Sound Racer: Turn your car into a Lamborghini, or string quartet

The Sound Racer plugs into your car's stereo to make it sound like a powerful sports car. However, unlike the snarling of an Italian sport car, the sound remains inside the cabin.

As cars get quieter, so does life for motorists and pedestrians alike, but the accessory promises to shatter the tranquility of your next journey by allowing even the smallest city car to sound like a Lamborghini, Ferrari...or string quartet.

The great musician Herbert von Karajan might once have told Enzo Ferrari that his V12 engines produced "a burst of harmony no conductor could ever recreate", but since the Sound Racer gadget can be programmed with any sound file, a car can quite literally produce a symphony as you change up through the gears.

Sounding fast so you don't have to be

The promise is that drivers can enjoy the illusion of owning a sports car while driving slowly and sensibly in a far more practical model. The device plugs into the cigarette lighter socket and transmits an FM signal that is picked up by the car’s radio and broadcast via its speakers. Most drivers are likely to select the pre-programmed growl of a V8 or V10 engine, but for those who enjoy a less raucous driving experience can plump for the chirrup of a bird or the thumping sound of a pod racer – the choice is almost without limit.

Find out more about the SoundRacer at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/861476701/soundracer-vx-fantastic-sports-car-sounds-in-your

The sound of silence

Toyota has already developed an accessory for its Prius that broadcasts synthesized engine sounds when the car is being driven as an electric vehicle at speeds up to 15mph when it would otherwise be near silent. In a study conducted by the University of California, pedestrians heard a petrol-engined vehicle moving at 5 miles per hour three seconds before it reached them – by the time they heard an electric car, it had already passed by.