This is right up my street. I love making stuff like this.

I'll have a boot handle cork screw and a door handle bottle opener then please thank you. :p

some of the less enlightened decided we needed more valve lift for the same duration, where other known camshafts have slightly more lift than standard and play with the duration, the Kent cam to achieve more lift over the same duration now flings the valve open and snaps it shut which causes bounce, contact with the piston and shock as it snaps it shut - and so in the first race nearly everyone's engines dropped inlet valves - blamed on weak springs faulty valves driver error etc etc

they also grind through the case hardening and some cams will wear out a lobe in about 6hrs of use again not the fault of the cam but sticking followers/ bent valves

I wouldn't trust a Kent cam to take me the 1.3 miles to the shop and back.

I think the idea was to make it fair. The idea is right but possibly the wrong execution, as before the kent cam it was possible to modify a cam discreetly (knock the cams off, position them in a more favourable place, drill a hole and put a pin through, then conceal the pin. I believe)

why cant a "factory cam only" not be fair? at the moment its a lottery - will it last 24hrs or will it last less than 6? Ive never seen a factory cam wear a single lobe or drop a valve even on the most neglected crapheap.

and there has been so much worse than simply indexing the cam

With the real killer being that a 'dropped head' on an inlet valve leaves you with a pile of rather expensive scrap metal.

With an original Citroen camshaft, 'buzzing' an engine by over-revving/missing a gear might result in a bent exhaust valve, but the rest of the engine will not be affected.

@ Louis,
afaik, it's not just possible but also permissible to index a Kent cam, in fact when it first appeared it was only a select few who were party to Kent's advice as to where it should be set.
I had to guess that maximum lift on the inlet should be at 110* ATDC, which worked quite well, but it was a close call...


Evidence of contact between Inlet valve & piston? by slcchassis, on Flickr

Wow! An original 1972 D*lly! Must be worth a fortune!

Local chap to Worcester, I often see him around and he takes the car to Peter Cross for work/MOT.