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Renault F1 engine playing God Save the Queen

Chris Billett · 8.5M views · 2006-07-15 · 1:37

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Overview

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.

On Hacker News

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

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2015–2024

Topics

Cars, EVs & motorcyclesMusic performance & songs
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formula onerenaulthackgoodwoodengine control

What people said

wastedhours · 2020-10 · Recommendation

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] [VIDEO]

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tdicola · 2015-03 · Recommendation

My favorite version of this hack is Renault changing the RPM of their F1 engine to play God Save The Queen: [VIDEO]

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cromulent · 2024-09 · Reference

Yeah I am guessing it is from the motor RPM pitch but I would like to find out. The Renault F1 engine could famously play tunes this way. [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Chris Billett, played through YouTube.

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