Next Year’s F1 Cars Will Sound Like Amplified Vacuum Cleaners

[al mcguire]

Bad news Formula One fans. The turbocharged V6 engines running in 2014 sound as appealing as a Dyson upright running through an archaic amplifier. With a blown speaker. Plug in your headphones, watch the video above from Mercedes-Benz, and prepare for the aural buzzkill. Then let’s chat…

For 2014, the FIA — the governing body of F1 — is requiring all teams to swap out this year’s screaming, 18,000 RPM 2.4-liter V8 in favor of a turbocharged 1.6-liter V6 that only revs to around 15,000 RPM. On the upside, turbochargers allow for more creative engine tuning and they boost efficiency, and combined with a new Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) that delivers a 150-horsepower on-demand punch (double the output in 2013), will make something in the neighborhood of 750 hp. But the tonal downside doesn’t have to do with the reduced displacement or even the configuration swap from a V8 to a V6 — it has to do with the exhaust and the addition of that turbo hanging from the manifold.

On the V8 — and before it, the V10 — you had two exhaust tracts running out an engine that simply sucked in air, mixed it with fuel, created a massive explosion, and then pushed it out through a pair of perfectly tuned exhaust outlets. On the V6, that exhaust gets less sexy and more complicated. To begin with, the new engine only has one exhaust pipe and that’s plugged up with a turbocharger that, by its nature, muffles the sound. Add all that together with a lower RPM and you’ve got about as much character as Mitch McConnell on Xanax.

Now it deserves noting that Mercedes recorded the audio on an engine dyno meant to simulate the 2014 car running around the Monza circuit in Italy using the automaker’s motorsport test lab in Brixworth, England. So we’ll remain cautiously optimistic until we here the new mill running around a track in person. And both Ferrari and Renault are working on their own designs, with Renault releasing a slightly more pleasing audio track earlier this year. But for now, we’re already playing a requiem for the sounds of the past. See below.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/08/2014-f1-engine-sound/

[Crussell]

Based on Mercedes' video I kinda don't mind it under acceleration but sounds awful on downshifts.

 

I did a recording with the Audi R18 etron quattro last year and it was such a strange thing to hear no engine noise at the end of the straightaways.  Just dead silent except for the aero package working and the tires gripping the track. 

[Christian Spaeth]

I always thought F1 engines sounded like a pack of flies. Sportscars are a different animal.

[Earmuffs]

Can't listen to it now but let's see how NBC does the coverage with NAT sound on the next season. Wonder how much of a reduction in dB's it will result in.

[Cujo]

Having been listening to proper race engines since the by-gone days of the Can-Am cars, I can say that this is indeed -- disappointing. 

[LarryF]

If y'all didn't depend on your ears for a living, I'd say go to the top fuel drags. That will make the sound of any other engine seem like playing cards on a kid's bike. I have to go once a year to get my "fix".

Best,
Larry F
 

[Eric Toline]

I remember when Andy Granatelli fielded the turbine powered car on the USAC Championship Trail in the 60's. Sounded like a giant vaccum cleaner that sucked the headlights out of the other cars. USAC said no turbines, only piston engines (that's USAC speak for "too fast, too fast").

 

Eric

[Rick Albright]

While I agree the new F1 engines may not have the most pleasing engine note, we've already heard  this in the mid 80's.

 

1.5 liter Turbo engines, some of which produced 1400hp !  The most powerful engines ever produced for F1. They did have a flat sound, but boy it was impressive seeing them accelerate when that turbo kicked in. 

 

Nothing compares to the shriek of a Ferarri flat 12, the wail of an old Matra or a Posche 917 on full song. And the sound of those V10 18,000rpm monsters is insane,  but I'm hoping that when they actually hit the track in 2014, the new engines will have been tuned for our aural pleasure.

 

Listen to this clip of the Audi R18 testing at Monza. The screaming engine is missing, but it sounds like a freakin' jet on the track. Different, but I think I could live with it. Crank the speakers when you play this-

 

[Blas Kisic]

The aero package is noisier than the engine…

:-(

[Rick Albright]

What's amazing is being able to hear the aero package working and the tire noise.

[LarryF]

The jet sound is the turbo charger blow off. (?) Certainly the turbo greatly attenuates the exhaust to the point that you can hear everything else. A standard 911 turbo on the track sounds like a 500 hp vacuum cleaner.

Larry F

[old school]

If y'all didn't depend on your ears for a living, I'd say go to the top fuel drags. That will make the sound of any other engine seem like playing cards on a kid's bike. I have to go once a year to get my "fix".

Best,

Larry F

 

You're right about the Drags Larry. From 1967 to 1972 I worked at OCIR, (Orange County International Raceway) in the staging lanes, on the starting line, in the tower running the scoreboard. You name it, I did it. Nothing louder in this world than standing between 2 top fuel dragsters or funny cars as they drop the hammer. Here is a brief history of the now long gone king of the drag strips OCIR.

CrewC

 

http://www.nhra.com/blog/blog.aspx?BlogAlias=dragster-insider&BlogPostYear=2008&BlogPostMonth=10&BlogPostDay=31&BlogPostAlias=33703&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

[Crussell]

So with that Audi, there was also an Aston Martin on track that day. (and the Nissan Deltawing...)  That Aston had just a glorious sound, and loud!  

 

We were filming right against the infield track wall. My camera guy and I tracked with the Aston on one pass and didn't see or hear the Audi closing in behind it.  When all of a sudden there was this car right behind us going insanely fast, we totally didn't hear the thing coming.  Scared us to death.  

 

As I understand it, the current Audi theory is that any energy used not making the wheels turn is energy lost.  Including sound.  Efficiency is everything.