Research and development – an interesting term that I hear all the time applied to everything from toothpaste to racecar component development – is a key to corporate success. But the original target of many research projects can often result in the development of totally new products. Case in point is the story behind the COMP Cams® Thumpr™ Cams. Billy Godbold is the brain behind these great sounding cams, but for years he was resistant to the idea, focused solely on making power and torque with his camshaft designs.
 Cam Benty, Special Projects For COMP Performance Group |
The good-sounding-cam idea started to grow roots after some testing in the COMP Cams® engineering department with some Small Block Ford camshafts. These cams were created back in the late 1990’s for Robert Yates Racing – the famous NASCAR engine builder. The basic premise was to create cams that helped long distance road race engine builders create engines that had lots of power but also delivered added benefits when the drivers began to tire after long hours behind the wheel. The engines were built by Yates for the Panoz cars that raced from 1996-2002, competing in legendary races including the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, LeMans and the like. The COMP engineers created the camshafts, which featured a lot of “overlap,” increased timing advance, and both short intake and long exhaust events. These ingredients all resulted in engines that made great power but provided the added bonus of helping keep the power coming when tired drivers got sloppy with their shift points, gear changes and overrevving of the engine. What was surprising was the reaction of the Yates racecar builders who kept complimenting Godbold for the way the engines sounded – that cool, race engine snap.
Rick Sparks, COMP Cams® Director of Sales, was at the heart of the verbal beatings, constantly twisting Godbold’s arm to build a camshaft that “sounded” great. He even had the product name, derived from a guy he had met at a car show asking for “a cam that thumped!” That thumpin’ cam sounded like a race cam but still performed on the street. Godbold still resisted. Survey after survey came in to the COMP tech offices and regardless of the category of street-performance discussed, sound continued to be either the top characteristic requested or close. The turning point came quite out of left field – in the form of a fellow COMP Cams® engineer, Corey Runia. Runia owned a Small Block-powered ‘67 Camaro. During a casual conversation about the Camaro, the topic of the Yates cams came up, along with some of Sparks’ comments. Runia thought for a moment, and then asked Godbold to design one for him, too. Godbold couldn’t resist any longer.
Using the exact profile designed for the Panoz Ford, with a lot less lift and shortened duration, Godbold set to work. The result was the first Thumpr™ Cam series. The rest is history. But the best news is that these cams make more power than anyone ever expected. Today there are a wide variety of hydraulic roller and flat tappet Thumpr™ Camshafts for most domestic V8 engines. While vacuum can be a problem with vacuum assisted accessories (Godbold suggests it’s a bad choice for any early year model Corvettes with vacuum wiper doors, headlights and power brakes unless you add the COMP Cams® Electric Vacuum Pump, Part #5500), torque is much improved down low even when compared to the highly popular Xtreme Energy™ Camshaft. While the XE Cam will beat the Thumpr™ in an all-out drag race, in terms of stoplight to stoplight around town performance, the Thumpr™ wins. And with the growing popularity of the Thumpr™ line-up, look for expanded applications coming soon – even the late model EFI engines are not off-limits.
Check out
www.compcams.com/thumpr/ for a complete application listing or to hear the Thumpr™ Cams for yourself.
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The Mutha’ of Invention? 
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