In a previous article (read here) we introduced you to world-renowned technical expert David Vizard. This month we extract as much knowledge from him as we can!

Last month we spoke with David Vizard about the who, what, when, where and how he became a key player in the production of V8 DIY manuals. We’re still amazed at how an English accent muscled its way into the realms of America’s Holy Grail, but once again we won’t dwell on this point, just marvel at the tenacity of a person who infiltrated that closed society.

David mentioned last issue that he didn’t hold opinions; instead, he reckoned his dyno defines answers to all our performance related questions. It would be great to have unlimited access to this type of equipment, but in the real world, unless you’re seriously committed to making your hobby a business, mills, lathes, a dyno and airflow benches are out of financial reach.

That’s where David steps in. As long as you believe he has taken testing to its conclusion, then owning his literature (or reading it) is as good as having a workshop full of specialist equipment.

Gone are the days when selecting a cam meant going to the bottom of the page in a Crane or Isky catalogue. David’s testing of those 23,000 cam combinations mentioned last month pretty much says it all. If there’s another person out there with that much experience in valve timing, we’d love to meet them. And just to reiterate his experience, although it’s not widely known, at any given time David has upwards of 50 record-holders running round using his specified cam sequences.

It’s not just the speed equipment industry that uses his expertise, either. NASA had him on its payroll calculating the amount of fuel it would take to economically arrive at the moon. We’d say there was little room for error on that particular project… (more…)