Originally Posted by rskrause

We are getting pretty metaphysical here! Kind of like the "Zen of the camshaft". You can't talk about the cam in isolation. As others have alluded to, you start with an idea of what you want - a goal. And you must have an awareness of limits - financial, time, physics. And you meld these together into a harmonious whole.

It's easier to work out a race cam than anything else because it's relatively easy to define the goal. In the case of drag racing, to get down the track as quickly as possible. Fuel economy, emissions, and that sort of thing are irrelevant. As long as you can drive through the pits, drivability is not important. But even with a simple goal, you immediately have to consider the system. What is the weight of the car, what tranny will you use, is it an 1/8 or a 1/4m car? What are the best heads you can afford? What fuel will you use? Carb or FI? Nitrous? A blower? And so on. Once these variables are defined, you can start to think about cam specs. In the end, the right choice is unlikely to be the biggest cam or the smallest one. It will be the right one.
Bret designed a cam for me a couple of years ago that was a masterful compromise. Useage was street and strip. The car has a blower and nitrous is used intermittently. The car has to run on 100 octane unleaded as cats and a full exhaust are used. That's a tough one!!! I bet he made lesss than minimum wage figuring that one out.
Rich