Cowell hits the play button on his presentation, and we are treated to a simulator lap of Monza… but the audio is a recording taken straight from the dyno of the 2014 V6 power unit. It does sound “sweet” as Cowell promised it would. It perhaps isn’t quite as high pitched as we’re used to, but we’re not talking octaves here… we’re talking a third… i.e. drop down three tones / notes on a scale… tops. Cowell, however, insists the pitch will be higher than at present. The sound is somewhat muffled, but having seen the unit on the dyno it is obvious why. The exhaust on the bench unit is shooting straight into an extractor.
The exhaust will also be a six in one. Right now we have two four in one exhausts, creating an eight in two configuration. If you imagine that a GP2 engine features an 8 in 1 exhaust, albeit from a naturally aspirated V8, then you’ll get an idea of what to expect. Thankfully, any fears we’d had that it would sound like a first generation GP3 engine, i.e. the flight of the bumblebees, have been well and truly left behind.
