Engine noise this year...

I think 'better' is simply perceived because we are getting used to how **** they sound. But when you play an old video and compare it to right now they still sound like ****.

 

basically, yes. I'm hoping it gets better somehow.

 

Having attended my first race of the year at China, there is no perceptible difference in the engine sound.

 

So the Ferrari Challenge and Porsche Cup cars are still louder...

 

The Honda sounds somewhat decent, maybe because it isn't working properly.

 

These engines could sound good in there own way. Higher revs will make a world of difference. Twin turbo would be good. Get rid of the hybrid carp

 

I think we get distracted with the sparks coming from bottom of the cars and we forget how crappy these engines sound.

 

+1

 

I have to admit, I do like the sparks.

I just don't understand why these motors are so quiet. A race engine with a monster turbo revving to 12,000 RPM should still be loud as hell. Surely there is something they can do?

 

Verstappen's engine sounded great at the end of the race, eh? I was cringing at each replay. These things don't even know how to blow up proper.

 

At the 2013 race in Austin I damaged an eardrum watching FP with insufficient ear protection. Last year I didn't need ear protection at all. They don't sound different to me this year. Pretty tame.

 

They just sort of "whimper" into submission it seems!

Few things compared to the terrible noise of a DFV "letting go" on a cold day at Silverstone..... Sucker *exploded*, and left no doubt.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Nope. Still sounds like crap.

 

They must have designed the exhaust systems for maximum efficiency and compactness rather than to provide an exotic, exciting noise, which has always been a critical component of the F1 mystique.

Even a 4-cylinder street car with an unrestricted exhaust and turbo revving to 8000 rpm sounds monstrous!!!! It is truly an impressive feat of engineering for them to make racebred V-6s sound so awful. That wasn't the case in the '80s. The first step should be venting the wastegate(s) to the atmosphere and lowering the fuel consumption rate restrictions, thereby allowing them to use the full 15,000 revs they are capable of now, and more BOOST. Teams should also be allowed to choose if they want single or twin turbos and wastegates. In the '80s, you had everything from turbo I-4s to V-8s to the few souls that were slugging it out with 3.5L NA motors.

 

2017 1000hp V6 with higher revs. These should sound decent.

 

Bring back Megatron and refueling!

 

The TV folks figured out they better quit talking about how bad the sound sucks or they won't have an audience for long. This year, they got creative with how they set their mikes up. Bottom line, the live sound still sucks. A 355 sounds far superior and it only hits 8500 revs. This is a turbo issue not a rpm issue. Raising the revs will not fix the problem.

 

That's right, these turbos are effectively mufflers. As for sound on TV, all that is required is for a sound engineer to slide the volume up on the trackside mic channel...bingo louder engines. But the quality of the sound emitted by these power units is lacking compared to engines of the past, especially the V10s and V12s. Even the flat 6s in the Porsche 917s was mile better than these power units.

 

I think the issue is actually the hybrid tech quieting the engines down. That and they don't have wastegates that vent to the atmosphere as far as I know

Also, Porsche 917s were flat 12s IIRC. That said, even your run of the mill IMSA GT3 Flat 6 Porsche is much louder than a F1 car these days

 

You're right about the Porsche, I was thinking 907. As for the turbo...yes, this type turbo, absent wastegate, is a big centrifugal muffler. The fact that there is some electrical boost under acceleration may also reduce or change the noise, but my money is still on the turbo as a muffler.

 

The engines definitely sound better on tv to me this year!!

 

If you like sound at an F1 race, hope for a safety car.