A Big Plug For Champion
A BIG PLUG FOR CHAMPION
Champion's latest contribution to the motorcycle racing scene is this 109-ft. hot air balloon, which made its debut at the British round of the 1977 world Formula 750 championships at Brands Hatch. A 1:500 scale model of Champion's standard 3-in. (14mm) sparkplug, the balloon is made up of some 1150 yards of white and silver ripstop nylon coated with polyurethane.
The balloon, which Champion calls its “Special Shape," was handled almost entirely by one Margaret Jones of the Cameron Balloons, Ltd. works in Bristol. Ms. Jones took three months to sew the 36-in. strips together, using some five miles of thread in the process.
Cameron and Champion both believe the “Special Shape” has the most technically intricate shape of any hot air balloon in the world, and it is the tallest of its kind in the U.K.
