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There has been a lot of talk on social media recently about the box on Ducati's exhausts, which is not something absolute new. As always, when people are discussing matters they don’t know much about or about which they are not informed, things have been out of turn. Many topics have been brought up, some imaginative, including the noise level, which is set by regulation at 130 db. Also in this case we felt the need to clarify the situation.
"The purpose of that device is quite obvious - said Marco Palmerini, chief engineer of Michele Pirro's test team - it is a valve on the exhaust. Obviously since we are not talking about a two-stroke engine, whose exhaust works according to the pressure waves which you could have an effect, precisely, with the valves, in the case of a four-stroke it has another purpose. There is no secret: it helps to improve the engine brake. In practice, it works with the electronic management of the control unit, on the basis of some parameters".
Does Akrapovic do everything?
"Akrapovic makes the exhaust, obviously based on the manufacturer’s design".
Maybe it also helps to reduce noise in particular situations?
"Absolutely not: the noise, set at 130 db, is checked with a sound level meter, which is a special instrument, positioned at a certain distance, 50 cm away and at a certain angle, 45° from the exhaust. You must be in an open area, at least 10 meters away from walls or natural obstacles (which would allow the sound to refract, ed.) The speed of 5500 rpm, in these engines, is not easy to stabilize, so there is a certain tolerance and it is achieved with a special map. This is because obviously if the revs were higher the noise would increase ".
