Customer Reviews

Aerodynamics For Racing and Performance Cars Hp1267

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The author claims that in his explanation of the aerodynamics of a moving body he uses only "layman's terms" and this is true for the first few introductory chapters. The book does then go on to get increasingly complicated and in order to understand it fully you need to thoroughly interested in the subject and probably a Maths degree from Cambridge. A general understanding of the subject is, however, given simply, at the beginning of the book and this itself is worth the fee. Further on the book shows how the development of aerodynamics has progreesed through time to now explaining why modern vehichles look as they do. Reference is often made to Formula 1, Indy and drag racing in explaining concepts. It is in these fields that the understanding developed by this book will be truly helpful as a variety of physical theories are introduced. These include a moving body's drag coefficient, centre of pressure and neutral steering point : useful in understanding over/understeer along with venturi tunnels which in the early 80's produced ground effect suction downforce and hence joined a whole host of developments to be banned by the formula 1 generals. If you are only a glancing fan of motor-racing then this book may not be for you. However, if you are truly interested or even work, or wish to work, in the motor racing field where aerodynamics play a crucial part then this book will provide the crucial understanding that will only serve to benefit the way you view racing in the future.

A truly excellent book for the keen motorsport fan or engineer seeking to understand the essence of aerodynamics for racecars. It might lack solid math formulas but the simplistic approach taken by the author greatly eases the process of understanding the 'black' art of aerodynamics. A book you can't put down. With its combination of clear points and quality black and white illustrations this is a book that you will read many times over.

Like his book on chassis design, I found this to whet the appetite, but fail to feed it once whetted!!

While it gave a good all round view of the aerodynamic field, I would have been pleased to see more diagramatic representations - for example, a graphic of a sports car, with many of the features in the text pointed out. In fact more graphics overall of the various things discussed would improve the book no end - a picture says a thousand word is especially applicable when it comes to aerodynamics!

My main problem with the book is that it didnt leave me thinking I could pen a quick diagram, that although not world class, would at least have features that would be better than someone who hadn't read the book. Of course, that could just be me!

i gave this book 4 stars because i enjoyed reading it. it was very informative and provided me with information i might not have been able to find elsewhere. it shows many examples of actual race cars which have used various designs which are unique and interesting. however, it is not written for engineers or someone looking to really apply what they learn in this book. as much as i believe that testing a product is the best way to gather information on it, mathematical formulas are sometimes needed to support your hypothesis. this book seemed to aviod using math as much as possible. it did not touch on reynolds numbers and other important areas related to aerodynamics.