Akrapovič

Akrapovič d.d. () is a Slovenian manufacturer of exhaust systems that began in 1990 in the motorcycle market, and expanded into automobile exhausts in 2010. A global exhaust supplier in motorcycle sport, Akrapovič exhausts are used on motorcycles in Moto GP, superbike, supersport, supermoto, motocross, enduro and rally raid. , Akrapovič systems have been used in a total of 38 world championships, all across motorsport.

==History== Igor Akrapovič began motorcycle racing in 1977 in 250 GP two-strokes, then 1000 cc four-strokes in F1 Open Class, and then in Superbike class by the end of his racing in 1988-1989. He founded a motorcycle tuning shop, Skorpion, with a staff of six, where they made their own exhausts because the higher quality Western aftermarket exhausts were too expensive, and those made in the Eastern Bloc were of inadequate quality. Akrapovič says he was motivated by the poor quality of aftermarket exhausts available to the public compared to those used by professional racing teams. He said that the welded pipes on the market had walls that were too thick, and that racing-quality systems were too expensive and difficult for the average customer to obtain. He designed his own exhaust system, which was sufficient to his requirements, based on the experience gained in the field of motorcycle tuning. Steel was replaced with materials such as carbon fibre and titanium. thumb|left|Akrapovič exhaust closeup In 1993, Kawasaki in Germany tested the exhaust systems and in 1994, Akrapovič exhausts were first used in international competition, in the ESBK and WSBK. Other Pro Superbike championship teams, Yamaha, Suzuki, Ducati and Honda also began using Akrapovič exhausts. thumb|Motorrad Hanover custom bike with Akrapovič exhaust In 1997, the company changed its name from Skorpion to Akrapovič and that year Akira Yanagawa became the first racer to win a race using an Akrapovič exhaust on a Kawasaki bike. After a strong growth in sales, particularly from Germany, with a growth as high as 70% per annum, production capacity was expanded in 1999, moving location from a workshop to a then factory in Ivančna Gorica. This factory has since more than quadrupled in size to .