Lifted from another member board
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According to Tim Blair in Oz, the Asiatech folks have programmed their F-1 engine to play music. I quote:
Load the link and press play.
http://astro.temple.edu/~kmr/Chauffe2.mp3
First you'll hear a 10-cylinder, 750 horsepower Asiatech F1 engine being warmed up. Then it performs a rousing version of "When The Saints Come Marching In", to the delight of assembled pit staff and journalists.
Here's how the magic was achieved (technical/musical details via F1 Racing magazine):
As we all know, a V10 engine produces five combustions per revolution at a frequency per second of 60/(5 x revs per minute), which equals 12/rpm. Therefore, to work out the revs you need to hit a particular musical note, you multiply
the note's frequency by 12. To play a 440Hz 'A', for example, you need 5,280rpm. For 'C', use 3,139rpm, for 'F' 4,191rpm,
and so on.
Asiatech's French technicians (the engine, despite its name, is derived from a Peugeot design) simply programmed their engine to run through the various rev/note ranges in the
correct sequence. The result is delightful. And think of the possibilities - BMW's F1 engine, which howls all the way to 19,050rpm, could rip through the entire Hendrix songbook.
Even better: imagine a massed NASCAR choir performing "The Star Spangled Banner"! Being eight-cylinder engines, the frequency per second would be 60/(4 x revs), which means
you'd multiply the note frequencies by 15 instead of 12: 'A' would arrive at 6,600rpm, 'C' at 3,923rpm, 'F' at 5,238rpm, etc.
Mark my words, someone will be getting rich at Daytona next year selling a CD of NASCAR patriotic anthems. Send some of
the royalties my way.
That's straight off my e-mail list. It's pretty cool-sounding, really, and it says a LOT about exactly how much control the pit guys really have over the cars and engines these days. Give
it a listen. I don't know if they take requests, but Jordan/Honda and BAR/Honda could probably do "Purple Haze" in honor of their ever-grenading motors!
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