NemesisC5

Up until this year Formula One racing (for me) was the weekly marque television event to watch. I attended the inaugural COTA race and was blown away by the sound, speed and general "awe factor". Although the cars may not be much slower with the new 6 cylinder turbo motors F1 has definitely lost it's visceral feel. I am all in for progress but more thought should have went into the powerplant transition as to not lose what was the most exclusive sound in the automotive world. As much as I think Bernie Ecclestone is a ***** he knows how to grow Formula one and what the fans want. Sound is a major component of the appeal of motorsports and it sounds like the top level (F1) just had its nuts clipped. Ecclestone voiced his concerns long ago and recently Red Bull's owner voiced his as well. Cases could be made that both guys are not happy recently because of current events but nonetheless I agree with their opinions of the new sound of Formula One.

I like the general direction of motor racings top class with hybrid technology advancement and emerging technologies that will transfer to high performance road cars, however we have just lost the most exotic, exclusive and visceral sound in motorsports. Formula One will lose a portion of it's sex appeal to the fan base and I hate so much that it happened just as the USA established COTA as North Americas premier F1 track, New Jersey still holds hope (maybe) and Long Beach may have a GP there as well. Will the USA's fan base still be enamored over Formula One?



Ecclestone April 2013

Dietrich Mateschitz dislikes greener, quieter F1

BierGut

Agree 100%... But then again I would like to see V12 engines with 20,000 RPM

63Corvette

I concur......HOWEVER, the RACING is better than in 2013, so

BierGut

But will it be once the major teams are all squared away with reliability? Might go back to being the same old story with perhaps Mercedes at the top of the heap and not Red Bull. I am personally rooting for Williams to have a good season and run toward the top. I am interested in Bottas and how he'll progress. I also find it a little entertaining, thus far, to hear Vettel bitch and moan. I wonder if he'll display the same self control that Hamilton has had to display the past couple of years? Something tells me he won't, but of course, he IS a German.

Zoxxo

ALL professional racing series (that are not artificially structured to, in effect, mandate equality) eventually evolve to where just one or two teams dominate. Which teams dominate will change over time but it's very rare to have a situation where more than maybe three teams are regularly winning races in a season. The closest to that happening in F1 recently was two years ago when there were multiple winners n the frst races of the season. But even then, the SAME team and the SAME driver won the championships.

re: Vettel

Actually, he's been fairly philosophical about the start of this season (as have the majority of the drivers.) I agree that it's most entertaining to listen to him dealing with adversity, though

Red Bull's "front office" is sure crying like little babies, though. Wow. But then that's nothing new. Normally it's Horner. Now it's Mateschitz himself who's whining up a storm. His team wins both championships four years in a row. Then he has ONE BAD RACE and we get this crap:
Waaaaaaah!

PlanetF1 satirized the issue quite nicely:
The entire enterprise is starting to look a lot like Ferrari in the "we are entitled to special treatment" bit.

Pretty pathetic, IMO.

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froggy47

NemesisC5

Formula One engine noise continues to draw debate

As the race weekends pass the fan disappointment will grow and the attendance / audiences will shrink.

On a tangent, Indycar's new sponsor Verizon may have struck it lucky with the now quieter F1 cars sounding somewhat similar to the sound of Indycar. I expect Verizon's marketing to be noticeably more aggressive than previous sponsor IZOD as they now have a racing series to showcase and steal some thunder from the "Sprint Cup" super series. Indycars on ovals don't excite me (except for the Indy 500) and their speed on road courses doesn't impress, however from a business standpoint they could grow a few percentage points of US market by fans disappointment in the now "tame" F1 sound. Verizon has deep pockets and I'd be somewhat surprised if they don't encourage Indycar to improve their show while the opportunity exists to capture some audience.

NemesisC5

I'm glad to see the people at the top are taking notice and open to correcting. Reminds me of when Coke reinvented itself in favor of the "new Coke". A poor decision is a poor decision so correct it and move forward.

The new V6 engines have endured heavy scrutiny since being introduced

Racingswh

Race car sound is definitely something that can enhance the experience. I saw my first F1 race in 1979 at Watkins Glen and the scream of the engines is something I haven't forgotten. In 1993 I went to a Cart race at Nazareth Speedway. Mansel straight from his F1 championship smashed the field. Those cars had a bit of a scream. I went to an IRL race in 1997 I think at Dover Downs. I took my friend who had never been to an open wheel race and I kept telling him about the amazing sounds we were going to hear. Wrong. It was mundane with a less than exciting sound and a big let down for me. Because it was such a rough track most of the drivers crashed out. It was a terrible spectacle. Then I went to the Indy F1 race twice and the scream was alive and well. Something about an N.A. engine at 18,000 rpm that just does it for me.

I won't go so far as to not watch because I love F1 and for the past 15 years have rarely missed a race. The new engine sound is certainly not a volume issue for me. I will miss the distinct tone of an N.A. F1 car.

Zoxxo

They aren't going to "correct" this in the way that many people seem to want (go back to NA V8s.) They are just sounding conciliatory until a few more races have been run, the fans get more used to the change, and the internet criers find something new to cry about.

The amount of money spent to develop these new units is huge. What's more, the new tech plays to the manufacturers (whose money was spent on this, btw) who now make what F1 is today. Imagine where F1 would be without Mercedes, Renault, and (in 2015) Honda to provide the motors.

On point is this bit from one of the F1 pit reporters:
THAT is what this is all about, folks.

