http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12...ch-f1-contract

Organisers of the Australian GP think the quieter noise produced by the new V6 engines could be in breach of their F1 contract and have complained to Bernie Ecclestone.

Sunday's race marked the start of a new era for grand prix racing with the high-pitched scream of the 2.4 litre V8 engines used between 2006 and 2013 replaced by a deeper growl of 1.6 turbocharged V6 units. Crowd noise and tyre squeal was noticeably more audible than in previous seasons.

However, amid criticism from fans about F1's new quieter soundtrack, Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO Andrew Westacott has said that the lack of noise had taken away from the spectacle at Albert Park and that AGPC Chairman Ron Walker had already expressed his concerns to F1 supremo Ecclestone.

"One aspect of it was just a little bit duller than it's ever been before and that's part of the mix and the chemistry that they're going to have to get right," Westacott told Australian radio station Fairfax Radio .

Listen to the new engine around a lap of Albert Park with Jenson Button
"Ron spoke to (Ecclestone) after the race and said the fans don't like it in the venue.

"We pay for a product, we've got contracts in place, we are looking at those very, very seriously because we reckon there has probably been some breaches."

Writing in his online column, Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle said the engines noise grew on him over the weekend, but feels they need to be made louder.

"I had waited to hear a full complement of cars before making a judgement on the sound of the new motors and initially I was disappointed. Walking around the track standing alongside the barriers in the second session I was a little more heartened as it became clear that ear plugs were not really needed, the track PA system could be heard for the first time ever, and other sounds such as mechanical noise and tyre torture could be heard," the Sky Sports F1 analyst wrote.


"Each day I grew to like the throaty sound just a little bit more especially when behind a car accelerating at full throttle. But there simply isn't enough volume and some of the intense drama has been lost.

"I can't imagine anything can be done in the short term, but hopefully for next season they can specify a megaphone exhaust and even twin pipes although I suspect that would cost tens of millions for the three manufacturers to redesign and re-map their motors."

The subject of engine noise was raised in Friday's Team Principals' Press Conference with the bosses defending the new sound of F1 and Claire Williams insisting that "people pretty quickly get used to what Formula 1 engines sound like. We've had so many changes over so many decades of motor racing and you very quickly forget what a previous engine sounds like".

 

Good on them as they say in Oz.

Sod the fuel flow meters and let the cars race. At least then maybe you'll see them rev to 15k instead of 11k-12k where everyone was running, which more than likely was a fuel saving exercise.

 

Unless there is something contractual requiring a minimum number of decibels, I see this as nothing other than posturing.

I am not a fan of the sound, but I don't think the Aussie GP organizers suffered any damages as the attendance was excellent this year.

 

and/or saving the engine and trying to bring the car across the finish line

the sound is horrible... there is no two ways about it

 

During the first 10-15 minutes of broadcasting of the race,you could barely hear the cars,eventually they adjusted the sound track where you could hear them a bit more but it was still pretty awful !

The FIA has microphones placed along the guardrails on every corner of each track during the race to capture the sound of the cars,looks like they will have their hands full this year ...

They even penalized Ricciardo for using more fuel than allowed during the race,what's the point of
pushing the car to the limit if you risk getting disqualified for doing so ?

Cheers
Phil

 

This is simply the First Law of Thermodynamics - Energy In = Energy Out

Energy is neither created or destroyed, it only changes form. So, when you limit the amounf of energy in (fuel burn rate) and mandate complex systems that recover as much of the energy out as possible (turbo, ERS - H, ERS - K) there is only so much energy left to make sound.

So, physically, the only way to make more sound is to either add fuel or reduce the amount of energy recovery. The engineers are going to get every possible Joule of energy out of the fuel and they don't much care if the car makes a peep.

Cheers,

 

I wonder if F1 is looking to run at Lime Rock on a muffled weekend?

 

sound comparison for the same seats 2013 to 2014:

 

just need a little help from the street tuner crowd to get it right

 

Maybe F1 is following the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

 

Sounds like the support race;

 

That's a great comparison. One of the 5 senses has been taken away and quite frankly, the only one that can't be duplicated no matter how good your home theater is. Better to stay home and watch it.

FIA with a big middle finger up to the people = "Let them eat cake"

 

Great post. Thoroughly enjoyed the comparison, and I clearly favor '13. As Pete points out, it is the difference between wanting to be there and staying home..

 

If you have heard an LMP1 diesel, they are almost inaudible but still breathtaking to look at and at speed. By comparison, in the day, the Porsche Spider was very loud and sounded like a bucket of bolts about to come apart.

Sound is a factor but down the list IMHO. The quality of the racing is paramount and I think that has improved. I like the less is more direction as well.

 

I'd be interested to see the power curve of the new engines. I wonder if the fuel flow restriction really does make a functional rev limit of 11k-12k. I'll bet these engines would sound better if they could spin them up to 18,000 like the V8s.