Listen To The McLaren-Honda MP4-31 Firing Into Action
By Paulo Acoba
McLaren-Honda has released a sound clip of its new, more powerful MP4-31 firing into action for the first time.
To excite and tease fans of McLaren-Honda and to get the other race teams to take notice, McLaren-Honda has dropped an official sound clip of its MP4-31 starting up for the public for the first time. According to McLarenF1 earlier Sunday, the MP4-31 took its first intakes of air at the McLaren Technology Center in Woking, UK. Have a listen to the first few seconds of idling of this revised powerplant on their tweet below.
First fire-up: hear the #McLarenHonda MP4-31 as it roars into action at the #MTC.https://t.co/YrS9u6vElJ
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) February 14, 2016
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This firing up clip follows closely after Ferrari posted their own startup video just a couple of days before. The whole car will be unveiled later next week (February 21, 2016) during an online launch day before the first pre-season test. Those first preseason tests commence at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya the next day. You’ll be glad to know that the McLaren-Honda power unit and car were amongst the last teams to be approved in front of the mandatory FIA crash tests.
Hear the sound of the new Power Unit as it’s started in the factory! #readysetred #scuderiaferrari pic.twitter.com/SNc7EJFno0
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) February 11, 2016
This new power unit is heralded to be one of the major solutions to McLaren-Honda’s poor showing last season. With ace drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button returning, McLaren-Honda has high hopes for the pair who were both clearly disappointed often due to DNF’s or engine failure during races. Starting at the back of the grid numerous times didn’t help out either.
Honda’s engineers openly admitted that their MP4-30 was down on power by as much as 230 HP last season which resulted in them being off by two seconds from the lead pack. This new powerplant is supposed to be around 223 horsepower more powerful than the MP4-30 thanks to increased turbo boost and revised cooling for the Energy Recovery System.
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From what we can hear, this new MP4-31 sounds downright healthy and powerful. While we can forgive McLaren-Honda under its inaugural season, fans and the powers that be will be less forgiving if testing and the first couple of races don’t at least come up with some competitive lap times.