97 replies to this topic

[D82]

Just wanted to remind everyone that these books can be found in university libraries. For example most of these titles are avaliable in Istanbul Technical University Library, which means i'm going to have a look at 'em tomorrow.

[gruntguru]

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3. Guruengineers.com : - The Largest Engineering Community Website.This site specializes in technical and Engineering books ranging anywhere from all Engineering Branches. Site has contained a Collection of 1000s E books that are available freely by the Editors in digital Format at various Locations. Here Engineering Community / User, Share exchange and Distribute the books with each other in Engineering Forums.

[venator]

Racing and Sports Car Chassis Design - Costin and Phipps
The Sports Car, Its Design and Performance - Campbell
Racing Car Design and Development - Terry and Baker
Tuning for Speed - Irving

The books above all contained useful information I utilised at one time or another. They are somewhat dated now, mind you, so is the man recommending them...

[Ben]

Racing and Sports Car Chassis Design - Costin and Phipps

Wins the prize for actually having a free body diagram of a swing axle suspension with asymmetric lateral force distribution to explain jacking forces.

Ben

[mariner]

This is not an engineering book per se but rather a general racing book

Team Lotus the Indianapolis years by Andrew Ferguson ISBN 1 85260 491 3

It is about an era of long ago when Lotus went to Indy and won at the 3rd attempt.

What makes it remarkable is that the author was the racing manager of Lotus and all his notes and memories went into the book. So it is a detailed account of the sheer effort and activity that it takes to win big time. Given the succes of Lotus and all its engineering innovation at that time it is in a way a sort of "textbook" on how to run a racing team.

Lest anybody think that life was so simple then that nobody could learn from it, the Team Lotus racing budget for 1964 that Ferguson was responsible for covered building 16 new cars across five categoies including F1 and Indy plus rebuilding 8 other cars. There were six seperate race sections and 23 different drivers were used. Accounts were delivered covering 21 categeries for each of the six race sections one week in arrears!

The workload was clearly crazy but the book does show just what it tkes to succeed in top flight competition and I suspect it is stil useful today as background as well as being a great read.

Sadly Andew Ferguson died of cancer just after completing the manuscript but Doug Nye, one of the top racing historians finished the book to ensure its publication.

[Doug Nye]

Andrew Ferguson died suddenly from a massive stroke - not cancer - but thanks for the mention...

DCN

[TheArmchairCritic]

With wanting to do Aeronautical Eng at Uni, with a view to a future career in F1, could anyone point me towards any books which would show an appreciable interest in Aeronautical Eng/future career in F1, which I can then put on my Personal Statement for Uni. The Imperial website wasn't very helpful in regards to reading lists. Thanks.

[Greg Locock]

With wanting to do Aeronautical Eng at Uni, with a view to a future career in F1, could anyone point me towards any books which would show an appreciable interest in Aeronautical Eng/future career in F1, which I can then put on my Personal Statement for Uni. The Imperial website wasn't very helpful in regards to reading lists. Thanks.

Katz, then read the references he mentions, then read the references those mention. etc.

[TheArmchairCritic]

Katz, then read the references he mentions, then read the references those mention. etc.

Any others? Thanks.

[TheArmchairCritic]

Guys... <Insert echo>

[Greg Locock]

So did you read Katz and follow my advice or are you just a troll?

[skuty]

Please tell me about SAE or FISITA books. Are they similar to academic books(papers) ? I must say I have bought a lot of books which you spoukd about and I wasn´t happy. I suppose in the Czech Republic we have better books than in England because we had one great writer in 1990s. His name was Mr.Vlk and his books are unapproachable with books as e.g. Engineer to Win or The Multibody Systems Approach to Vehicle Dynamics. It´s crazy because we don´t have any big experience with motorsport or automotive, but now I can´t be excited about this books.
Thanks for all replies which will help me.

Edited by skuty, 06 January 2010 - 18:50.

[Greg Locock]

I like Bruhn, but wouldn't recommend it for designing cars, unless you want a car that has the same structural approach as an FAA certified aeroplane. It's about $140. That being said it is the main book i used to learn about designing structures and FEA out of uni, as my manager swore by it. Brown et al looks interesting.

[Halfwitt]

Has everyone seen this:

http://www.ret-monitor.com/articles/

It's looks like it's associated with Race Engine Technology magazine. The magazine is quite expensive, but this appears to be free (at least it is at the minute).

It might be interesting for some people.

