Abstract: In a capacitor discharge ignition system, the feed coil and trigger coil (T) are wound on a common former (26), the trigger coil (T) being located at a position along the supporting pole piece (16b) such as to give a desired degree of spark advance or retardation. Locating the trigger coil close to the engine flywheel (10) or to the base pole piece (16d) has surprisingly been found to give a degree of automatic spark advance or retardation respectively.