The Noise of Sport, the sport of noise

It appears that the thunderous noise of Formula One (F1) racing cars is even more important than their speed or the skill of the drivers.
Formula One fans want to hear just one thing: noise and lots of it.
At the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne earlier this month, the first race of the 2014 season, the fans weren’t happy. And neither were F1 bosses.
This year, the cars are fitted with quieter V6 turbo-powered engines, replacing the V8s that roared around the world’s tracks last season. The result of the shift is that you can barely hear a pin drop, relatively speaking.
Many fans are angry that one of the most important aspects of their sport – its wall of sound – has been tempered. Formula 1 cars have to look fantastic, but it would appear they must also emit a noise to match.
Bernie Ecclestone, the head of the sport, said he was ‘horrified’ by the noise reduction, while his close friend Ron Walker, the chief of the Australian Grand Prix, warned that promoters like him could abandon the sport over the issue.
Walker complained that fans in the grandstand at Melbourne could barely hear the cars coming down the straight. ‘When you take the excitement away, you have trouble selling tickets,’ he said.