Renault: Impossible to Change the Sound of V6 Turbo Engines

As the debates continue around the noise issue of Formula 1, Rémi Taffin, the head of track operations at Renault Sport F1, which supplies hybrid V6 engines for Red Bull, Lotus, Toro Rosso, and Caterham, explained that the regulations contribute to making it impossible to increase the noise produced by the engines.

There are two main reasons that led to this, he begins for our British colleagues at Autosport. Firstly, the laps: we went from 18,000 to something like 12,000 this season.

« It is important to say that it is based on the regulations, because they indicate 15,000 revolutions as the maximum, but the fuel flow limitation means that the maximum we run, whether it is a Ferrari, a Mercedes, or a Renault, is 12,000 revolutions and at the end of a straight line it can be 10,000 or 11,000. » These two rules – respectively in articles 5.1.3 and 5.1.5 of the Technical Regulations – contribute to placing the ideal number of revolutions around 10,500 revolutions/minute, which is nearly a third less than what the FIA allows.

Taffin added on this point: « It makes a big difference because last year it was 18,000. Now, where you have the stands, it’s something like 10,000 laps. » The spectators on the circuit are thus primarily concerned, which partly explains the concern and even the vehemence displayed by the Grand Prix organizers, led by Ron Walker, the organizer of the Australian round who opened hostilities after the race in Melbourne, before Bernie Ecclestone went with his own criticism. The president of Formula One Management (FOM) made sure to slightly temper his remarks in Sepang.

Rémi Taffin continues: « The other thing is the turbo. You put something in the way of the exhaust gases, which is like putting a pillow over someone’s head. It acts like a silencer. If you combine these two elements, you have the result we have. »

He explains that to produce more noise, drivers and teams must break the rules, which is pointless: « If you want to have a different noise, you have to go higher in the revs, but there’s no point in going high in the revs if you look at the fuel flow, because you would need to increase it. But then, you lose your efficiency. »

As for the exhaust design, nothing can make the engines louder: « There is nothing to be done about the exhaust design because you have both exhaust pipes merging into the same pipe after passing through the turbo, so that’s how it is. »