Watch (and Listen to) Ferrari, Aston, and Porsche Race Cars Testing at Monza

Le Mans GT and Prototype cars testing in crystal-clear audio is a drug we’re happy to push.

The field of the FIA World Endurance Championship completed their pre-season open tests at the Monza Circuit in Italy. Italian automotive audiophile 19Bozzy92 was there to record the high-strung race cars in glorious sound. The cars in question include the GT-Endurance versions of the Ferrari 488, Porsche 911, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, and Ford GT in addition to the faster and more exotic prototypes.

The WEC calendar includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans, so these are the same cars you’ll be watching in June for the French 24-hour classic. The variety of engine notes makes it a pretty pleasing watch, especially because 19Bozz92 gets such good audio of the cars running around Monza. From the gutteral V8 sound of the Aston Martin to the shrieking-and-popping LMP2 cars, this is something you could watch all day.

The Fords’ twin-turbo V6 does sound a bit industrial at high RPM, but it has a nice crackle at lower revs through the Ascari chicane. The Ferrari 488 doesn’t sing quite as loudly as it’s 458 predecessor, but it sounds just as good. Throw in Porsche’s new 4.0-liter flat-six for a classic sound and the aforementioned baritone Aston V8 for a great mix of high-end sports car engine notes. The only car missing from the WEC tests was the ground-pounding Corvette C7.R, which spends its year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship aside from the annual visit to Le Mans.

The tests also include the hybrid Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) cars from the factory-backed Toyota and Porsche teams. The Toyota, called the TS050, will run a turbocharged 2.4-liter V6 while Porsche stick with their turbo 2.0-liter V4 (not an inline engine). Both also have hybrid-electric power that can be applied as a power boost to give generous horsepower levels estimated to be north of 1,000 HP. Both of these cars sound a bit quieter than the other Le Mans Prototype cars built to LMP2 specification. These cars with four different chassis all run a spec naturally aspirated 4.0-liter Gibson V8, which is easily recognized in the video by its banshee wailing interrupted by mid-shift pops and crackles.

The WEC season opens its 2017 season at Silverstone in the United Kingdom on April 14 to 16.