Not that I've been a fan of F1 sounds ever since everybody dropped to v10's - those who went along to 'see red' all those years ago will know what I mean and how spectacular the famous Ferrari v12 sounded - but really the switch to v6 engines is definitely not something I'm looking forward to. They're going to sound like hopped up Renault Clio's and there's nothing the 19.000 rpm or so they will be doing that will fix that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebpkJXJ7CFo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Is a demo of the sound, although the acoustics of course are just 'computer' so it's the dry engine sound without any exhaust or environmental influence.

Anyway, F1 has come a long way since the 80s... Downwards mostly. So we now have city car engines, orchestrated overtakes, more speed for the second best, tyres that are so good you can build a car around them... and then they change them, aerodynamics more complicated that an f22 raptor and rules and technical changes that are there to level the playing field but actually benefit the rich teams.

Rich teams have money to look for holes in the rules, take advantage for one or two races and are then forced to go back... and find another hole. The lesser teams just have to watch how they don't have the money to be creative. When will Bernie realise that what he should do is set rules that will stay the same for at least a full year, so that whenever someone gets creative, the other teams can just follow suit. Yes the rich teams will still be the ones doing the development, but the'll do it in slow phases so every race they can come up with something different that the other teams CAN follow.

But indeed, that's something that always plagued F1. Just that doing all the rule changes has forced teams to spend loads of budget on searching for the last one tenth of a second, rather than being creative and doing rather crude but revolutionary and major developments. Think the vacuum cleaner suction fans, the 6-wheeler tyrells, the ground effect skirts,...

I've always been a fan of F1 r&d that benefits regular road cars, but at this moment the teams are forced to focus on stuff that doesn't matter road cars at all.

I'll contradict myself and say that in terms of engines, I'm looking forward to 2014 because normal road cars have long switched to small capacity forced induction setups. But why not 1.6 V12s? After all, the only thing that would really keep in line with regular road cars would be a 4 cylinder in line 1.6. And the manufacturers to be forced to use a block from a road car. Homologation specials here we come. Maybe they should be limited to 9.000 rpm as well. Surely some road cars would start to appear with the same setup.

And why are they still running passive dampers when just about every model of road car has evolved to having optional active suspension? Really, I don't understand the mix of old school and hightech.

Another stupid idea that was implemented in the 90s was the fact they could no longer control the car from the pits. We saw several races where cars were starting to smoke and then they did some changes from the pits and all was well again. What were they thinking when thet said they could no longer do that? Surely they kind of forgot that there is still radio contact with the driver and all that was needed was a bunch of knobs on the steering wheel for the driver to turn or push and it was the same thing. In a way, F1 teams were just stupid not doing that in the first place because remote control sure is a lot more expensive. I'd have loved to see some hackers around the track who remotely turned the power down on the cars they didn't like.

My suggestion would be to disallow two way radio contact. The drivers would still be able to talk to the pits but not the other way round. There would be no on-the-spot team orders and no 'turn the oil pressure up' or 'brake balance more to the rear'. All the teams would have to stuck to pit signs saying which position they are in, how many laps to go and 'pit' to come in the next lap. Would make pit stops less strategic too and limit tthe race more to what actually happens ont he track. And okay maybe they are allowed to show an icon meaning 'stop, you're on fire'.

In short, I hate what F1 has become. Just like Top Gear I still watch it because you never know, it might be a good race for once or maybe I'll momentarily forget that the pass is done with DRS and thus a 15mph higher top speed (if at least the team put high enough gearing in so the driver isn't bouncing off the rev limiter as soon as he gets in a draught of slipstream). And if not that, at least it's better than springwatch or east enders. Or Twilight part 384 the sequel.

I'm desparate for F1 to become F1 again. Either that or a different motorsport to get the coverage it deserves. Bcause right now it's all becoming a bit too life-like: boring and focused around economics. F1 should be the equivalent of an adventurous holiday, not another day in the office.

