Hey fellows,
I hate that black soot accumulation. This four stroke option was plainly an afterthought for Victa in this era.
Not to mention the put foot here sticker. It looks like that was the only orientation that would fit or the fuel tank would be too tucked away beneath the arch or both.
An exhaust direction pipe would have been too expensive to produce?
Nah, just that Victa cheaped out by not fitting one. Briggs list an extensive range of 'exhaust deflectors' in their Accessories cattledog; here's a screenshot of that page.