Centurion sound enthusiasts build ‘SA’s loudest car’
The car broke the SA record of 177.8 decibels and is officially the second loudest car in the world.
A team of car sound enthusiasts from Centurion have built “South Africa’s loudest sound car”.
The car, a modified Mini Cooper bakkie, produced a whopping 177.8 decibels during the IASCA SA world record semifinals at Sibaya casino, Durban in KwaZulu-Natal on 27 and 28 July.
The Coop broke the previous South African record of 174.1 decibels and became the second loudest car in the world by IASCA standards.
The effort was the culmination of 15 years of work by Zwartkop residents Jaco Pretorius and Michiel Venter.
“The previous South African record was set around the time we started,” said Pretorius.
ALSO READ: Cars in the park in Centurion
“So it has always been a milestone for us.”
Four years ago, Pretorius purchased the Mini Cooper as a company car for his business.
“I drove it to the premises and it was just spewing smoke,” he said.
“Michiel gave it one look and told me there was no way we could work with it.
“When I asked him what we were going to do with it, he suggested turning it into a sound car.”
Pretorius took the car to teammate, Willie Cronje, who took it apart.
“The more we stripped the car the more problems we found,” Pretorius said.
“So Willie installed a steel frame onto the back and we started soundproofing it.”
Without giving away too many “trade secrets”, Pretorius said the windows of the car were replaced with 36mm bulletproof glass.
ALSO READ: Centurion criminals targeting gate motors, valuables in parked cars
“We installed four 50kg speakers along with two amplifiers and as many as 60 batteries to power it.
“The guy we bought the batteries from asked us if we were building a nuclear weapon.”
At the Rand Show earlier this year, the team of Pretorius, Venter, Cronje, Mike Hoffman, Anthonie Delport and Vino Naidoo, barely managed the 70-decibel mark.
“We were heartbroken and devastated,” said Pretorius.
“When we made our way to the semi-finals no one thought we would be able to do it.
“Then we hit 177.8 decibels and Michiel and I had tears in our eyes, we were so happy.
“Our next goal is 180 decibels but eventually we want to take the top spot and break the world record.”
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