[Canuck]

Has anyone read / is anyone familiar with Pulkrabek's Engineering Fundamentals of the Internal Combustion Engine? I'm itching to add something to my engine library again.

[McGuire]

Has anyone read / is anyone familiar with Pulkrabek's Engineering Fundamentals of the Internal Combustion Engine? I'm itching to add something to my engine library again.

I found the characters two-dimensional and the plot development tired and predictable. Also, the sex scenes were gratuitous and in my opinion, implausible.

[munks]

Any opinions on,

"Theory of Ground Vehicles by Wong"?

I find a lot of professors using this as reference for vehicle dynamics.

OT: Could this be stickied?

A bit late on the reply here, but I recently obtained this book. It's good, readable, and only gets down into equation & derivations when necessary (as opposed to someone like Pacejka who seems to only be capable of communicating with complicated equations). Plenty of useful graphs.

Wong covers a lot of ground, and gets into things you probably won't see anywhere else, like how much soft soil will deflect when run over by a tire at pressure X, plus air cushion vehicles, and other interesting things (many or most of them being off-road applications).

[Greg Locock]

Incidentally John Dixon has a new book out written from the point of view of writing programs to build suspension models. I haven't read much of it, but if that is your interest it will almost certainly be worth a look. I have access to it via some horrible server based system, check yours (eg Knovel)

[Deepak]

A bit late on the reply here, but I recently obtained this book. It's good, readable, and only gets down into equation & derivations when necessary (as opposed to someone like Pacejka who seems to only be capable of communicating with complicated equations). Plenty of useful graphs.

Wong covers a lot of ground, and gets into things you probably won't see anywhere else, like how much soft soil will deflect when run over by a tire at pressure X, plus air cushion vehicles, and other interesting things (many or most of them being off-road applications).

Thanks for the reply.
I might give it a try after seeing your feedback.

[Deepak]

Incidentally John Dixon has a new book out written from the point of view of writing programs to build suspension models. I haven't read much of it, but if that is your interest it will almost certainly be worth a look. I have access to it via some horrible server based system, check yours (eg Knovel)

Greg - Is this the one?
Suspension Analysis & Computational Geometry

[Grumbles]

I've been reading Harold Bettes "Engine Airflow" and I'm greatly impressed. I find a lot of these soft cover magazine-sized books to be big on fluff and product placements but short on substance. Not this one. There is more usable information in here than in nearly all the other "how to port cylinder heads" books put together, though that's not really saying much. Densely packed, and unusually so for this format.
It's refreshing to read something in this style that isn't dumbed down to useless generalities, yet at the same time is readable and understandable for someone like me with my admittedly modest mental capacity.
From this book - and from the Speedtalk interviews - Harold comes across as a really nice guy who know his stuff and knows how to get it across. I don't know him personally but I bet Macguire does. Bill? He has a credibility and directness that I'd compare with the likes of McFarland and Widmer, and incidentally both these guys contribute to the book.
If you're an amateur flowbench jockey like myself - even an experienced one - I'd be surprised if you weren't both delighted and enlightened by this book. I don't think I've enjoyed a book like this since Grumpy Jenkins' racing smallblock book first came out way back when.

/end of gushing review

Edited by Grumbles, 15 October 2010 - 05:38.

[Magoo]

From this book - and from the Speedtalk interviews - Harold comes across as a really nice guy who know his stuff and knows how to get it across. I don't know him personally but I bet Macguire does. Bill? He has a credibility and directness that I'd compare with the likes of McFarland and Widmer, and incidentally both these guys contribute to the book.
If you're an amateur flowbench jockey like myself - even an experienced one - I'd be surprised if you weren't both delighted and enlightened by this book. I don't think I've enjoyed a book like this since Grumpy Jenkins' racing smallblock book first came out way back when.

/end of gushing review

Sorry for the delay in replying -- didn't look into this thread until just now.

Harold Bettes has been around forever -- he was formerly president of Superflow. I imagine thousands of people have been through his presentations. I must confess I haven't seen the airflow book, but I do have his book on dynos, which I think is a great resource for people digging into the issue.

[rachael]

Maybe not strictly 'authoritative' but two inspirational autobiographies are;

http://www.bentleypu...ck-edition.html

And

http://www.amazon.co...e/dp/1859606660

[gruntguru]

Maybe not strictly 'authoritative' but two inspirational autobiographies are;
http://www.bentleypu...ck-edition.html

Those who liked Tony Rudd's Autobiography, will love Sir Stanley Hooker's although they have probably read it.
http://www.amazon.co...mp;sr=1-1-spell

[Scotracer]

Does anyone have any properly useful reference texts for engine combustion chamber/piston design? It's an area I want to get in to.

