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Frame from Renault F1 engine playing God Save the Queen Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Renault F1 engine playing God Save the Queen

Chris Billett
Demos
YouTube
2 HN users recommended this demo2 months2015–2024 score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Treated as a favorite hack and a go-to example in threads about machines playing music.

A short clip of a Renault F1 engine playing God Save the Queen by precisely controlling its RPM, recorded at Goodwood. It demonstrates how finely the drivetrain can be controlled.

“if you haven't heard an F1 car play God Save The Queen [0] it's a great watch” (HN, 2020)

2 recommendations · 4 citations · Demos

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@wastedhours Oct 2020 Recommends
on HN thread Honda quits F1, invests in carbon-free tech instead
I once walked the footbridge over the hillclimb at Goodwood during the Festival of Speed as a V10 F1 car went underneath. Was something else entirely. Seeing the musical demos the Renault team used to do was always interesting too - if you haven't heard an F1 car play God Save The Queen [0] it's a great watch (and a reminder about how controllable they are). [0] [this video]
F1 car playing a tune, showing how controllable the engine is

Citations, criticism and jokes

@paddy_m Mar 2019 Cites it
on HN thread Tone.js – A framework for making interactive music in the browser
The examples were a lot of fun to play with. Nice work. I was thinking earlier today of creating an F1 engine note simulator. I would want to play with the number of cylinders, v angle, crank offset (v8 normal crank/180 crank) and maybe some kind of exhaust system variables (tuned length, crossover pipe), and of course RPM. I don't know where to start, could you point me at the type of programming I would want to look at to figure out how to do this? Here is an f1 car engine playing God Save the Queen [1], sounds atrocious, but still cool. [1] [this video]
F1 engine playing a tune, sounds atrocious but cool
@qbasic_forever Jun 2022 Cites it
on HN thread The Floppotron 3.0
> Next trick...turn a Tesla into a musical instrument via the motor drives. Renault did it some years ago to demonstrate how much control they have on their F1 engine drivetrain: [this video]
Renault demonstrating drivetrain control by playing music
@NextHendrix Nov 2023 Cites it
on HN thread Tesla Normal Operating Sounds
[this video] Maybe this is what you're referring to. There are similar examples where people do this with old disk drives and printers too.
Example of an engine playing a tune

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