Poll The New Sound

[olegg]

What about comparision turbo engine 30 yeras ago and currently?

 

[Plutus]

I like the new sound but I prefer the screaming sound of the V8.
The V6 are great and the right step for F1. The difference of sound created by the new engines of each manufacturer is uniquer than it was during the V8 era. I also like the whizzing sound of the turbo during down shifts.

 

[Quintessentially]

A nice piece from Andrew Benson on Beeb. Here are the good bits

They still sound like racing cars, despite what Ecclestone says. And instead of the monotone, ear-splitting scream of the old naturally aspirated V8s, the new V6 turbo hybrids have a multi-dimensional tone. The cars are much quieter than before. There is no argument about that. But was the old engine sound particularly enjoyable? It was certainly loud. Painfully so, in fact - anyone watching at the track needed ear defenders if they did not want to risk deafness. But it was hardly a classic engine noise in the manner of a throbbing American V8 muscle car or a singing F1 Ferrari V12 from the 1990s, for example. It was more like a swarm of angry wasps amplified throughMetallica's sound system.

How Ecclestone can be "horrified" by something he has not heard other than on a test bed in the Ferrari factory more than a year ago is not clear, nor is the agenda behind his remarks.
Renault made it clear that they would quit F1if the new engines were not adopted. The French company needed the technology in the sport to have some relevance to the direction its road cars were going if it was going to be able to continue to justify the enormous investment.

Last year, the 2.4-litre V8s were producing around 760bhp and using in the region of 150kg of fuel to complete a race distance. This year's turbo hybrids pump out as much as 850bhp and use only 100kg of fuel in a race. That's an increase of efficiency in the region of 35% - for significantly more performance.
Lap times are about three seconds slower than last year at the moment, but at least half of that is a result of the harder tyres, and much of the rest down to the loss of downforce - which, when combined with that extra power, makes the cars a greater challenge for the drivers.

Or, as one of my followers on Twitter wrote: "I'm blown away to learn people were spending hundreds of pounds to attend a race just to hear a really loud noise."

 

[Mephistopheles]

I like it....

 

[Mezzer]

I also liked his quip about if Bernie was so worried about what the fans think then why didn't he drop his double points farce when it was universally panned. Bernie does what Bernie wants to, everything else is window dressing.

 

[teabagyokel]

I love the way they embolden the word 'agenda' as well. Like a good Bernie character assassination, myself.

 

[Bushi]

Or, as one of my followers on Twitter wrote: "I'm blown away to learn people were spending hundreds of pounds to attend a race just to hear a really loud noise."

People pay that to see a package of fast cars, engines screaming, close racing, ect...

IMO, everytime I went to SpaI could hear the cars on track when i parked my car on the pasture. And I can't help it, but it gave me a smile everytime I heard those engines screaming. Now that is gone in f1.

 

[olegg]

Very reasonable opinion from Brenson

 

[olegg]

Brundle opinion:
"I had waited to hear a full complement of cars before making a judgement on the sound of the new motors and initially I was disappointed. Walking around the track standing alongside the barriers in the second session I was a little more heartened as it became clear that ear plugs were not really needed, the track PA system could be heard for the first time ever, and other sounds such as mechanical noise and tyre torture could be heard."
"The 1.5-litre Inline 4 and V6 turbos of the '80s sounded better, louder, more soulful. In fact I'm diving one early next month and there's a big collection of them at Goodwood at the Members' Meeting in a couple of weeks. They used to spit flames too but, in this age of efficiency, unburnt fuel and noise sent down the exhaust pipe is simply wasted energy. Filling a single pipe with a turbo and clever technology is going to make it somewhat quieter..."

 

[Gamal Liranzo]

I think the sound of the V6s is sexy, its just that the old V8 was painfully loud, that's why the people use to think that the new PU sounds really bad.

The sound is good, we can compare it with other categories and still sounds great.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I like it...

 

[sushifiesta]

The FIA have updated their clip that introduces the start of the FOM coverage to include the new engine sounds:

 

[RasputinLives]

Formula E decides to give itself some promotion and stick the knife into F1.

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/9228112/Formula-E-looks-to-trump-F1-sound

Apparently the Formula E cars will be loud and they'll sound like podracers from The Phantom Menace.

They need to work on their PR a little as mentioning any product in the same breath as the stinky terd that was Phantom Menace is not advisable but it is interesting to see the people involved in Formula E are posturing as a rival series. The first year is set to be pretty much a spec series but the year after its a free for all and I'll be intereseted to see how many of F1's technical boffins are tempted away to go work on sonething exciting and new.

If F1 hadn't made the changes it had it would looked very backward compared to Formula E. As long as they stick with their guns and don't start messing about to bring V8 sound back or something then F1 could quite easily hold its own.

Formula E does not have a Bernie figure when it comes to negociating like F1 does. I'm still unsure if that is a good thing or a bad thing

 

[Bill Boddy]

Now firstly I must admit to not being a Star Wars fan. However, don't all those battles take place in space where there is not atmosphere and hence no sound?

 

[F1Yorkshire]

The pod race was actually on Tattooine. They did sound pretty good, just a shame the rest of the film was shocking.

 

[siffert_fan]

I haven't really liked the sound of the F1 engines since the V10s. I always thought that the 1968 Matra V12 emitted the sound that an F1 car should have--an ungodly shriek! Too bad the engine didn't generate enough power to be competitive with its original exhaust system. And I have always felt that sound (some non-fans would call it noise) is a critical element for enjoying F1(more so at the race, less true watching on television).

If you have ever been to the Monaco GP and heard the symphony of the v12s or v10s echoing off the walls, you would understand that feeling.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

I just remember going to my first race at Silverstone, sitting at Club. You heard the V8 long before you saw it, once the cars made it round Stowe you could actually feel them when you sat on the ground. I imagine you won't even be able to hear the cars before they round Stowe. I can only imagine what the V10 and V12 engines were like.

I agree this new era of engine regulations is needed to keep the manufacturers in F1 and ensure that the sport remains relevant in terms of developing new technology. However purely on sound the new engines are vastly inferior to the V8s in my opinion, especially trackside.

One point that has gone unnoticed I think is the exhaust blown diffusers. The cars no longer have that muffling through the corners, I know a lot of people didn't actually like the sound but it was certainly an area that the cars varied, I enjoyed it because it meant the cars sounded different, which can never be a bad thing, in particular I remember the Force India was very loud.

 

[gethinceri]

The best F1 engine I heard was in that Renault Espace at Silverstone, utterly mad.

 

[Bill Boddy]

How many new manufacturers have the new regulations brought in so far? And next season?

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Honda, Renault have stayed too. PURE were developing an engine but ran out of funding. If we had kept the V8s I imagine Renault would have have remained seeing as most of the costs (design & development) were already paid for and they were incredibly successful with Red Bull.