[Wolf]

Here are few books I haven't seen mentioned, that I've found interesting (and would welcome comments from more knowledgeable members):

Matschinsky - Radführungen (1998)
Stokes - Manual Gearbox Design (1992)
Trzesniowski - Rennwagentechnik (2010)

And also Pomeroy's "Grand Prix Car" (I must admit to being somewhat in awe when I spotted a copy at my Uni and browsed through it)...

[Grumbles]

Christmas is approaching, which means it's nearly time for me to buy a couple of books for the wife to wrap up and surprise me with on Christmas morning. I'm thinking of a couple of bios, Colin Chapman and Henry Ford. Anyone got any recommendations for these two or anything else for that matter?

[Keith Young]

I think this is a very important topic, and it seems like it died. Not sure if this is a party foul, if it is let me know and I'll delete the post. But...

 

It seems books are in the process of dying, so I'll start including Authoritative Videos.

When I was in the process of getting my Aerospace Engineering degree, I used these quite a lot. I still use them when writing articles sometimes:

 

http://www.youtube.c.../VerraStrngNUCF

 

For Math, which is essential, here are a few. I use the Khan Academy videos almost exclusively for my Applied Math Example articles:

 

http://www.youtube.c...ser/khanacademy

http://www.youtube.com/user/nptelhrd

http://www.youtube.com/user/MIT

 

Hope this helps. Again, if posting links to YouTube video channels is a party foul, let me know. Just wanted to help put a pulse back in to this important thread.

[Canuck]

All knowledge is good knowledge. Thanks for the links.

[Magoo]

Christmas is approaching, which means it's nearly time for me to buy a couple of books for the wife to wrap up and surprise me with on Christmas morning. I'm thinking of a couple of bios, Colin Chapman and Henry Ford. Anyone got any recommendations for these two or anything else for that matter?

 

 

I suck for not seeing this until now, but in case you are still looking...

 

On Henry Ford:

 

Ford: The Times, The Man, the Company by Alan Nevins. Really superb, in depth and done with historical rigor, a kind of biography they don't do anymore except about former presidents and literary figures. 

 

On Chapman:

 

I am going to go weird here and recommend that everyone read both the authorized biography by Jabby Crombac and the highly unauthorized bio by Mile Lawrence, Wayward Genius.

 

Taken separately, each book offers an incomplete picture, but the two books together provide a rich, multidimensional study of a talented and complicated man.  

[Smiley]

Hi everybody,seen this topic about technical books and have a question,I want to subscribe,or buy single issues of Race Engine Technology  https://www.highpowermedia.com/

Do any of you have read this,and is it worthwhile to obtain any of this issues.

I thank you for support and have a Merry Christmas and very prosperous New Year,and may each and every one of your teams and drivers perform well

[BrandsFan]

This is a bit different.
 
Does anyone believe that it may be possible for one team in F1 to use electronics to interfere with the telemetry of another car and so affect its performance?  The reason I ask is that I was sent an e-book for Christmas which I have just finished reading. It is a novel, but the premise of the book is that an engineer on one of the GP teams discovers that another team is using very high tech, military spec electronic weaponry to zap (that's the name of the book, Zapped, by Alan Wilson), the ECU's of competing cars and so compromise their performance.  I know that it is a novel, but the author seems to have done his research and the technology he bases his book around does seem to be very feasible, if a bit out there at this time.
 
The problem that I see is that if this is the case, then God help racing, because then someone could sit in a grandstand and simply use a remote device to target a car on the track.  I know that this concept was suggested at a hacker's convention in Las Vegas earlier this year, when several hacker groups showed that they could get into the electronics of road cars, using radio I think, and affect their brakes and steering. But that was for road cars with fairly basic electronics compared to F1. Still the idea is pretty scary.  Anyway its a fun book with a lot of insider info and some pretty scathing opinions of some of the people in GP!

[Canuck]

Hi everybody,seen this topic about technical books and have a question,I want to subscribe,or buy single issues of Race Engine Technology https://www.highpowermedia.com/
Do any of you have read this,and is it worthwhile to obtain any of this issues.
I thank you for support and have a Merry Christmas and very prosperous New Year,and may each and every one of your teams and drivers perform well

I have. I don't any longer. I would happily subscribe at a more reasonable price but for $20/issue it tends to be full of advertiser-stroking with the odd bit of substance thrown in. Once in a while a truly meaty article comes around, but it's not worth the outrageous price in my opinion.

