Maybe it was seeing Eric Clapton live on too many occasions, or our use of over-the-ear headphones, or too much time spent in pitlanes mere feet from open-exhaust race cars, but the result is that the collective hearing in our office isn’t as good as it probably should be. We have no complaints. But based on the video Mercedes-Benz AMG’s Formula 1 team has put together—which you can watch below—future generations of F1 attendees can at least rule out the exposure to race cars as a cause of hearing loss. Blame it on the rules, primarily the turbocharger that caps the single exhaust of next year’s 1.6-liter 90-degree V-6s. This is all part of the FIA’s attempts to make Formula 1 more relevant and responsible in our eco-age.
Technically it’s all very cool, the advancements of the sport’s energy-recovery systems. Although the redline will be cut from 18,000 rpm to 15,000, indications are that the new turbo V-6s will have roughly the same 750 horsepower as the current naturally aspirated 2.4-liter V-8s—at least in terms of total output. As Scuderia Ferrari’s head of engines, Luca Marmorini explained, “When we defined these regulations with the FIA, the idea was to have very similar horsepower to what we have today. A current F1 engine has around 750 horsepower, and you have 80 horsepower more from the KERS. Next year, with an engine having somewhere between 600 and 650 horsepower and an additional 160 horsepower coming from the ERS. If you add the two it’s very similar to what you have today.”
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As we’ve learned in other series where turbos have been added, we expect that the V-6–powered F1 cars will sound a bit less raucous—and this video lends some credence to that assessment. Even if these new sixes don’t wail quite like the eights, 10s, or 12s that preceded it, it’s well worth watching Benz’s video at an unreasonably loud volume level for a lap of Monza and a preview as to what the 2014 Italian Grand Prix will sound like.
Source: CarAndDriver
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