F1technical.net

Yeah. I agree about the sound. no TV can deliver that thrilling wave going through your internal organs when you're close enough. But if you stand next to a revving car (in about 2 meters) it actually hurts... but it's still to fascinating to dare using earplugs!

I've been closer than 2m

When I was at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed, all the teams (apart from BMW of course) brought their 2005 cars, therefore V10s. After they'd be doing crazy stuff on the hillclimb they brought them back into the paddock. I was standing RIGHT at the front where the cars were coming on - no more than 0.5m from the cars. Most of the cars just trundled in but Glock in the Toyota decided to light up the engine. He hit the limiter right in front of me. I thought my ear-drums were going to implode!

Bring back the music!

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nH-xxyi7o8c[/youtube]

Perfect example of the difference. This was the year I was there - the Red Bull is the RB1 (V10) the BMW is the F1.06 (V8) and the BAR is the 007 (V10). You can easily hear that the V10s are higher pitched but they are pretty much all the same volume.

There is no doubt that the V10's have a much harder edge to their note .... I miss it (stupid f'n max and his daft non existent "cost savings"!!!) =D>

Miguel wrote: I'll repeat it one more time for those who haven't experienced it: the first time you hear an F1 is amazing. It's so loud, so powerful, you never forget it. The only thing comparable to the sound of an F1 is their cornering speed.

Picture this: my first GP was Argentina 1995. I was 13 years old, went early in the morning before any engine was even started inside the pits. Sitting in the first corner I heard the first engine warming up at low revs 15 minutes before morning practice. Nothing impressive compared to a TC 6 banger was my thought. The first car coming out was Jos Verstappen in a Simtek Ford V8. The flor was wet so I expected a car running like a cab in Buenos Aires (that would be only arround 120kph ) but Jos did really impressed me. He made a couple of laps alone and you could clearly hear what was he doing all arround the lap. Then all the other V8s and V10s showed up. The Renaults and Mercedes sounded much high pitched and much louder. Nice! But the moment that literally changed my life was when that red beautiful car, numbered 27, with golden rims and black wings showed up. The noise was so angry and loud that made other egines look like mosquitos. In that moment I decided that I would be mechanical engineer and work with cars!

I've still not heard a F1 V12 ran in anger

If the FIA decides to make standard engines I pray for them to be V10 or V12. [-o<

The exhaust sound you hear is caused by the sudden release of combustion pressure from the cylinder creating a pressure wave that travels out the exhaust pipe and eventually strikes your eardrum. An engine exhaust system that spits out pressure waves at evenly spaced frequencies (like a flat plane crank 90deg V8 or 60deg V12) will always sound more pleasing to the human ear than an odd-interval firing engine (like a cruciform crank V8 or Harley 45deg V-twin).

Most importantly of all though, is how your ear perceives the exhaust noise. A few years back, the F1 cars routed the exhaust collectors out the back, just above the diffuser exit to help increase downforce. But because this changed the downforce as the engine exhaust flow increased or decreased, they have now moved them to discharge above the engine cover. The engine cover location probably increases the amount of engine exhaust noise the average spectator perceives.

Of course, an f1 car exhaust noise is still pretty tame compared to a top fuel dragster. Even 100 ft away, you feel both the noise and the exhaust heat!

I was reading about the Ferrari 248 F1 and the article said that at the end of the season the 056 engine was at about 785bhp, so with the updates that it has recieved I would say that it's at about 800bhp at the moment. If the 2006 figure is true that is.

mx_tifosi wrote:I was reading about the Ferrari 248 F1 and the article said that at the end of the season the 056 engine was at about 785bhp, so with the updates that it has recieved I would say that it's at about 800bhp at the moment. If the 2006 figure is true that is.

Please remember that the 2006 engine revved way over 19k rpm, probably close to 21k in qualy trim. I don't think current engines are more powerful than the free revving 2006 versions.

mx_tifosi wrote:I was reading about the Ferrari 248 F1 and the article said that at the end of the season the 056 engine was at about 785bhp, so with the updates that it has recieved I would say that it's at about 800bhp at the moment. If the 2006 figure is true that is.

The 248F1 produced 785 @ 20,000rpm. If you limit that to 19,000rpm you are looking at around 750BHP.

My bad, I totally forgot about the rev limit.

Maybe wrong thread, but one quick question as you're talking revs atm: which revs did we run in the end with the V10s? I can't kinda seem to remember if we topped 20k with those too. Does anyone have a brain with less fade? :p

D'Leh wrote:Maybe wrong thread, but one quick question as you're talking revs atm: which revs did we run in the end with the V10s? I can't kinda seem to remember if we topped 20k with those too. Does anyone have a brain with less fade? :p

Peak revs were around 19,500rpm but that was only really during qualifying. It was over 19,000rpm in race trim at the end of 2005.

Thanks mate. And do you remember the Cosworth V10 which was run by STR in their first year while everyone else was having V8s? Those were rev limited iirc. But at which rev? And what was the resulting hp?

Sorry for derailment...

D'Leh wrote:Thanks mate. And do you remember the Cosworth V10 which was run by STR in their first year while everyone else was having V8s? Those were rev limited iirc. But at which rev? And what was the resulting hp?

Sorry for derailment...

It was 16,500rpm iirc.

D'Leh wrote:Thanks mate. And do you remember the Cosworth V10 which was run by STR in their first year while everyone else was having V8s? Those were rev limited iirc. But at which rev? And what was the resulting hp?

Sorry for derailment...

It was limited to 16,700rpm and produced about 735BHP. It also had an air restrictor too, reducing torque at all revs.