The 2 into 1 section appears to be a bit longer, but the main difference is the length of the single pipe section. The lack of carbon cover reveals a hanger just beneath the foot peg. In order to route this pipe upward to the rear fender’s hanger, there is also a bend just after the 2 into 1 joint.

Admittedly it’s only a test and the bike is still very young, but notice that this design has sensor connectors in the exposed pipe. The lower one appears to have been ground down. Sensors to collect data on mixture and temperature for the ECU are always included somewhere in the pipe system, but are usually, if not always, inside the fairings. That these connectors are visible here suggests that these sections of pipe were intended to be used inside the fairing, but then were repurposed to this location in order to test the benefits of this length of pipe.

Months later, when Randy de Puniet appeared as a wildcard in the 2014 season finale at Valencia, the exhaust looked like this. There is now a carbon cover, missing at the Catalunya test, clearly the predecessor of the Losail version. The 2 into 1 joint appears closer to the front of the bike, which removes the need for that bend to route the long pipe up to the hanger on the rear fender.

In off season testing, Suzuki would abandon this long pipe and appear at Losail with the much shorter version as engineers searched for more power.

On a side note, an odd thing happened at Losail related to this discussion. On Friday evening I was in pit lane , doing my thing, and I noticed Aleix Espargaro ride up to the Suzuki box otherwise as usual. What was NOT usual was that the exhaust pipes inside the fairing were particularly visible because they were glowing red hot. The single pipe section was not glowing, but from just before the 2 into 1 section they were, and I assume that this glow continued all the way to the cylinder head.

By the time I swung one camera body out of the way and grabbed the other to get a shot of this glow, the mechanics had moved the bike into the box and out of view. I stayed by the Suzuki box for some time afterward, hoping to see this again and get a shot of it. But for the rest of the Losail weekend, I never saw the Suzuki pipes glowing like this. I don’t think that was normal!

Up next, we wrap this up with images of how Aprilia makes things complicated in their search for power.

Photographs: ©2014-15 by Scott Jones / PHOTO.GP – All Rights Reserved

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