Brandsfan - I'd post your query as it's own thread. A worthy discussion.

Edited by Canuck, 04 January 2014 - 22:55.

[Smiley]

Thanks Canuck, the exchange rate is not in my favour,and postage is ridicilious in itself,I'll try the digital version,at least you can choose which issues you want.

[Canuck]

Mine either. The last "quote" I received from them was 38GBP for 3(!) issues.

[BrandsFan]

Thanks Canuck,

 

I will do as you recommend. In the meantime Fox News here in the USA had a story about the group in the UK who are working with the Government to target cars on the public roads, using radio type technology. just as Wilson describes in ZAPPED., although in a more simple form. They make the comment that, once the electronics have been hit then the driver will have zero control of his car which then has no brakes, no steering and he will have no control of the accelerator. So the car will almost certainly have an accident.    Now that is very scary.  My concern is that while here in the USA the lawyers will most probably find ways to prevent the government form using this technology it will still be able to be used by hackers and some of them are very green and may well use the technology to make a point about racing  contributing to global warming, or something! 

 

The book uses this theme as it's center story but it is also fun novel about GP racing as a whole, and there are not many books like it out there. It certainly shows how technology can easily be subverted by someone who has less than honest goals for racing!

[Greg Locock]

" It certainly shows how technology can easily be subverted by someone who has less than honest goals for racing!
"

 

ACBC?

[Greg Locock]

Here's an encyclopedic PhD on tires, done by one of Pacejka's crew.   https://www.tno.nl/d...s_Zegelaar1.pdf   -hat tip  to Damien for the link

[Greg Locock]

Not technical as such, but the autobiography of Wil Cooksey who was plant manager at Bowling Green for 15 years, and a lifelong corvette junky. http://www.amazon.co...r/dp/1491808926 - the kindle version is about 5 bucks. It is funny and predictable that his concerns with running the plant are paint, paint, paint, panel fit and repair yard. That holds for most car companies I've worked for, except Lotus and Land Rover, oddly. It's not a great book, but it is mostly interesting (interminable details of car clubs excepted)

[pablominiaturas]

Dear friends I need a flat elevation, plan and engine propelling the P153, P160, P180 profile. Is logically a V12 online at 60, I find almost documentation, have tried their luck in the cutawais chapter.

I hope your help

Thank You

pablominiaturas@yahoo.es

[Fat Boy]

I saw that Jan Zuijdijk (of JRZ damper fame) has a book for sale through Race Tech titled _Vehicle Dynamics and Damping_. I'm always game to understand the tuning approach that others take, so I thought this might be an interesting look at someone's take that has a ton of experience.

 

Well, no. The title alone told me that this is a book with potential, but, man, was it disappointing. Here's the book, "The engineer produced a horrible car and I came in and fixed it all." Over and over he tells the exact same story. There's damned little explanation and practically nothing on the mathematical end. He favors relatively high compression damping a relatively low rebound. Fine, relative to what? We don't know. The influence of these adjustments on handling? Nada. Curves of dampers actually ran in anger? Nope. Discussion of pistons, builds, oils, etc? Not even touched.

 

The really shitty part of the whole thing is that Jan truly is a damper guru. This book tells essentially nothing that you couldn't find elsewhere. I don't buy these books expecting that every sentence is going to be a revelation. My hope when getting a book like this is to find a couple interesting technical nuggets and a bit of entertainment. This book provided neither.

[Greg Locock]

I read half of Newey's book "How to build a car" yesterday. Well written and interesting, if not especially technical. 

[desmo]

I bought it and enjoyed it as well but, yeah, not a lot of deep tech insight, which is probably just as well for a book aimed at a general readership.

[Charlieman]

Total Competition: Ross Brawn (interviewed by) Adam Parr. Summary: Give it a miss unless cheap.

 

Explanation: It isn't a tech book, and barely a motor sports book. Adam Parr wants to explain why Sun Tzu's Art of War explains the performance of F1 teams by interviewing and interpreting Ross Brawn. Ross Brawn wants to talk about his racing career, less about the embarrassing moments and more about the successful ones. It's like being in the dinner seat between Madonna and Tchaikovsky. 

 

A great interviewer would have drawn more about Brawn and his team when he and partners owned it. I only bought it because the Brawn (man/team) story is interesting, and the book is partially fulfilling. 

