Tradition sports exhaust systems: 30 years of Akrapovič!

Recently updated on December 25, 2022 at 09:00 am

Photo credit: Akrapovic (Akrapovic)

The beginnings of the world-famous manufacturer of high-performance exhaust systems go before it was officially founded in the spring of 1991, when operations began in a workshop a little more than a kilometer away from today's company headquarters in Ivančna Gorica.

30 years of building a tradition

Igor Akrapovič was a motorcycle racer who tuned motorcycles during his racing career to make them even faster. At first he worked on his own machines, but later he began to tune other drivers' machines, even those of his competitors. It was this passion for technology and the constant improvement of motorcycle components that made him decide to start his own company and dedicate his future to developing high-performance exhaust systems. Igor Akrapovič saw his greatest opportunity in the field of exhaust systems, because at that time there was little competition on the market, but a lot of room for improvement. He initially concentrated on racing exhaust systems for motorcycles and then created a tradition of the most modern technical products. Using this basis, he soon expanded into the mainstream motorcycle market, and later also into the automotive market.

Three decades after its founding, the company operates at two state-of-the-art production sites in Slovenia with more than 1.300 employees. The facilities at the company's headquarters in Ivančna Gorica include an in-house titanium foundry, an endurance test bench on which a robot drives the motorcycle, a metallurgical laboratory, a research and development department and a racing department. All production, from pipe manufacture to final assembly, takes place in a large production hall in Črnomelj.

The company continued to develop, and the increasing demand for its products made it necessary to expand the premises and continuously equip them with the most modern equipment necessary for the development and manufacture of these products. Over time, a special culture has developed within the company, which is rooted in the desire of the employees to offer customers exhaust systems and other products of the highest quality.

The commitment to continuously investing in the development of products and the technology required to manufacture them is inextricably linked with racing. This is the perfect test laboratory for testing technical and technological solutions and materials. Akira Yanagawa (Kawasaki) secured the first victory of a motorcycle equipped by Akrapovič in a world championship run in 1997 in the WorldSBK. The first world title on a motorcycle with an exhaust system from the Slovenian manufacturer followed in 2000, when Akrapovič brand ambassador Colin Edwards triumphed in the WorldSBK on his Honda.

"In the beginning I tuned finished motorcycles and took part in races myself with the money I earned. Tuning was almost as interesting to me as racing itself, so it was a matter of course for me to buy a pipe bending machine. That's how it all started. I look back with great pride on the company's three decades of development, especially its racing history, because races are the toughest test field for a product. "- Igor Akrapovich

To date, the company has won numerous world championship titles - 140 to date - and many victories with partner racing teams in the FIM MotoGP, FIM WorldSBK, FIM MXGP, FIA WEC and DTM, as well as in famous races such as the Isle of Man TT, the 24 hours on the Nürburgring, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Daytona, the Dakar Rally and many more.

In addition to the high level of awareness that goes hand in hand with a presence in racing, it is the attention to detail and the desire to create the best products for "normal" customers that have earned the company numerous recognitions. Of great importance are the fourteen Red Dot Awards that have been won in the last eight years, including the Red Dot: Best of the Best Award in the product design category for the Evolution Line exhaust system (Titanium) for the Ducati 1199 Panigale in 2014 .

“From the beginning, the company's vision and culture have remained the same: we continue to focus on developing the perfect product, with innovation, research and the application of cutting-edge technology most modern Materials are in the foreground. Development and curiosity drive us to keep looking for solutions to further improve our products and make them even more attractive for our customers. There are no limits to development because the technology can always be improved. "- Igor Akrapovich

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary, the Akrapovič engineers used the long-standing Experience and the company's know-how to develop two special Evolution Line (Titanium) 30th Anniversary exhaust systems for the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR / ZX-10R and the Ferrari F8 Tributo in a limited edition of only 30 pieces each. All information on the company's 30th anniversary can be found on the official social media channels under the hashtag # 30YearsAkrapovic . track

Or you can visit Akrapovič 30 Years, a special website dedicated to the company's 30th anniversary, where new content will be released throughout the year, including a special edition of the Akrapovič Lifestyle Magazine in digital format. In addition to selected articles from the previous issues, the 30th issue of the magazine also contains new material that provides a review of the company's development over the past thirty years.

Of course that had not happened yet!

tuningblog has countless other articles on the subject of car and auto tuning in stock. Do you want to see them all? Just click HERE and look around. In part, we would like to provide you with news but also off the tuning. In our category Tips, products, information & Co We have reviews of car or accessories manufacturers, new ones Tuning Wiki Terms or one or the other Leak veröffentlicht. Following an excerpt of the last articles:

"Tuningblog.eu" - we keep you up to date on the subject of car tuning and car styling with our tuning magazine and we present you the latest tuned vehicles from all over the world every day. It's best to subscribe to ours Feed and will automatically be informed as soon as there is something new about this post, and of course also to all other contributions.