to comply with both the letter and spirit of World Superbike racing, Akrapovic will have to offer the exhaust for sale to the public - NOT necessarily homologated for the road, but accessible to a regular Joe - at a "reasonable" cost. $10,000 probably sounds about right, plus or minus a few grand - we won't be seeing it sold for $100,000 because while that might be ok for a MotoGP bike, that's not "reasonably priced" for a public consumer - or more accurately, for a privateer team to be able to buy the same parts used in the factory works bikes and stay within budget. Since Akrapovic won't be making many of these exhausts (a handful for SBK teams, and a few more for privateer racers and extremely wealthy trackday junkies) they'll cost more obviously than a mass produced exhaust - which we all know they charge $5000 for.
there is probably some incentive for factory teams to delay the availability of certain key parts and there is probably some flexibility in the rules - just as there is flexibility in meeting production numbers for homologating a bike for racing. Just how long did Bimota race its BB3 until it was banned because Bimota never actually put the bike into real production, let alone in the numbers required to meet homologation rules?
But everything, down to the software, is supposed to be available.
Anyways, the explanation for the exhaust in that picture is simple. It's nothing like the actual SBK race exhaust, just an imitation in the broadest sense. I'm sure Ducati has to quiet down the 1299 for the EU market, so instead of sticking side cans on like the 959 Panigale, they can build the cats and mufflers inside a fat heavy hideous bladder, and they attach the periscope endpipes and make it look "racey". More than a few salesmen will surely claim that exhaust to be "just like the SBK race exhausts". But I'll bet real money that the exhaust in that picture is far quieter than the current stock exhaust, and probably so clean you can breathe that exhaust alone with little ill effect.
