FIA claims new F1 engines not much quieter than V8s

[John S]

From fan video evidence of Ferrari Jerez running I'd agree. 
The video blogger, of the youtube clip below, also commented "Ferrari is the most silent of all the 2014 cars I have seen so far."  

The new 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines being used this year are not significantly quieter than the V8s they are replacing, according to the FIA. The sport’s governing body estimates the maximum volume of the new engines is around 134 decibels, down from 145 last year.

It claims the new engines are louder than the typical noise level at the front row of a rock concert (110 decibels) and above the threshold of pain (130 decibels). At close quarters the difference in volume will hardly be noticeable, it added.

The FIA’s head of powertrain Fabrice Lom pointed out similar capacity engines have been seen in Formula One before: “In 1988, V6 turbo F1 engines were revving lower and had less capacity. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost both had fans in those days and the show, as far as we remember, was quite good.”

By Keith Collantine, F1fanatic.co.uk, 11th March.

[cosworth151]

The racing in 88 was crap. I remember it well. That's why they outlawed those things and went back to real racing engines. I just hope that these abominations don't last any longer than they did in the early 60's or mid 80's.

When I watched the video, I couldn't help but wonder, when did Ferrari switch over to LawnBoy engines? 

[Scott]

The test reports from Jerez by the Sky team had them commenting that they didn't need ear plugs.  That was during the first couple of days when the cars weren't doing more than 12-13k, but still...