[Charlieman]

Anatomy and Development of the Formula One Racing Car since 1975: Sal Incandela, illustrations by Giorgio Piola. Summary: Meets the standard you'd expect from a book which made it into three editions.

 

I can only review the first edition, which covers the period 1975 to 1980. The book explains general topics as understood at the time -- tyres, transmission, turbos etc. Featured cars are familiar ones to many people: Tyrrell P34, Ligier JS7/9, Lotus 79, Ferrari T4 and Renault RE20. Engines include the Matra V12 and Renault V6 which deserve greater awareness.

 

This book would just be a walk down memory lane if Incandela hadn't probed why designers came up with their solutions and how good ideas unravelled. Perhaps a few modern day F1 designers might find it useful to read how the ground effects pioneers struggled. Enthusiasts love to speculate on how F1 cars would be very different if carbon brakes or steering wheel gear changers were banned. Books like this one remind us that designers work around such limitations surprisingly well.

 

The book has a relatively small page size. Thankfully the black and white photographs are crisp. I'm not a fan of Giorgio Piola's recent work but this book's illustrations are unfussy and clear up inevitably clunky text.

[Charlieman]

BIOS Report No 1755, An Investigation into the Development of German Grand Prix Racing Cars 1934-1939: Cameron C Earl. Summary: Glorious.

 

Cameron Earl was commissioned by a British government department to research the pre-WWII German racing cars and interview team staff. A report was published by His Majesty's Stationery Office in 1948, republished in 1996 with a commentary by Karl Ludvigsen. Ludvigsen corrects a few mistakes in the original narrative but Cameron Earl and his interview subjects provide incredible insight. Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union built many designs in the period and detail about some is limited. We learn how two teams built such different cars with similar performance and can apply our 21st century hindsight.

 

Sports journalists talk about "total football" but this was total Grand Prix. M-B and AU used their company resources in different ways but both drew on Germany's science and engineering as no-one had done before. Perhaps in the 1950s, when Lancia and M-B created innovative F1 cars, a new technology race might have started but historical circumstances quickly closed the possibility. Arguably, the next technology race began in the 1980s when F1 teams recognised that microprocessors could be used for almost everything.

 

The pull out engineering drawings are heavenly -- worth a thousand words, of course, and this book is sparing in convoluted descriptions.

 

Cameron Earl died in an accident whilst testing one of Bob Gerard's ERA racing cars in 1952.

[Charlieman]

Racing and Sports car Chassis Design: Michael Costin and David Phipps. Summary: A period classic but still relevant.

 

The 1960s were a different age but Costin & Phipps must still have come as a surprise to readers. The authors updated this book to include the "monocoque" Lotus 25/33 and it remained in print into the 1970s.

 

Mike Costin, a Lotus insider, describes how to design a car to please Colin Chapman. It's almost a house design guide for 1960s Lotus. Some Lotus failures are glossed over (gearboxes!) but you learn why the theoretical advantage of canting an engine may not deliver in practice. Successful multi-tubular designs from Cooper and Lister get a mention, but sadly the authors did not have sufficient information about the unsuccessful stressed skin BRM P25. 

 

If you wonder why the book is still relevant, take a look at an Ariel Atom or Caterham Seven.

[karlcars]

Thanks a lot for the mention of my introduction to the BIOS Report on the German pre-war racing cars. I bought the original when it came out and greatly treasured it -- although I learned a lot more about those cars when I wrote in detail about them and all the other M-B racers in Mercedes-Benz - Quicksilver Century. Out of print but still worth tracking down.

 

I'd like to draw attention to my book Colin Chapman -- Inside the Innovator, which covers in depth not only what he did but why he did it. It was and is highly praised as the ultimate assessment of Chapman's work and is now available from EVRO. 

 

I should also mention Classic Racing Engines, which covers 50 engines from the 1913 16-valve Peugeot four to the 1994 Mercedes pushrod V-8 that won at Indy.

 

Anyone interested in engines should have my book The V12 Engine, which covers every V12 from the beginning to its publication in 2005.

 

The same goes for Prime Movers, the story of the origins and achievements of Ilmor. Probably best to look for it on Ebay.

 

Then there's Reid Railton - Man of Speed, which is chock-full of fascinating record-breaking engineering in two volumes.

 

Speaking of volumes, three will be needed next year for the launch of my book Power Unleashed, the history of supercharging and turbocharging from EVRO.

 

Thanks for considering these books!

 

Karl Ludvigsen