http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=431h20gvm3M

Today Honda has released a recording of its new F1 engine, which was recently fired for the first time. The engine is being developed for the 2015 season where Honda will participate under a joint project with McLaren.

 

It's an ugly squeel in my opinion

 

"A power tool on steroids." For 2014, the pinnacle of motorsports will end the 2.4 liter V8 powerplant as regulations now require constructors to introduce a turbocharged 1.6 liter V6 engine. Formula 1 joins motorsports as a whole as the 24 Hours of Le Mans is now dominated by diesel prototypes and NASCAR finally uses direct injection.

The 2014 Formula 1 season will bring forth additional changes as well now that the governing body is placing emphasis over fuel consumption and overall efficiency. Packaging of the new Formula 1 cars will be vastly different, too, as the turbocharged 1.6 liter V6 engine will share real estate with the rapidly evolving realm of KERS, or Kenetic Energy Recovery Systems. What's more, Formula 1 cars will be limited to only 100kg of race fuel per grand prix, translating to a 40 percent drop from current levels. Due to the new parameters, Scuderia Ferrari technical chief Pat Fry predicts vastly different paces in qualifying and race strategy.

"It's true, I think that the races will be rather different next year," said Fry. "There will be a fixed maximum quantity and payload of fuel for the race and various levels of energy.

"It's possible there could be considerable differences between the maximum pace possible and a pace aimed at saving energy and fuel, to the extent that there could be a difference of between one and one and a half seconds per lap in the race," Fry continued. "We are looking at what could be the best strategy to be as effective and efficient as possible in using what we will have. It will be important to work out for each track and for every race where and when it's best to use all the potential and where we should save fuel."

Race fans will know the mystique behind the McLaren-Honda combination from its incredible dominance in the 1980's. However, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh is cautious about the return of the partnershp for 2015. After all, past performance does guarantee future success.

"One of the concerns for the sport is that it becomes a powertrain race, and if one of those manufacturers doesn't do a good enough job at the start of next year, and doesn't have the scope by which they can become competitive, there is a pretty good chance they won't be in F1 for very long," explained Whitmarsh. "That wouldn't be good for the sport.

"There is lots of speculation about who will have the most competitive engine next year and we will see, but I think the sport has to act responsibly. We have lost the only independent engine supplier [Cosworth] and in a way we probably mismanaged that. We must manage the situation so that we retain as many OEMS in the sport. They bring a lot of money and they bring a lot of stability to the sport, so we have to make sure that we act properly and that the teams feel the engine suppliers can provide a level playing field."

McLaren is concerned about the competitiveness of the Honda engine but there's no doubt that Honda engineers have produced the most effective package they could. That said, we can't help but describe the engine note of the 1.6 liter turbo as a power tool on steroids at 15,000 rpm. Expect the Honda F1 engine to deliver more than 600 hp.

 

I wouldn't judge the sound based on these test bed clips. The engines always sound much different in a car blasting by in real life.