They might be able to jury-rig some way of upping the exhaust racket a bit but they aren't going to undo the change wholesale. Besides, any time that engines have changed throughout the history of F1 there have been those (myself included) who have bemoaned the change in the sound. But F1 seems to have survived the previous turbo era just fine and the legendary Can-Am Porsche 917-30 was a relatively quiet turbo car. No one complained about the sound it made.

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Zoxxo

I was there!! I feel sorry for all the racing fans who never saw those cars run on that track. Nothing short of astounding to watch. A one mile (sort of) oval with a full field of open-wheel cars doing (literally) three laps per minute! Sliding up to within inches of the wall at 180 mph as you pass between the wall and the slower guy just below you (who is just as likely to be passing a third car below him.) Just truly amazing stuff that you just don't see any more. If there was ever any doubt about Mansell's skill and/or testosterone levels, to make the jump from F1 to THAT kind of stuff - wow!

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drivinhard

And I think this is why the new rules are like they are

drivinhard

Thing is, it makes sense for an endurance racing car. For a 1:45 sprint race, who cares. For F1 I think fans want to see just stupid speed, stupid loud, and in general wretched excess.

Zoxxo

I agree with that to a degree but it's an iffy thing to speak for what the many millions of F1 fans around the world want to see. Especially for American fans to do so. The most popular form of racing in the U.S. offers zero illusions as to technology transfer to the maker's road cars. NASCAR uses OLD tech and the only reason that the manufacturers are there is because of the PR value. Period. Not so for the players in F1 (and the World Endurance Championship) where there is a real recognition by the public of the tech issues. The U.S. isn't there yet but it will be (dragged kicking and screaming...) and the manufacturers know it.

Remember, for the teams the constructors title is what matters, not the driver's title. So, in reality, it's a series of 18-20 sprint races that add up to a championship and, in much of the world, the ability to tie F1 success directly to the tech in the manufacturers' consumer products is a big deal in much of the world and carries real weight since the general public KNOWS the truth about it.

BTW, stupid speed + stupid loud + wretched excess = NHRA Even F1 can't hold a candle to those folks.

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BierGut

Without a doubt THE most amazing mechanical experience I have ever witnessed and I am a sports car guy, but DAMN!

... two cars... 14000 HP cracked open on a green light... 15/100ths of a second for that HP to reach the rear wheels... 280 MPH in 660 feet... I would guess could only be exceeded by watching something build by NASA.

To anyone who has never been in person -- it's a must.

(sorry for going off-topic)

63Corvette

OK, in my opinion, they (FIA & FOM) have lost the ball. It is NOT about racing, nor technology, or sport. F1 racing is about the business making money via ENTERTAINMENT. F1 racing is now LESS entertaining, and therefore will not have as wide appeal, and will therefore make less money.

Zoxxo

If so then it's probably only temporary. As I have mentioned before, F1 managed to grow it's world-wide audience back in the previous turbo era when the cars were "quiet". It's not just about noise. The reason that F1 is so huge around the world is only partially about the sound. And people adjust pretty quickly to such changes. True fans are not going to quit watching F1 because if it. The world's TV fans weren't watching over the past X years to hear the sound of F1 cars coming out of the 2" speakers on their TVs and, in turn, are unlikely to quit watching simply because that sound is now different. And it's the TV audience that F1, FOM, FIA, CVC, and the teams really care about.

In all my years of attending road races of various series (Can-Am, IMSA, F1, Atlantics, Trans-Am, CART, etc.) the sound was only a part of the experience. Being at the races - the entire experience of the racing environment - was the basic thing. They all had different sounds and smells but they were all just great. I think THAT is the underlying thing for racing fans and all this griping about not having to wear earplugs all the time will have a short life span.

Do/will I miss the NA sounds of F1? Sure. Is it a deal breaker for me? Not one bit.

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BrianCunningham

Red Bull may pullnout all together

http://m.autoblog.com/2014/03/26/red..._river_article

NemesisC5

I support technological advancement to wretched excess. Formula One has been THE test grounds for "extreme" since long ago and now they are merely adding "energy efficiency" to the mix of challenges and I have no issue with that. However, the visceral experience that draws large crowds and drives TV revenues is a large portion of their sex appeal and without it the audience will decline to some degree and along with it revenues. No one expects the NA V8's to return but a win-win solution to balance sound and performance has to come about. I don't care about the turbos of before, we are talking about what happens now and what turns the audience on. A fan base is grown through the draw of everyone and not only racers/HPDE enthusiasts that appreciate the skill of driving. That exclusive sound of the V8's at 20k rpm caught plenty of attention then they lowered it to 18k and it still shrilled....but at 15k through a turbo it changed the frequency altogether. Formula One needs a high rpm shrill to maintain it's character, identity and sex appeal. In June we'll see the diesel hybrid Audis at Lemans and I love to watch and hear them too while appreciating their character, identity and sex appeal for what THEY are. Rally cars, NHRA, Moto GP and other forms of racing all have strong points so while we move forward advancing technology lets not forget what brings the fans to their televisions and racing venues. I would like to see more tracks here in the US and not less. Countless aftermarket exhaust systems are being sold so GM now options NPP exhausts on Corvettes just for people that want a special sound. I think we all agree that we would like to hear an exotic sound from an exotic car. I could not imagine a Laferrari sounding like a V6 Camaro.

Zoxxo

1. No they won't. Their little hissyfits notwithstanding, they get too much in return (or they wouldn't be there in the first place.)

2. Who cares? F1 would go right on ticking without them.

3. We've heard this BS from Ferrari in the past, too. Look! They're still here!



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