At 7,000 rpm, a spark plug ignites the air/fuel mixture nearly 60 times per second. Any one of those 60 sparks going amiss can at best be mildly annoying, and at worst cost you a race or an engine.

As long as there have been internal combustion engines, there has been a need for an ignition system to ignite the air and fuel mixture in the cylinders. From the earliest days of automotive ignitions ...