The Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago Strada concept has been making the rounds on the internet recently. Rather than talk about the car, which you can find elsewhere, I just want to discuss my first impression of just one part of the car…
Check out the exhaust tip placement.
I love seeing things different than the norm, and sometimes when I see new things I need to really consider why they exist and if there is actually a future in it or just a random trend. Clearly the possiblity of placing the exhaust finisher/exit ports in a location like that is far easier to execute on a rear engined car than a front engined car. Yet without a doubt a tuning trend has continued to point towards the higher mounting of the exhaust tips whenever possible. We’ve seen this with higher mounted exhaust on the Amuse GT1 S2000. We’ve seen even more subtle S2000 examples with the Mugen SS rear bumper and exhaust combination which moves the exhaust up ever so slightly. The primary advantage in those cases is aerodynamics and controlling under body turbulence (putting a diffuser well below the exhaust and getting the pipes out of the way).
Another example more comparable to this one is the Ferrari Scuderia F430 vs the regular F430. Obviously for those familiar with the Scud, the exhaust is mounted near a license plate location when compared with the standard placement of the normal F430s. We’re seeing the higher placement of exhaust exits more and more on “racing version” cars…yet this one is the most extreme examples of this trend, with a unique top mount style.
Is this what the future holds? Will we see exhausts integrated into rear wings at some point? (I laugh, yet wouldn’t be surprised if someone pulled it off)
With unique racing style being a key benefit as well as in some cases both shorter paths for exhaust piping and/or aerodynamic efficiency being key benefits, this is a trend that I’ve been following for a while and cars like this continue to make it interesting to watch out for!
What do you think of it? To me, exhaust finisher relocation is a key modification that impresses me on tuned cars because of the uniqueness and difficulty involved. Things like this and rear mounted radiator conversions are two mods in particular that always impress me when I see them executed properly.
