Another thread got me to thinking, in the spirit of helping everyone interested in horsepower & hooking them up with serious cam info from probably the most knowledgable & experienced cam guy in the country. I'm not trying to promote their board, but Harold Brookshire has his home there because of the most serious engine building, machine shops and racing action that goes on there. See link, scroll down to UDHarold (for Ultradyne Harold) , open all his posts and read away. It's information overload but real knowledge seekers will like it. Nicest guy with the biggest burning desire for cams & performance you'll ever meet. Lunati's whole Voodoo line is straight from his mind. http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208379 .
Just as a side note (or two), Lunati was JUST sold to a private group of investors. This is what Harold Brookshire had to say about it on SpeedTalk on 1/5/08: "As the designer of the VooDoo cams, here is what I know. At the SEMA show, a group of private investors from North Carolina bought Lunati away from Holley. The investors invited Ron Coleman, the owner of Comp Cams, to join with them as another private investor. Comp Cams, the company, owns no part of Lunati. The investors have asked me to do future cam designs for Lunati, both in my VooDoo line, and in the Lunati line. I have heard that they intend for Lunati to return to being "The Racer's Cam Company". If anyone is interested in VooDoos, or other cams that I have designed, or will design, please let me know. Tuesday my phone number will be 662-562-7400, and I will answer as "UDHarold". I also have Morel lifters, and Pacalloy valve springs." Ultradyne itself, or at least the names/equipment, which is/was Harold's old company & primarily for racers, is now owned by Bullet Cams; a lot of the UD profiles are owned by Holley, and I assume they went with Lunati in the sale. He is a good designer, especially for the BBC/SBC...better than 99% of the others out there.
Harvey Crane has a good site,with his thoughts on cam design etc. Hopefully Lunati will return to their former glory.
Lunati should be able to return somewhat to "former glory". Now owned by those that understand how to run a cam company, things could get better. All new Lunati cams will most likely be designed by Comp designers, which may someday include the Voodoo solid flat cams for Chrysler engines. The Voodoo solid flats for Chevrolet and Ford were not designed by Harold, and they were developed and proven prior to the sale of the company. As far as Harold's disertations on cam design, or for that matter Harvey's, know that every designer has an opinion, but without science (or test data) it remains only that. Designers will eloquently spout anecdotal evidence to support their theories, and point to racers that won races using their cams. They won't tell you about the races lost with their cams or the broken engines that resulted. That said, Harold Brookshire and Harvey Crane have designed some of the best camshafts available. Others here, (and on Team Chevelle, or Speed Talk, or any of the other sites); have favorite designers or cam companies they swear by. It's all opinion, and everybody has one. If cam design was fully understood and everyone agreed, all cams would be designed the same and perform the same.
No shit, that man is a genius. I'm a member of that board also and I asked a decently technical cam question one day... his response, well, blew me away. He is easy to talk to and passes his knowledge and advice to anyone who will listen Here's the link and a preview: http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106900 That's some good "customer" service right there. - Matt
So far as I have heard, he was involved with the hydraulic Voodoo profiles only, & doesn't particularly claim to have done any of the others...though I haven't read everything he's posted, either. In regards to the "designed by Comp designers" statement...not trying to be a jerk about this, but, is this a rumor, guess, informed guess, probability, or absolute fact? Rumor has it (true or false) that Comp, the company, per se, isn't involved in the sale...I would be unhappy to find that Comp's designers were involved with the "new" Lunati. I don't have any particular problem with Comp...used their profiles & other gear in the past (& present)...but I've always felt that having a variety of companies & designers in any particular field is a very good thing. I'm not sure that having a "Comp Jr." is of particular benefit to us consumers/racers, particularly so as they have enough of the market already. I know of a number of people who prefer the Voodoo lobe profiles over the Comp Xtreme Energy for custom street cam grinds, because they appear to make the same power, (for a particular case) but have less valvetrain noise. That is a good example of having choices as a consumer. I know of two others who choose exclusively from Comp's lobe catalog, and have great success with them. I've used cams from Comp, Lunati, Sig Erson, Crane, Crower, Ultradyne, Reed, and several other smaller/custom grinders, & felt that each of them had their own particular qualities. I've been partial to Lunati, Erson, & a custom grinder in recent years, hence my concern.
The new owners of Lunati are also the owners of Comp Cams, that is a fact. The Product Manager at Lunati stated that new cam design needs will be supported by Comp designers, but that does not necessarily mean exclusively. Other designers could be contracted. Harold has made recent comments about perhaps designing for Lunati again, but that would be very surprising (to me) based on past history.
He is very skilled at using an old DOS-based program to design aggressive cams. Modern cam design tools use as many as 24 (or more) segments and I don't know of anyone doing symmetrical designs anymore, not even OEM.
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