Dr.Jass
Pastor of Muppets
No, I'm not talking about the piece of broken pavement that so fascinated Brucefighter when Stretch gave it to him. 
Our Federal-Mogul rep came by a couple of weeks ago, and I asked him about the Champion Formula One spark plugs. He'd never even heard about it so I told him what I knew, and asked him if he could get me one. I know they cost the F1 teams about $40 each, so I told him if I had to buy it, I would.
The story goes something like this... if you know anything about Formula One racing, everything is about high-tech and light weight. Carbon-fiber this, SMC that, titanium everything. FIA (the sanctioning organization) approached Champion and said, "Spark plugs are too heavy. Work it out." It seems trivial, but there are 10 in every engine.
Champion put their noses to the grindstone, and developed a totally-new spark plug. Each plug is hand-assembled by guys in their 60s (and older) who've worked for Champion for decades. It cannot be obtained or purchased through any normal channels--there is no part number; it's simply "the F1 plug." Trying to get one from anyone but an F1 team will result in a blank stare; like I said even the factory representative didn't know of its existence.
Well, the rep came back today. He told me he'd made a few phone calls, and when he got to the head of Champion's Toledo tech center and told him what he was after, the rep got a surprised but somewhat stern, "Who the hell is this guy, and how does he know about that spark plug?" After talking to the Toledo guy for a while, apparently convincing him that I don't work for NGK , he got a noncommittal "I dunno. I'll see what I can do. These things are proprietary and expensive." They don't even alow photographs of the damned thing.
Then, I'm betting just as the look of disappointment descended on my face, he handed me a manila envelope. Sure enough, there it is--the tiniest, neatest little spark plug you ever did see. Man, is this thing amazing.
The design is a tiny surface-gap spark plug with a recessed plug-wire connection (no metal on the top). The plug is shorter overall than just the metal base of a factory 340-style spark plug (N11Y); that 340 plug weighs in at around 63 grams while the F1 unit tips the scales at a precise 11.2. There is no hex; instead it uses notches like an antenna nut. It's a tapered seat, since a gasket would add weight.
He gave it to me. Free. He also told me that as far as he knows, I'm the only person outside of FM and FIA who has one, anywhere.
Sure, it's just a stupid spark plug, but I'm geeked to own a piece of über-technology... especially since I may be the only guy to have it not on a billion-dollar race team.
I'll take a pic of it when I get near a camera; I'll put a classic Mopar spark plug next to it for comparison.
Our Federal-Mogul rep came by a couple of weeks ago, and I asked him about the Champion Formula One spark plugs. He'd never even heard about it so I told him what I knew, and asked him if he could get me one. I know they cost the F1 teams about $40 each, so I told him if I had to buy it, I would.
The story goes something like this... if you know anything about Formula One racing, everything is about high-tech and light weight. Carbon-fiber this, SMC that, titanium everything. FIA (the sanctioning organization) approached Champion and said, "Spark plugs are too heavy. Work it out." It seems trivial, but there are 10 in every engine.
Champion put their noses to the grindstone, and developed a totally-new spark plug. Each plug is hand-assembled by guys in their 60s (and older) who've worked for Champion for decades. It cannot be obtained or purchased through any normal channels--there is no part number; it's simply "the F1 plug." Trying to get one from anyone but an F1 team will result in a blank stare; like I said even the factory representative didn't know of its existence.
Well, the rep came back today. He told me he'd made a few phone calls, and when he got to the head of Champion's Toledo tech center and told him what he was after, the rep got a surprised but somewhat stern, "Who the hell is this guy, and how does he know about that spark plug?" After talking to the Toledo guy for a while, apparently convincing him that I don't work for NGK
, he got a noncommittal "I dunno. I'll see what I can do. These things are proprietary and expensive." They don't even alow photographs of the damned thing.Then, I'm betting just as the look of disappointment descended on my face, he handed me a manila envelope. Sure enough, there it is--the tiniest, neatest little spark plug you ever did see. Man, is this thing amazing.
The design is a tiny surface-gap spark plug with a recessed plug-wire connection (no metal on the top). The plug is shorter overall than just the metal base of a factory 340-style spark plug (N11Y); that 340 plug weighs in at around 63 grams while the F1 unit tips the scales at a precise 11.2. There is no hex; instead it uses notches like an antenna nut. It's a tapered seat, since a gasket would add weight.
He gave it to me. Free. He also told me that as far as he knows, I'm the only person outside of FM and FIA who has one, anywhere.
Sure, it's just a stupid spark plug, but I'm geeked to own a piece of über-technology... especially since I may be the only guy to have it not on a billion-dollar race team.
I'll take a pic of it when I get near a camera; I'll put a classic Mopar spark plug next to it for comparison.
Or are you living in '05, still?? :naughty:
