The goal of this study was to measure the flame speed in the very early stages of combustion in an operating spark ignition engine. This engine had a square cross-section and two parallel walls of quartz allowing for visualization of the entire combustion chamber. High speed movies were taken. They show an enlarged view of the spark plug region and thereby permit study of the flame travel after the spark discharges which initiates combustion. The results indicate that a laminar like burning process immediately follows the spark discharge. This was found to last over a significant part of the total combustion duration, when only a fractional mass is burned.