, and Tatra, who was regarding to finish his run, disappeared from sight. All I see is a huge brown cloud of sand.
Eventually the Tatra appeared, but it was running very slowly. The carburettor sucked up a lot of dust, and the windshield and nose were scratched with sand. Brian said that the recording up to this point was enough, and it was decided to withdraw. It’s better not to force the car any further. After loading the 3 cars onto the 18-wheel trailer once more, the day’s work was over. The result can be heard in the museum.
Translation: Megumi KINOSHITA
Words and photography: Evan Klein
