motorsportmania

There has been some wailing and gnashing of teeth since the 2014 F1 regulations came into force, but quieter engines were an obvious consequence.

I am old enough to remember the wail of the V12 Matra, but quite honestly I do not got to watch motor racing to have my hearing impaired. Some of the best sounds for me were in the days of F5000 when rumbling V8s were the norm, and although we used to call the 1 litre F3 engines “screamers” they were not that loud.

My span of motor racing also includes the Lotus F1 turbine and the Porsche 917-10/30 in Interserie. Both announced their arrival with the sound of tyres thumping over the joints in the tarmac rather that through their exhaust note.

So for me I don’t give a fig about what the cars sound like as long as there is decent racing and an element of chance in the results. However, maybe in these high tech days there is a solution if folks truly do want a racket then we can grant them that and give a nod to those of us who remember some classic engine noise. What we do is rig some high powered speakers on the cars and the fans could vote for the engine noise they prefer to be played.

Think of the delicious irony of the Ferrari sounding like it was running a DFV! And there’s more, for Bernie could make some more cash by making the fan vote subscription only.

Filed under: F1 | Tagged: F1, formula one |