You know us children, always like LOUD things :)
Excessive noise may be a hit for some purists, but it's a real put off for many people. I know people who won't take their family to a motor race because the decibels are too high. The sport has to acknowledge that. Also, excessive noise has forced some tracks to close down. That's not a good trend.
New fans are good news, if the current dBs suit them, wonderful. To be honest, I'm tired of loud. There were countless times I had riveting news regarding the race for my seat mates in the stands, only to have to repeat it because the Minardis were going past in mid sentence.... .
So is moving around a track only to come back to the same place. Other energy wastes include music, movies, and posting on forums (well, at least for some )
I had an opportunity to go to Canada when the V10 was still running around and I snubbed it off. Young, too preoccupied - whatevz. To be perfectly honest - right now I feel like ******. A big fat dick. Hopefully I can get to a race or two this season.
I agree. Spectators who weren't regularly wearing hearing protection trackside will experience some measure of hearing damage and tinnitus. Having ringing ears for the rest of your life is not essential to enjoyment of the sport, but the solution of having everyone in attendance wear earplugs is silly when we could just make the damned cars quieter in the first place. (And yes, I've camped out at my share of F1 races.)
This video from Monza comparing V12, V10, V8 and finally the current PU shows what we have lost. http://youtu.be/92aYYjK_0Ww
As someone who suffers from permanent tinnitus and substantial hearing loss, largely due to cars, I agree totally. I want to see fast cars, noise does not make them fast. High noise level is a pacifier for those with no understanding of how they work. It is an unwanted side effect to those of us who do.
The 1985 Lotus, 97T I think, had a Renault 1.5 liter V6 Turbo engine making about 900hp and it sounded nothing like these current engine. It must have something to do with the way they have speced the turbo and exhaust. That Lotus has a robust throaty sound. Not as loud as a V8 orV10 but louder than today's PU. But the problem today is not so much the sheer volume as it is the flat sound coming out the exhaust. That combined with engines that sound to be operating in a very narrow rev range, and it results in a sort of hollow unexciting sound.
Turbos can definitely sound great, but that won't happen at the revs they run these days. Sound will be great if you eliminate the rev limit (make it twin turbo even better), take away all the hybrid carp and let the ICE produce all the power. Problem solved.
+1, I only want them loud if it helps them go faster. With NA motors, it did (due to exhaust design). With forced induction, it doesn't. I prefer NA motors as I love the high revs and lightning throttle response, but then I've never driven an electrically aided 12,000rpm turbo, which I'm sure is light-years beyond any NA motor I've ever gotten ahold of in both power and throttle response. There's no doubt that these new PU's make more power from less fuel, a win-win situation. They probably also have better throttle response coming out of a turn due to the instantaneous nature of the e-motor and the ability for the turbo to be spooled up by it's e-motor. Awesome stuff. Going back to the now archaic NA v8's or making noise for the sake of noise would be a mistake imo, and I've been watching f1 for close to 30 years.
My dad brought me to my first F1 GP when I was 5. It was the Canadian GP. I still remember the rumbling under my feet, the fire spitting monsters w ridiculous wings and those super wide tires... Think back upon your own life for a bit. What are the moments you remember most vividly? I'm willing to bet all the "average" stuff are but a blur. And I bet all the moments that you do remember were such overwhelmingly emotional ones, that you still feel the remnants of those emotions every time those memories resurface. For me, the only way I will remember the V6TT era is either 1) The next evolution of F1 becomes even quieter / worse (suddenly remembering, "oh man, we had it pretty good w the V6TT.") 2) The next evolution of F1 brings back the fire-breathing-1000hp glory days of old which would permanently etch the V6TT era as the darkest chapter in F1 of all time (worst ever F1 memory) I'm only human, my biology by design won't let me forget the extremes, those extraordinary moments of fear or excitement. The "average" stuff never sent a jolt thru my mind, body or soul. totally forgettable.