Fourteen-year-old East Londoner Reagan van Greunen caused quite a stir last weekend when he broke an South African car sound record in his category by reaching 149.5 decibels, louder than a jet engine in flight, which averages between 120-140db.
Judged on the audio from a car’s sound equipment, Regan set this new record in his category at the NitroCrew SA Record Event, held at Cambridge Police Park.
In his stock one category a competitor is allowed to have two 10-inch subs (a loudspeaker unit designed to produce extremely low-frequency bass sounds), two batteries (one in the front and another in the back) and an amplifier as large as the batteries can support.
Reagan has all this packed into a little 1998 Corsa Lite Gsi.
In the competition a decibel reader is placed on the inside of his windscreen. All doors and windows of the car are closed to prevent any loss of pressure and the volume is controlled from outside the car.
Music is not played in this class. Instead a frequency, which differs from car to car, 59hz in this case, is.
Edward van Greunen, Regan’s father and former Eastern Cape sound champ, bristles with pride when speaking of his son’s achievement, saying that Reagan first showed an interest in car sound at age five, the same age at which he began working on his own speaker box.
Heenen Ramnath, the event organiser of the NitroCrew SA Record Event, which is in its 15th year, said that it was nice to see people Reagan’s age getting involved in the sport and he hoped that it would encourage more youth to get involved.
Ramnath explained that the competition was like a battle between cities, with the city in which the most records were broken being the winner. Events are held in Port Elizabeth, East London, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. In the weekend that passed 25 records were broken.
He explained that there were 19 categories, which were determined by the sound equipment in the car, and 50 to 100 cars competing in them, with competitors aged from 12 to 65.
The sport is by no means cheap, with Ramnath saying that those involved spent from R20000 to R200000 to get their car competition ready.
Van Greunen said that fortunately he had friends who helped sponsor Reagan, who has two R18000 subs and a R15000 amp.
“I would like to thank Justin Botha for helping with the box design, Paul Ernstzen for the subs and Matt Myburgh for helping with his meter testing before the competition,” he said.
Reagan said that he hoped to hang on to his record, and he believed that with a bit of work to his car he would be able to easily break the 150-decibel barrier.
EL youngster takes sound to a new level
Image: Alan Eason
Fourteen-year-old East Londoner Reagan van Greunen caused quite a stir last weekend when he broke an South African car sound record in his category by reaching 149.5 decibels, louder than a jet engine in flight, which averages between 120-140db.
Judged on the audio from a car’s sound equipment, Regan set this new record in his category at the NitroCrew SA Record Event, held at Cambridge Police Park.
In his stock one category a competitor is allowed to have two 10-inch subs (a loudspeaker unit designed to produce extremely low-frequency bass sounds), two batteries (one in the front and another in the back) and an amplifier as large as the batteries can support.
Reagan has all this packed into a little 1998 Corsa Lite Gsi.
In the competition a decibel reader is placed on the inside of his windscreen. All doors and windows of the car are closed to prevent any loss of pressure and the volume is controlled from outside the car.
Music is not played in this class. Instead a frequency, which differs from car to car, 59hz in this case, is.
Edward van Greunen, Regan’s father and former Eastern Cape sound champ, bristles with pride when speaking of his son’s achievement, saying that Reagan first showed an interest in car sound at age five, the same age at which he began working on his own speaker box.
Heenen Ramnath, the event organiser of the NitroCrew SA Record Event, which is in its 15th year, said that it was nice to see people Reagan’s age getting involved in the sport and he hoped that it would encourage more youth to get involved.
Ramnath explained that the competition was like a battle between cities, with the city in which the most records were broken being the winner. Events are held in Port Elizabeth, East London, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. In the weekend that passed 25 records were broken.
He explained that there were 19 categories, which were determined by the sound equipment in the car, and 50 to 100 cars competing in them, with competitors aged from 12 to 65.
The sport is by no means cheap, with Ramnath saying that those involved spent from R20000 to R200000 to get their car competition ready.
Van Greunen said that fortunately he had friends who helped sponsor Reagan, who has two R18000 subs and a R15000 amp.
“I would like to thank Justin Botha for helping with the box design, Paul Ernstzen for the subs and Matt Myburgh for helping with his meter testing before the competition,” he said.
Reagan said that he hoped to hang on to his record, and he believed that with a bit of work to his car he would be able to easily break the 150-decibel barrier.
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