Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsTechnical

Cowell: 2016 exhaust regulations will enhance sound

New exhaust regulations to be introduced in 2016 “will enhance the sound” of the current F1 power units, according to Mercedes’ Andy Cowell.

Since the introduction of the 1.6-litre V6 power units in 2014, power units have had only one exhaust pipe out of the rear of the car. Following concerns about the noise of the current generation of engines - most specifically the volume rather than the sound itself - next year’s regulations state teams must use at least one additional pipe for the wastegate, with up to two extra pipes allowed.

Cowell is the managing director of Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains and expects the change to have an impact on both the quality and level of sound from the power units.

“I think that will enhance the sound, it will tidy it up,” Cowell said. “At the moment we’ve got the main tailpipe coming out of the rear of the turbine and the wastegate tees in to that so there is just one pipe coming out of the back.

“That tee piece acts as a dead end on the main tailpipe so it acts as a side branch resonator which will affect the frequency of the sound in the main tailpipe. Taking that out will clean up the quality of the sound and improve the volume as well of the main tailpipe.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.