Canadian grand prix promoter Francois Dumontier doesn’t mind the new and milder sound of formula one.
Earlier in 2014, Australian grand prix chief Ron Walker revealed his outrage at the loss of the screaming engines of the past, insisting fellow race promoters will also be looking into whether the sport had breached its contracts. Less concerned, however, is Dumontier, the man behind the popular Canadian grand prix in Montreal.
He is currently in the midst of negotiations to extend the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve’s contract beyond 2014, but on the matter of engine sound, he thinks it is purely “subjective”. “I think assessing the sound of the engine is subjective,” Dumontier told La Presse newspaper. “Now with a V6, I am more inclined to look at the technological development,” he added. “In Montreal, simulations predict that Mercedes will be 18 kilometres per hour faster on the Casino straight than before. “The cars will be less noisy, but there are those concerned with the performance, and they will be more powerful,” said Dumontier.
And he pointed out that some spectators in Montreal later this year will be happy with F1’s new sound. “With the V8s, it was impossible to have a conversation when there were cars on the track,” he said. “I see a positive side: Saint-Lambert will complain less,” Dumontier, referring to the city on the other side of the St Lawrence river, joked.
Nonetheless, F1’s engine manufacturers are looking into how to urgently turn up the volume of the new turbocharged V6s, with the only viable change likely to be in the area of the exhaust. But there are already noticeable differences between the sounds of the Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault cars, and Renault’s Rob White said the reason is due to varying exhaust lengths. “Mercedes has the shortest exhaust, we have the longest and Ferrari is somewhere in between,” he is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.
