
How the McLaren F1 Got Its Sound - dmmalam
https://soundcloud.com/scuderiazagreb/how-mclaren-f1-got-its-sound
======
beat
I grew up around motorcycle drag racing, which exposed me to the sound of both
motorcycle and car race engines at extremes. Top Fuel and Funnycar auto
engines can really only be experienced in person - you can't get that sound
from any sound system. They make the ground shake!

I was fortunate enough to hear motorcycle drag racing during the diverse
design days of the 1970s. The choppy thrum of a Kawasaki Z1, the shrill buzz
of three cylinder two stroke Kawasaki 750s, the intense bass of a twin-engine
top fuel Harley... these sounds are still part of my consciousness, decades
later.

~~~
jakejake
If I had only ever seen racing in TV I would have no idea what you were
talking about. But I did have the pleasure of watching a few Indy 500 races in
person. It is hard to describe the sound and feeling of the solid dirt/grass
vibrating under your feet!

~~~
WalterBright
Stand anywhere near a Merlin V12 (think P-51 Mustang) when it starts up. It's
an OMG visceral thrill. My dad used to drive them, said it was the best job in
the world.

~~~
jacquesm
There is one of those in an airplane museum here in NL and I spent the better
part of two hours looking at it, what a magnificent machine. If you look at it
long enough you can reason out a lot of the functional bits (a part of the
engine is cut-out so you get to see all the guts). Of course that's a static
display, nothing to compare to hearing it run but I was just appreciating it
as a mechanic. To fly it must be the thrill of a lifetime.

~~~
WalterBright
The Boeing Museum of Flight once offered rides in the back seat (very cramped)
of a P51. I was first in line! Worth every penny (expensive). I didn't stop
smiling for a week.

My dad being an ex-P51 driver, the local museum was kind enough to do a couple
P51 low pass flyovers at his funeral. He would have loved it. One of his
relatives remarked that he finally understood the fuss over that airplane.

[http://i.imgur.com/QqlYM.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/QqlYM.jpg)

There's even a book about the sound of the engine - "Sigh for a Merlin".

~~~
jacquesm
> The Boeing Museum of Flight once offered rides in the back seat (very
> cramped) of a P51. I was first in line! Worth every penny (expensive). I
> didn't stop smiling for a week.

Consider me very jealous.

> My dad being an ex-P51 driver, the local museum was kind enough to do a
> couple P51 low pass flyovers at his funeral. He would have loved it. One of
> his relatives remarked that he finally understood the fuss over that
> airplane.

That gives me gooseflesh.

That picture is really neat, the name of the plane seems to have worked out
well!

Thank you for posting this.

~~~
WalterBright
All combat pilots have their OCD good luck charms, my dad's was naming his
planes "Round Trip Ticket". And it did work, they always brought him home,
despite sometimes getting holes in the airplane, and various other failures.
He has a great picture of the side of his 'stang covered in oil, after it
swallowed a valve. Fortunately, it was over the airfield at the time, as the
'stang wasn't going very far with the rotating junk that was left of the
merlin.

~~~
DanBC
> OCD

That's superstition, not OCD.

~~~
jacquesm
OCD is rituals for structure, Superstition is rituals in order to pursuade the
powers that one imagines exist to look the other way in case of dealing
misfortune (avoid walking under ladders, otherwise sensible advice, something
might fall down) all the way up to praying to win the lottery or asking the
priest to bless your land.

It's all centered around rituals. At least the OCD folks have (assuming it
doesn't get out of hand) some positive benefits from their affliction.

~~~
DanBC
> OCD is rituals for structure

No, it isn't. If you don't know anything about a severe, debilitating illness
you should probably do a minimal bit of web searching before talking about it.
There are literally hundreds of websites providing good quality information
about OCD.

OCD is an illness where a person has obsessions (intrusive thoughts), and
compulsions (rituals to cope with those intrusive thoughts).

This has nothing all to do with "structure".

OCD provides no benefit to people with the illness.

WHO have recognised OCD as one of the top 10 leading causing of debilitation
(Years Lost to Disability) in people aged between 15 and 44.

[http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/82/11/en/858.pdf](http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/82/11/en/858.pdf)

> Of the 10 leading causes of YLD in the world among individuals of all ages,
> four are psychiatric conditions, with unipolar depression being the leading
> cause (2). Among individuals between the ages of 15 and 44, panic disorder,
> drug use disorders, and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) were included in
> the top 20 disorders.

> some positive benefits from their affliction.

As viciously stupid as saying "Cancer patients like the slimming effect of
chemo".

~~~
jacquesm
Apologies, I had a friend in mind who has a mild case of OCD resulting in
excessive cleaning because it makes her feel calm.

Obviously, it's excessive so a net negative and there are far more serious
cases than that.

------
bcook
The technical achievements put the McLaren F1 at the top of the charts, but it
was the artistic choices that made put the McLaren F1 poster on kids walls.

My favorite McLaren F1 related story:
[https://youtube.com/watch?v=y0XtNGuijqc](https://youtube.com/watch?v=y0XtNGuijqc)

------
arethuza
Apart from contemporary exotics like the FXX-K or the Huayra - the car I'd
love to hear is the BRM 1.5l V16 (600bhp at 12,000rpm) designed in the 1940s!

