Zo klinkt de Renault V6 Turbo Formule 1 motor

Volgend jaar begint de Formule 1 aan een nieuw turbo tijdperk, niet de bommen uit de jaren ’80 met 1200+ pk maar met 600 pk. De atmosferische 2.4-liter V8-motoren worden vervangen door 1.6-liter V6 turbomotoren die ongeveer 600 pk leveren. Daarnaast is de motor uitgerust met een nieuw Energy Recovery System die 160 pk moet leveren gedurende 33 seconden per ronde. Een van de grootste veranderingen is dat de redline zakt van 18.000 tot 15.000 tpm en het brandstofverbruik van de nieuwe motor zakt van 170 naar 100 kg per race.

Renault is de eerste motorleverancier die ook het geluid van de nieuwe 1.6-liter V6 Turbo Formule 1 motor laat horen, en hij klinkt…. tja wij weten nog niet wat ervan moeten vinden. Mooier is het in ieder geval niet.

In de video hieronder kun je het nieuwe Formule 1 geluid horen. Dit is wat Rob White op de website van Renault erover zegt:

The sound of the engine is the sum of three principal components, exhaust, intake and mechanical noise. On fired engines, exhaust noise dominates, but the other two sources are not trivial and would be loud if the exhaust noise was suppressed and contribute to the perceived sound of the engines in the car.

All three sources are still present on the V6. At the outset, there is more energy in each combustion event but there are fewer cylinders turning at lower speed and both intake and exhaust noise are attenuated by the turbo. Overall, the sound pressure level (so the perceived volume) is lower and the nature of the sound reflects the new architecture.

The car will still accelerate and decelerate rapidly, with instant gearshifts. The engines remain high revving, ultra high output competition engines. Fundamentally the engine noise will still be loud. It will wake you from sleep, and circuit neighbours will still complain. The engine noise is just a turbocharged noise rather than a normally aspirated noise : you can just hear the turbo when the driver lifts off the throttle and the engine speed drops.

I am sure some people will be nostalgic for the sound of engines from previous eras, including the preceding V8, but the sound of the new generation Power Units is just different. It’s like asking whether you like Motorhead or AC/DC. Ultimately it is a matter of personal taste. Both in concert are still pretty loud.’’