And you, what would you like to change?

You seem to have recognised all my whinges. Kayjay. Bring back refuelling, and the hour session of hot laps for qualifying. Watching Schumacher and Hakkinen swapping hot laps was sometimes more interesting that the subsequent GP.

Oh, and drop Monaco.

Have to agree with most of your points also Kayjay but one additional point is the points system changes so points awarded down to 10 th place seem to make it less competitive also. The design rules seem to prevent innovation which has alway been where F1 led the way. Regenerative braking is not new any more than hybrid engine technology and it seems likely a number of fans will lose interest

Hi Klaas - I guess you really feel strongly about this - strongly enough to write to EVO magazine - were you aware that they printed your letter?

And for comparison.....

The V12 days

The V10 days

Both of these give me goosebumps. The current V8s don't and I can't see the V6s doing it either

Not the best example of v12 as that guy was a customer having a go with probably a low rev limit applied.

Check this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwmvVWSvSpg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Still remember when Ferrari were the only ones sticking to v12 out of principle, even when it gave them a higher fuel load due to consumption. You could really hear them coming, between the v10s they were like a violin string amongst a bunch of rubber bands.

I know about the evo print Nigel. That was more a reaction to the engine article that was a pain to read - thought it really let the mag down. I'll post up the text I sent them later.

But yeah, I'm really passionate about this. I remember being so excited the whole race long when I was 15 or so. The battles were real battles, not caring about engines or gearboxes. They would really wring them out and at the end of the race you would see smoke coming out and engines missfiring. You just knew the pilots were really trying to feel the car. Guys who just sensed they had to skip third because that gear was about to explode. Schumacher stuck in fifth, doing a pit stop and still managing to bring the car home only losing like 2 or 3 seconds a lap. Guys that INVENTED the undercut and where circuits would allow to pkay bunny hopping for several corners, even laps in a row. Guys like Villeneuve slding around and doing everything to take a position. They also had the rule about leaving space if the other guys' wheels were ahead of their rears, but otherwise they would just tangle up and leave 1mm not more. Okay it was dangerous, but there's more injuries in curling than in F1.

Another idea, rather that a stop and go they would have to drink a glass of Amaretto. It'd slow them down but at least in a spectacular way and it would prove a point to the dimwit drunk drivers out there.

I agree. F1 should be the total and utter bestow car can be. If the drivers are willing to drive it then put them in it! I'd love to hear a V12 hooning (a modern F1 v12 would be more than I could cope with) around Silverstone. My dad owns a v12 jag, it's far from an f1 engine, but get it to 3,500 rpm and it throbs like nothing else yet it is so smooth and effortless. A v12 at 20k rpm with a pair of turbos - wow!!

I want to see 1 tyre that lasts as long as the fuel so they pit for both, drs is good but the tracks don't really work for it. I'd love an f1 car to do the speeds in a straight you'd expect 240, 260 you know that could quite easily.
What I'd really like to see, and to be fair the odd race now shows some promise, is btcc style racing where cars swap back and forth, close racing for 70 / 80% of the race. Maybe the points system should change more, so it forces more effort from the drivers? Perhaps pay should be performance relates? Maybe a massive bonus of points and cash for the best over takes??
The drivers show just how dam good they are season after season I just wish they'd be allowed to use their full potential and be allowed cars that blow the mind. Some road car stats are getting close to F1 straight line performance and it's just not right!

Reading that, I think we should get an American to be in charge rather than Bernie. A Texan or so as they are known for having spectacular ideas to make something exciting. For them it's not about the size of the flame but the shockwave of the explosion.

Nah, yanks = ovals. We need a true nutter who really does it for motorsport and not ultimate profit. If you pleasantly fan's the money will come!

Maybe the top gear team.....

Not had time to read the OP or type a reply. But reading the gist of the thread, this article from racetechmag.com might or interest to some of you.

Good article. Some food for thought. Love seeing someone think out of the box and think from scratch in this case.