Too often we’ve picked up a fancy new Porsche or BMW only to drive it for a week thinking "great car, but the drivetrain sound is kind of dull". And honestly, if you talk to dealers, you find that a lot of performance cars are sold to customers who are more interested in brand cachet than driving dynamics. Somewhat understandably, the factory often tunes the car the please the "cachet" customers more than the enthusiast. So, if you’re an enthusiast who is decidedly more interested in driving your car on a winding road than displaying your key fob on a conference room table, you might understand our disappointment with sound of many modern performance cars.
Enter Akrapovic. The Slovenian company has built a strong position in the high-end aftermarket exhaust business with superior engineering and attention to design detail.
For engineering credibility, it is nice to know that Akrapovic exhaust systems are used on the Audi LMP1 and Aston Martin GT LM World Endurance Championship cars, as well as the Yamaha and Ducati Moto GP bikes. Race teams care about horsepower, weight and reliability and these big budget factory teams aren’t going to sacrifice those requirements to save a few dollars.
Akrapovic exhausts for production cars use their race materials technology (e.g. titanium) to reduce weight, sometimes by as much as 50 lb. over the OEM exhaust. They also take their racing flow technology and use it to increase power and torque, as shown in this BMW M3 race exhaust example (torque in Nm and power in kW). Cat-back exhausts for the same M3 generate +4 lb-ft and +3hp, while saving 30 lb. And they do this with the highest quality fit and finish to ensure longevity.
On street, as important as those items are, the big thing is sound. Here again, Akrapovic’s engineering is well applied. On car after car, Akrapovic exhaust manages to create a complex, exciting engine note without being annoying. And for those applications where you may want to dial the impression you make up or down a bit, many applications have an optional sound kit that allows you to adjust the output of the exhaust with a switch or a smartphone app.
Akrapovic exhausts are available for most high performance cars from Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, BMW, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, Corvette, Audi and Nissan.
Shop Akrapovic exhausts at WindingRoadRacing.com.
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