• Renault

Limited scope for making cars louder - Renault

ESPN Staff
May 21, 2014 « Russian GP tickets set to go on sale at end of May | Monaco harder than ever in 2014 - Perez »
Mercedes trialled a megaphone exhaust in Spain © Sutton Images
Enlarge

Renault has warned that there is limited scope for making the latest generation of Formula One cars louder.

The new V6 turbo engines have been met with a mixed reception, with some complaints from fans and race promoters about the lack of noise from the cars this year. Mercedes trialled a megaphone exhaust at the in-season test in Barcelona but with limited success.

Renault's Rob White says the new more efficient V6 turbos are quieter by nature and the sport needs to be realistic with its expectations.

"The work that Mercedes did with the conical megaphone, they shared that work with us, Ferrari and the FIA," White told ESPN. "We've had the FIA consultants at the factory and given them access to our kit and facilities, including existing sound measurements, and I'm sure they will be back to do more. We are involved in that process.

"I think that exercise by Mercedes was done in good faith to see what the sensitivity of the subject would be, but we must be conscious that there is a limited amount of scope to make profound change. My personal opinion is that it's important to take on board the view of any important stakeholders, we just have to be realistic about the scope of any potential change and the way in which it is implemented needs to be fair to all the participants because it probably involves changes to the technical regulations and needs to go through the necessary regulatory processes. I don't have anything sensible to say about exactly what the changes will be or how or when the changes would be implemented."

White is not convinced there is anything wrong with the noise of the cars and said the current exhaust note is as expected when the regulations were drawn up.

"They sound like we expected them to. They are not as loud as the previous generation, but they make the racing cars sound interesting and I'm not uncomfortable with the sound they make at all. I like the sound of the previous V8s but I also like the sound of the new cars and I particularly like the way in which the cars appear and sound on the track. I'm more than happy with them as they are but I don't claim any special rights to that opinion."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close