What are the inlets infront of the gear pods?
Left one (right side of the plane) is for the APU (exhaust pipe is next to the crew entry door)
Right one (left side of the plane) is probably for equipment cooling or for the ventilation system)
What a lovely racket that thing must make
Ever heard a Tu-95 taxi around... same engines. At takeoff it makes even more noise, as the overpressure valves are fully opened to prevent oveloading the gearbox (Engine does a constant 15,000hp until FL200 by dumping all the excess air straight through the exhaust pipes, at FL200 the valves are fully closed and the usual altitude-related power drop sets in)
Video... The Simsheim one that eventually landed in 1200m