Petronas makes glorious sound.

Let's hope the Petronas GP1 bike makes it to the MotoGP grid in the next couple of years - if only because it makes such beautiful noise.

The long awaited roll-out of the Sauber-powered machine took place at Sepang prior to the Malaysian GP last weekend, and treated all present to an engine note that simply reverberated off the circuit's giant grandstands.

The four-stroke, three-cylinder 989cc engine, built by the Sauber Petronas Engineering concern, is housed in a British-built Harris frame. Former grand prix rider and British superbike champion Niall Mackenzie completed two laps of the Sepang circuit in front of a packed pit-lane on Thursday, as he demonstrated the much vaunted unit.

Mackenzie will continue testing at both the Shah Alam and Sepang circuits next week, and development of the project will continue throughout the winter. It looks unlikely that the machine will be seen on the MotoGP grid next season, however, as it has not been granted an entry by the FIM and organisers Dorna Sport.

There is still the possibility that the engine could make an appearance under the banner of another team, though, but Petronas bosses are not keen to enter the championship until the unit is competitive - and that could take another season of development.