Set the sparks flying

Why electronic ignition?

Mechanical ignition timing control has been with us since Georges Bouton unveiled his ‘make and break’ fitted to his small, new, high-speed engine, offered in 1895 by De Dion Bouton. For more than a century, it has well served magneto, battery/coil, energy transfer and the like systems. But it does require maintenance due to mechanical wear, suffers weakening of the points' spring and burning of the contact breaker electrodes, which is aggravated if larger electrical currents are used, as the systems have to keep pace with ever faster engines.

In manufacturing terms, it is difficult to produce mechanical contact breaker cams, heels and springs which totally