Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsTechnical

2016 F1 engines to be up to 25% louder

The 2016 power units should sound up to 25% louder to fans at circuits due to the new exhaust regulations, according to Pat Symonds.

New technical regulations introduced for this season require teams to have at least one pipe from the wastegate exiting out of the rear of the car as well as the main exhaust pipe. Previously there was only one tailpipe but Williams chief technical officer Symonds explains the impact of the change and sees a “quite significant“ increase in volume as a result.

“Because there’s a pipe joining the wastegate and the main tailpipe it acts as what is known as a side branch resonator,” Symonds said at the Autosport International Show. “A fancy name, but what does it mean? It means that actually even with the wastegate closed it acts like a silencer in the exhaust, so getting rid of that means it is going to be a bit louder.

“It will be a bit louder, about 1 and a half [decibels]. Now most people will say what is one and a half db? Decibels are terribly difficult things to explain. They are a scientific measure and they measure the acoustic level but actually your ears perceive things a little bit differently.

“In terms of what you are actually going to perceive, even with the wastegate closed you’re going to perceive that the engine is around 14% louder. And with the wastegate open that should be 20-25% louder, so quite significant.

“In addition I think you may hear some of the signature noises from the turbo, some of the whistles and pops and things like that, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to wait and see with that one.”

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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.