I now think the fuel is the problem. Why? Well lets compare the 1988 McLaren Honda turbo engine with todays: 1988 - 1.5 litres v6, 80 degree internal angle, twin turbo (note 1984-86 engine was 90 degree). Apparently 675 hp (503 kW) at 12500 rpm 2014 - 1.6 litres v6, 90 degree internal angle, single turbo. ? hp (? kW) limited to 15000 rpm Pretty much the same and now higher revs so should sound better, but of course due to fuel saving they don't rev as high as they can ... But back in the previous turbo days I can remember the smell of the fuel and it used to affect your eyes but they are not allowed to play with the mix as much anymore, ie: Pete
That was neither Senna nor Prost. And as far as the exhaust sound, IMO it has more to do with exhaust setup than engine revs. Today's cars are supposed to rev limited to 15k rpms, but they are not turning that high, so essentially, rpms are the same as in the 80's, around 12k rpms. Displacement, they're pretty much the same with a 0.1 L difference. Other than ERS, the huge difference is the exhaust setup. My guess that by combining the exhaust into a single turbo/exhaust, the sound waves somewhat cancel out, thus having a quieter car.
back to the drawing board? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAuupY65NcQ]F1 2014 Mercedes new exhaust sound low speed - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP8_-_Z5NU0]F1 2014 New Mercedes exhaust sound - YouTube[/ame]
That thing fixes nothing. It only makes a mediocre sound slightly louder, but still mediocre. It's like turning up the volume on Cher, it's still Cher. My apologies to Cher fans of course
mabe some exhaust tuning will help,it doesnt look like teams are running to the limits? why cant they push to the upper end of the set limits? or is that not possible under the rules? or teams that have no chance of winning could experiment a little,just a thought
"It's like turning up the volume on Cher, it's still Cher" (the following is to be spoken is a southern Mississippi drawl) Bro'.......You Aaaain't right! Now how do I get the coffee of my keyboard and screen. Thanks for the laugh! "My apologies to Cher fans of course" Cher fans???......I guess so...about as rare as Marussia fans I suppose.
Man alive. That is so predictably awful. It just makes the cars sound worse! The horror the horror. Please make it go away. Perhaps if I close my eyes and go to sleep I will wake up and realise this whole season was just a bad dream...
lol @ the merc trumpet. i wonder how the designers kept a straight face throughout the entire production process of that ridiculous looking thing...
To me this attempt is a rather big joke and I think F1 has just dug itself a deeper hole. All they did was stick a funnel on the end of the current exhaust. This is the FIA/F1 saying "see we do read all the fan input." What a joke. Also, Benz is completely FULL of you know what saying they support any changes for the fans. They have no incentive to change, as they are blowing everyone out of the water. For the past few years all they have done is dump money into buying everyone up from all over to build a team specifically for these regulations and then threaten to bail if anything changes. From an aero point of view Newey must be out of his mind seeing this thing as well. If this was a "serious" attempt by F1 to remedy the noise, then why didn't the 4 big teams all give it a go at a simple solution is my question?
WTF at that exhaust. This is just getting to be a bit ridiculous. Just so you guys know, the slowest Barcelona qualifying time from last year, Charles Pic in the Caterham, would have beaten Lewis Hamilton's Barcelona 2014 pole time by 2 tenths. YIKES.
With the vast resources, engineers, brilliant minds and facilities available to F1, its rather embarrassing that the trumpet pipe was the first solution to break cover given what is at stake for all involved.