The vendors dressed in green polo shirts and standing outside Yas Marina Circuit touting earplugs might notice a downturn in trade this weekend, compared to previous years.
For many spectators attending the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, on Friday, when practice begins, will mark the first time their ears will have been exposed to the sport’s quieter, less-powerful engines.
Last year’s 2.4-litre V8 power units were replaced at the start of the season by 1.6-litre V6 turbos. Such terminology is baffling to the casual observer while the untrained eye is unlikely to detect much difference in the way the cars appear. The noise alteration, however, will be noticed.
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Formula One traditionally has been associated with the fastest cars and loudest engines in motorsport. Standing inside the tunnel during the Monaco Grand Prix last season, the reverberations from the cars as they sped past was capable of making your nose itch from vibrating hairs and your vision blur slightly because of your eyeballs quivering in their sockets.
Today’s engines are substantially quieter. According to the FIA, world motorsport’s governing body, the sound pressure of the new cars is only 11 decibels lower than that of last year’s recorded level of 145dB.
Thomas Bailess, an acoustic consultant with PMK International in Dubai, said it is not surprising that fans have questioned the decrease.
“An 11dB difference is definitely noticeable,” Bailess said. “A 1dB reduction people don’t tend to notice, but a reduction of 3dB is a halving of the power while generally 10dB is considered, subjectively, to be a halving of the loudness.”
While Bailess said that 134dB is still “extremely loud” and “well above the point of hearing damage”, it will, for the average spectator in the stands, prove a more comfortable experience.
No longer will their ears be assaulted; the purr of the power unit is muffled enough to allow loud conversation to continue even as the cars shoot past.
For F1 drivers, the lack of roar has been a bone of contention this year. After retiring from the season-opening race in Melbourne, world champion Sebastian Vettel watched the race from his Red Bull Racing team’s pit wall.
“It is quieter than in a bar,” he said. “I think for the fans it is not good. F1 has to be spectacular – and the sound is one of the most important things.”
Fabrice Lom, an engine expert with the FIA, cited the late 1980s as an example of why quieter, less-powerful engines need not spell the end for Formula One being spectacular.
“In 1988, V6 turbo F1 engines were revving lower and had less capacity,” Lom said. “Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost both had fans in those days and the show, as far as we remember, was quite good.”
Yet when Nico Hulkenberg, the Force India driver, was asked by The National midway through the current season to suggest one change to the F1 rule book, he did not pause for breath. “At the moment just give it some sound, some noise,” he said.
Valtteri Bottas of Williams agreed: “More power.”
It is a complicated issue because the new noise is intrinsically linked to the power unit’s new design. Instead of all the energy being expelled out of two exhausts, as it was in 2013, the 2014 engines have an energy recovery system that results in a cleaner and greener, but quieter, system.
To bring back the noise would be to bring back a less environmentally friendly engine.
Olivier Gillet, a spokesman for Renault Sport F1, which provides engines to Red Bull Racing among others, was keen to play down the noise issue.
“There was a lot of talk at the start of the season, but now I don’t think it is something we would want to really reopen,” Gillet said.
“The main thing for us is that we wanted to aggressively lessen fuel consumption, but still provide the same performance in terms of lap time. Also, do not forget that noise is also a kind of pollution.”
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