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Racing_Motors_V16](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Racing_Motors_V16)

Mind you - I still think the best engine sound I've heard is from a Rolls
Royce Merlin...

~~~
reitoei
For me, it's the Lexus LFA. Thing sounds like a spaceship.

~~~
crypteasy
My favorite engine sound is the Toyota Hybrid TS030 going from electric to its
V8. Also sounds like a spaceship.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRECqhIZwIA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRECqhIZwIA)

~~~
ericcumbee
The only thing better about that car is hearing John Hindhaugh of Radio Le
Mans start talking about it during a race and he says "1000 Brake Horsepower"
(Gasoline Engine + Super Capacitor Hybrid System). you can hear the smile on
his face as he says it.

------
codeshaman
Here they are, McLaren start-up sounds:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGV9Qu6-7Oc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGV9Qu6-7Oc)

~~~
bhtruong93
Those whines at the beginning :)

------
Animats
If you're going to fake it, just buy a SoundRacer accessory.[1]

Lotus put in a sound generator as original equipment on their electric
prototype supercar.[2] Not only did it make fake "vroom" sounds, _the driver
had to shift_ , with a momentary loss of power during shifting. There's no
shiftable transmission on that car; it was all faked in software. Everyone
laughed at Lotus, and that idea went away, not to be heard again.

The age of "vroom" is over, now that no production gas car other than a few
limited production supercars can out-accelerate Tesla's family sedan.

Now _this_ is a startup sound.[3] M1A2 Abrams tank, turbine engine.

[1] [http://www.soundracer.se/?p=98](http://www.soundracer.se/?p=98) [2]
[http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1081736_fake-shifting-
fo...](http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1081736_fake-shifting-for-electric-
cars-dumbest-idea-of-the-year) [3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXE4tMEYCoI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXE4tMEYCoI)

~~~
int_handler
Faking the transmission is really a bizarre move, but actually having a
multiple-gear transmission in an electric racecar is actually not a bad idea.
Formula-E cars have 5-speed sequential transmissions in order to maximize
torque [1], and this may be coming to electric road cars as well [2].

[1]:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/FormulaE/comments/2gbika/why_do_for...](https://www.reddit.com/r/FormulaE/comments/2gbika/why_do_formula_e_cars_have_a_five_speed_gearbox/)

[2]: [http://www.motor1.com/news/48231/bosch-says-evs-will-soon-
ge...](http://www.motor1.com/news/48231/bosch-says-evs-will-soon-get-multi-
gear-automatic-transmissions)

~~~
Animats
Bosch makes transmissions. They're getting worried.

Formula-E cars are required to use a specific McLauren motor.[1] The need for
a gearbox may reflect its limitations. Formula-E rules also limit input
current, so using huge amounts of electrical power for a few seconds of
acceleration isn't permitted. In other words, they don't allow Tesla's "launch
mode".

Early Tesla models had a two-speed gearbox. That was a disaster. The shock of
changing gears over such a wide range wore out the gearboxes rapidly.

Electric locomotives have been transmissionless since the first GE locos. "You
cannot strip the gears of a magnetic field", one of the early GE designers
wrote. Some things just work better electrically. For a sense of this, here's
part of the restoration of the biggest steam locomotive ever built, the Big
Boy.[1] It sat at the Ponoma fairgrounds for half a century, and was then
towed out and sent to the Union Pacific shops for a full restoration. It's
being towed out by a standard sized modern AC Diesel-electric locomotive,
which has more drawbar pull than the Big Boy. What's impressive is the precise
control. The initial move is about one foot per minute, because they're
pulling the old steam giant through a tight curve of temporary track. The
Diesel-electric doing the pull has synchronous AC motors and solid state
controls, and can apply huge torques smoothly at low speeds with no wheel
slip. All the wheels are locked together by active control. You don't need a
transmission to get low-end torque from an electric.

[1]
[http://www.mclaren.com/appliedtechnologies/products/item/e-m...](http://www.mclaren.com/appliedtechnologies/products/item/e-motor-120kw-130nm/)
[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ji2aGJJAx8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ji2aGJJAx8)

~~~
jacquesm
The radius of that track is insane.

~~~
Animats
It's kind of distorted by a telephoto lens, but yes. That was temporary track
to get the loco from the parking lot of the Pomona Fairgrounds onto Metrolink
commuter tracks. They'd done enough work on the Big Boy that it would roll on
its own wheels at slow speed. UP actually cut the Metrolink rails, spliced
that temporary spur in, got the Big Boy out, put in a retired Diesel for
display, and restored the Metrolink tracks. On Metrolink track, they hauled
the Big Boy to a connection with UP rails, then hauled it to UP's Coulton
yard. There it got enough repairs for a long tow at a reasonable speed, with
the lubrication systems working. It's now at Cheyenne, Wyoming, where it will
be fully restored and converted to burning oil, then used for fan trips and
PR.

(Why did steam die out? Maintenance interval for the Big Boy - daily.
Maintenance interval for the Diesel-electric towing it - 6 months.)

~~~
jacquesm
I watched the whole thing, thanks for the link.

Recently I took a little trip with this little guy:

[http://www.hoornmuseumstad.nl/nw-24745-7-3474828/nieuws/vier...](http://www.hoornmuseumstad.nl/nw-24745-7-3474828/nieuws/vier_de_zomer_bij_de_museumstoomtram_hoorn-
medemblik.html)

Hard to imagine what it would be like to see that brute up close under power.

