Is in a league all it's own.. A Rolls-Merlin sounds good, but to me this is the best sounding engine of it's time.
Messerschmitt ME109 Trailer 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlUTFi3cN00#)
Although I could debate you over which aircraft sounds the best, I will agree with you, that piston powered aircraft were a leader in high performance, and I have never been able to get enough of the WW2 types.
Truely awesome power and sounds!
That raises some fun questions about what the best sounding engines are...
-Lamborghini's classic V12. They sound tempermental and crabby when cold, not unlike an old superbike, but there is that amazing sense that things are happening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48ecCtbP5iY# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48ecCtbP5iY#)
-Turbo Busa's make a noise that goes from "okay, it's a bike" to "coming to destroy the world". RIP Dave Owen. Listen to the boost come on!
Hayabusa Turbo 636HP (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IUone3p5Tw#)
-F1 cars from the V12 era. Absolutely otherworldly.
ferrari f1 sounds v12 1994 412t1 car (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBXUOomynxw#)
-Can't find a good link of it, but a muzzy pipe on a ZX7R always sounded like a sewing machine, very precise and delicate, and then transformed into a howl as the revs got up, the type where you can feel the air moving.
-And of course the daddy. Absolutely nothing compares to Top Fuel cars.
NHRA "Greatest quarter mile pass of all time" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tg6RDUFQJ4#)
Spitfire (very) low pass
Low Spitfire Pass (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8_5Qc1mK54#)
Stuart
OK, I have one for your hearing sences.
Turn the volumn up and wait till 1:50 for the sound to change!
vintage nitro car warm-up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ1TgrcnU2E#)
I love my Trans Ams, too.
1981 TRANS AM 500+ HORSEPOWER (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiLXr5_IQ40#)
Truly some excellent posts and I never tire of the sound of large displacement engines. I always laugh when someone with a Honda sporting a grapefruit shooter muffler, revving their engine thinking they sound all bad ass. Just doesn't sound the same as a big block. There is no replacement for displacement. :)
WWII was the pinnacle of piston powered aircraft, and sadly their last gasp as the jet age had already begun.
I have ridden a turbo 'busa a number of times. Let's just say the sound is very different when you're the one riding it at 200mph.
I hate to say thats a BF109G with a Damller DB605 stuck in the nose.
Sorry
German engines. yum. straight cut gears, fuel injection, would give my right leg to hear a genuine FW 190 radial....... Horsepower? Sea fury.....nuff said....
You say you want a FW190A with a BMW have at it
First Engine Start FW190 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftDwkyZb7a4#)
Or how about a FW190D (Dora) with a Junkers Jumo
First Engine Start FW190 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftDwkyZb7a4#)
And A Centuars Fury
Getch's Fury (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F7mD--W7oM#)
I missed on the Dora so here it is.
Fw190D Engine Runs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y5LBUVS1T8#)
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/at-the-garage/sports-cars/ac-cobra-427-replica/ (http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/at-the-garage/sports-cars/ac-cobra-427-replica/)
Just listen to all the mechanical noises this old girl makes while trying to start up.
Corsair startup (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VmxkpgiURA#)
And this one has a very mean howl too it!
Grumman F-7F Tigercat Demonstration - 4,000+ Horsepower ! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IM6nXsdQc#)
GSX-R1000 vs TZ250 at twin ring motegi in Japan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekyfy4XxLvs#) for fits and giggles...... love lawnmower engines.
Eddie Lawson VS Wayne Gardner 1988 Salzburgring PART1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ34--orbAU#)
Awesome. Beats motogp.