F1 engines - luck escape from 4-pot turbos!

[mycool]

Having been at Silverstone today and watched F1, GP2, GP3 and Porsche Super Cup cars, i have a good comparison on what sounds good and all i can say is we as the fans must resist 4 pot turbos in F1, unless they ensure a trick exhaust.

F1 - Bloody loud but fantastic!
GP2 - Good throaty race car sound that was fitting with the speed of the cars
Porkers - Lovely GT style rumble

GP3 (4 pot turbos) - stE! Sounded terrible, like the cross between a fart and a bag of nails - not that far from a diesel and the fact the noise was so bad it made the cars look slow.

Every time the driver got on the throttle, there was a small delay then this farty unpleasant burble and the car seemed to just be sluggish. The onboard footage and on TV cars looked quick but in the flesh with the stty noise looked very very slow.

Odd how noise does make such a difference, especially if it is out of keeping with what your eyes see.

Rant over.

[designndrive62]

GP3 (4 pot turbos) - stE! Sounded terrible, like the cross between a fart and a bag of nails - not that far from a diesel and the fact the noise was so bad it made the cars look slow.

Could also be because of the standard of some of the gp3 drivers lol

[LocoBlade]

Although Im glad they've now gone down the V6 route, GP3 engines only put out about 280bhp so its hardly a good yardstick for what an F1 engine with over double that would sound like.

Dig out videos of the turbo era F1 cars some of which were 4 pots and they certainly dont sound anything like a diesel! At the end of the day 6-700bhp produced from 1.6 litres will always make a fair amount of noise, whatever configuration the engine is.

Here you go, the BMW Megatron 4 pot
http://youtu.be/abFsKeNKMMc?t=1m24s

Edited by LocoBlade on Saturday 9th July 22:06

[zac510]

The only good 4 cylinder sound is one drowned out by a pair of DCOE Webers, but then again I can't think of one that revs to 15000rpm. That will change the game (sound) a bit.

Once the revs are up over 12000rpm the audial connection to low-revving production engines is not the same. The recent V8s and V10s sound nothing like production V8s and V10s.

[mycool]

Fair points - the revs have a lot to do with it.

[Allyc85]

I saw Gp3 at Spa last year and I have to say they are the worst sounding race cars I have ever heard! Infact its the only time I have walked away from the trackside while a series has been out it was so boring!

I think the V6 turbos will be ok though!

[Big E 118]

Was at brands last week for historic GP and must say the 70's F5000 cars, 5l v8's were the best sounding cars I've ever heard. Imagine that current AMG V8 thunder x100.

It just made the racing even more of an event, even more exciting. F1 needs to sound good as well as all the technical excellence to stay at the pinnacle of motorsport.

[ArnageWRC]

Why not allow any configuration of 1.6L Turbos? F1 is rapidly turning into a 'spec' series, it's meant to be 'The Pinnacle' - but hasn't been for years.

[EDLT]

Big E 118 said:

Was at brands last week for historic GP and must say the 70's F5000 cars, 5l v8's were the best sounding cars I've ever heard. Imagine that current AMG V8 thunder x100.

It just made the racing even more of an event, even more exciting. F1 needs to sound good as well as all the technical excellence to stay at the pinnacle of motorsport.

They sound very NASCAR-like imo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3Kxb4PcGcs

Although, getting 700hp out of a big V8 would be cheaper and more reliable than squeezing the same amount out of a tiny 4-pot.

[Big E 118]

EDLT said:

They sound very NASCAR-like imo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3Kxb4PcGcs

Although, getting 700hp out of a big V8 would be cheaper and more reliable than squeezing the same amount out of a tiny 4-pot.

Fantastic find that video. Some of those actual cars were at brands last weekend, all over from NZ, ex tasmin series cars.

Agreed, would be fairly cheap budget wise to have (relatively) low revving high capacity V8's and surely economy/emission/regeneration technological developments can be scaled down to your average road car.

[skinny]

you're the first person i've ever heard say that the GP2 noise in person is good, personally i think it's absolutely horrible and so does everyone else i know!

[ChiChoAndy]

Are people really going to compare a GP3 engine, with what an F1 4 pot would have sounded like? Take note of what the Walker said, and the 1.5's back in the day made plenty of noise.

[dr_gn]

Interesting comments from the "F1 Sceptic" in James Allen's website I thought:

"I’m convinced that just hearing the noise and feeling atmosphere like I did would turn many others like me from a silly cars going in circles type of person to an F1 fan and obsessive of that V8 noise."

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/07/silverstone-...

'Course for the majority of TV viewers who will never go to a Grand Prix live (ie the people who really matter), it's pretty much irrelevant...

[lord summerisle]

with the F1 engines, as they past my post stood on the link track to the Loop, i could feel the sound in my chest, and through my shoes from the ground vibrations. plus the noise defending radio headset just took the edge off the noise in my ears.

[marcosgt]

4 Pot Turbos? I seem to remember the BMW F1 engines of that configuration were rather awesome!

M.

[ChiChoAndy]

marcosgt said:

4 Pot Turbos? I seem to remember the BMW F1 engines of that configuration were rather awesome!

M.

Short memories, or they haven't heard them before. Superb sound from the turbo era.

[dr_gn]

ChiChoAndy said:

marcosgt said:

4 Pot Turbos? I seem to remember the BMW F1 engines of that configuration were rather awesome!

M.

Short memories, or they haven't heard them before. Superb sound from the turbo era.

I've heard most of the various engines of the late turbo years to the n/a V(x) era, from the Silverstone pitwall among other places.

IMO the BMW 4 cylinder turbo has a muted drone compared with a n/a V8, worse compared with a n/a V10 or V12.

If you want aural stimulation 'look' elsewhere.

[zac510]

Of course the image and attraction of F1 is cultivated by many many more things than just the sound of the engine.

Some things that come to mind:
- Media sycophancy towards drivers
- Controversies that keep it in the news
- Ticket prices (aspirational like an expensive car)
- Celebrity hanger-ons on the pit lane (aspirational again)
- Prevalence on television
- Bernie being intentionally obtuse

Many of these things you probably hate too but they stir your emotions and influence your perception of F1 but at the end of the day they don't stop the majority of people watching it.

I don't think a different engine noise will affect F1 too much.

[dr_gn]

zac510 said:

Of course the image and attraction of F1 is cultivated by many many more things than just the sound of the engine.

Some things that come to mind:
- Media sycophancy towards drivers
- Controversies that keep it in the news
- Ticket prices (aspirational like an expensive car)
- Celebrity hanger-ons on the pit lane (aspirational again)
- Prevalence on television
- Bernie being intentionally obtuse

Many of these things you probably hate too but they stir your emotions and influence your perception of F1 but at the end of the day they don't stop the majority of people watching it.

I don't think a different engine noise will affect F1 too much.

I don't think it will affect it much either - it didn't seem to in the last turbo era.

I think another attraction is the mystique of the paddock, and the fact that access is very difficult for the public unless you happen to 'know someone'.

[ChiChoAndy]

dr_gn said:

I've heard most of the various engines of the late turbo years to the n/a V(x) era, from the Silverstone pitwall among other places.

IMO the BMW 4 cylinder turbo has a muted drone compared with a n/a V8, worse compared with a n/a V10 or V12.

If you want aural stimulation 'look' elsewhere.

Oh, ok... That's me told.