NGK is renowned for its support of all kinds of motorsport and has recently been making headlines in America for its involvement in drag racing.

In a recent article in Race Engine Technology magazine, Rob Flynn, Co-Crew Chief for Kalitta Motorsports, which competes in the Top Fuel series in the USA, said, “Our spark plug partner NGK is new to Top Fuel this year. We did an R&D programme with them last year during testing and we worked for months developing these spark plugs. This relationship has been great and we have successfully run their plugs all season. They are the exclusive supplier to Kalitta Motorsports this year and will be available to other competitors beginning next season.”

Doug Kalitta came second in last year’s Top Fuel NHRA Camping World Drag Racing series and the 2021 season is set to start in the USA with the 52nd annual Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway on March 12-14.

In the UK, NGK has had a long-standing relationship with seven-time British drag racing champion Andy Robinson who built the MO70 Dragmower which became the fastest lawnmower over 1/4 mile when it completed the distance in just 9.49 seconds with a top speed of 115.53mph and became the fastest accelerating lawnmower by reaching 102.64mph in 5.44 seconds.

MO70’s performance topped such iconic high-performance cars as the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 2018, which took 9.65 seconds over the distance when it reached 140mph, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport 2011, which took 9.7 seconds to achieve 145mph, and the McLaren P1 2014, taking 9.8 seconds to reach 148.9mph.

The original ride-on mower, on which MO70 was based, was transformed by Andy Robinson and was piloted by NGK’s Scottish Sales Representative John Catterson at Santa Pod Raceway in Northamptonshire, England on October 4, 2019.

Mark Hallam, Marketing Manager, NGK Spark Plugs said, “NGK has been synonymous with motorsport for many years both in the UK and overseas and the article demonstrates how we work in close collaboration with our partners in many sports including drag racing.”