A consultant who carried out noise monitoring during the Supercars race said trackside noise levels exceeded NSW safe standards by up to 10 decibels.
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Julian Ellis, a consulting acoustic engineer acting on behalf of East End residents, recorded a maximum peak noise level (LC) of 150 decibels on Friday.
He took the recording trackside at Parnell Place, where he found an average of nine exceedances of the safe standard every minute.
It’s understood the exceedances occurred on a stretch where the cars were changing gears, leading to what residents described as a “gunshot crack”.
Under state legislation, noise must not exceed 140 dB in a workplace, with maximum penalties of $30,000 for breaches.
However most of the outdoor noise monitoring recorded much lower peak levels.
Supercars news:
A mobile phone app beside the track in Watt Street recorded a maximum sound level of 112 dB.
Using professional equipment at a house on the circuit, Newcastle technology company Novecom registered a short peak level of about 117 dB outside.
Monitoring by Mr Ellis on the balcony of a Scott Street home recorded a typical noise level of 99 to 102 dBs throughout the day, with a maximum reading of 114 dB.
A Supercars spokerson said its own monitoring had produced better than expected results.
“What we’ve seen today and based on the multiple monitoring systems we have around the track, the noise levels appear to be considerably lower than what our initial modelling suggested.”
A Supercars-commissioned sound report before the race predicted about 31 houses on the circuit would register internal sound levels between one and four dBs above work safety guideline levels of 84 dB.
Inside a house on Watt Street with the windows open, mobile phone apps recorded a maximum of about 85 dB.
Novecom recorded a maximum of 89 dB in a front room of a house on the circuit and Mr Ellis recorded an average level of 81 dB indoors.
Mr Ellis warned that people should take steps to protect their hearing trackside, especially if they had young children.
“One thing that really distressed me today was that there were a lot of parents out there with really young children that weren't wearing hearing protection.
“Children, their hearing is far more sensitive than ours and much more easily damaged … even one of those little exceedances is enough to damage your hearing and we’re getting nine of these a minute in some locations.”
Resident Peter Saul spend the day “hunkered down” at his home in the East End.
“The sheer loudness of the trackside noise was pretty much as we feared,” he said.
