Geoff Turk has succeeded as a drag racer, business executive, and now as a manufacturer.
Turk, the driving force behind the Blackbird Performance brand, has recently unveiled a new series of products intended to make the Gen 3 Hemi package even more potent.
As Turk sees it, the Mach3 Camshaft is a must-have for the serious Gen3 Mopar drag racer. They are in stock and shipping.
So, what is a Mach3 camshaft?
The Mach3 camshaft is the latest in a line of parts aimed to run with the new Blackbird Performance series of specialty drag racing crate engines.
“These camshafts are developed for racing applications and swap applications where we don’t have to worry about factory control systems, whether you need to tune or not, and we don’t have to worry about meeting emissions,” Turk explained. “These are developed specifically for our series of race-spec engines.”
The Blackbird Performance engines are a work in progress, and while they continue to refine their combinations, the parts that make them work in harmony are also improving along the way.
“We are refining the camshafts we select,” Turk explained. “They’re not off-the-shelf grinds; they’re grinds we’re developing with those engines. The first was this Mach 3 camshaft developed with our 1,450 plus horsepower race-spec engine that we sell for Drag Pak combinations, which has been proven to work very well.”
Turk said the Mach3 camshafts are designed for those Drag Pak Challengers, specifically 3,630 pounds, that turn 7.70s in the quarter-mile.
“It’s a hydraulic roller camshaft,” Turk explained. “It works very well in lightly boosted smaller displacement applications, are in larger displacement [naturally aspirated] applications.”
To define Turk’s idea of smaller displacement, he’s looking for an engine south of 400 inches.
“That 1,450 horsepower race spec engine is 392 cubic inches,” Turk explained. “And, with this camshaft in it, just to show how good this cam is and how well it works, it makes over 1400 horsepower starting at 6,800 rpm. It continues to make over 1400 horsepower all the way out to 7,900, which is about the limit of this hydraulic roller camshaft using stock or Johnson-type roller lifters. And in those applications, with the right springs, you can go almost up to 8,000 RPM with this hydraulic roller camshaft.”
Turk is very regimented in his presentation, going as far as to list basic specifications on the box.
“It shows you exactly what you’re going to get in the box,” Turk said. “It says right on the outside little basic specifications. Intake and exhaust lift with a 165 rocker theoretical or perfect ratio would be 605 or 613. Its intake and exhaust duration is a little bit long but still runs very well. 293 degrees, 313 degrees advertised duration. That’s the kind of basic specs on this camshaft.”
Turk said the Mach3 is just the tip of the iceberg, as other product lines are currently in development for production.
“Beginning with our low-end 600 horsepower race spec engine, and that’s the Mach1 camshaft that will be soon available,” Turk said. “Then the Mach2 camshaft for our 700-plus horsepower race-spec engine will soon be available. Just like this Mach3 camshaft, all of those are hydraulic roller camshafts.”
Turk revealed a Mach4 camshaft in the works for the Blackbird Performance 1600-plus horsepower race-spec engine.
But for now, the Mach3 is readily available and shipping. In a world where tariffs and other terminology might be buzzwords, Turk said only four keywords exist.
“So what do you get when you order a Mach3 camshaft?” Turk asked. “The first thing you get is a made in the USA super high-quality camshaft from manufacturers who know how to make these camshafts. It’s not [a design] derived from existing curves and what people have found, something we specifically developed. So this is a VVT [Variable Valve Timing]style camshaft. All these camshafts and are in our Mach series line will be VVT. So, this has got the VVT end on it that you might recognize. It’s pretty clearly labeled, ‘Made in the USA,’ which we love.”
Turk said the Mach3 camshafts will sell for $399 in what he describes as an introductory period, with a limited number in stock.
This cam will go from $399 to $449 once the introductory period expires. Don’t wait too long, as there’s a limited supply available.
For more information,
https://blackbird-performance.com
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