Customer Reviews

Competition Car Suspension: A Practical Handbook

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A Great reference book - it reviews varying suspension designs throughout the ages, what works and what doesnt, and why!!

For anybody into motorsport, who wants to build, modify or tune their own suspension for increased performance, I thoroughly recommend this book.

I am an engineer, and this book will stay forever in my refernce library!

Competition Car Suspension: A practical handbook

Buy this book! I've read it 4 times cover to cover to insure I've sucked every last molecule of detail from its pages. One reviewer commented on excessive focus on the author's car. I disagree. What the author provided was an excellent & illustrative example of how to apply a series of calculations to a given design. For someone designing/understanding their own car, that's exactly what you need. This book is in the top 5% of 100's of technical references I've read over 30+ years.

Staniforth is very knowledgeable and breaks things down so that it is easy to understand. His string computer is a fantastic cheap solution for those without the resources to use software for design. The newest edition really brings this book into the modern day.

This book is very informative. I recommend it to anyone who likes to race cars and wants to understand suspension systems better. My only problem with the book is that it is too focused on the Monopin/Terrapin car that the author himself built. I think a broader range of cars and tuning tips would have been beneficial. But all in all, I understand suspension systems much better after having read the book.

I bought this book hoping it would help me understand vehicle suspension and dynamics for an eventual autocross/road race build. Unfortunately the title and description are too vague. This mostly is a book about Formula 1 cars and has very little practical application to road cars besides a little bit of theory.

The book for the most part talked about the development of suspension from past to present rather than a practical guide to theory and application of that theory. The book didn't even start getting into the actual design and tuning aspect until 120 pages in, and even then, I found the information to be slightly glossed over. There was no mention of slip angles or pyrometers for measuring temperatures.

Its a great read if your interest lies in suspension development from past to present and what worked and what didn't. But for theory and practical application of it (for road cars at least), "High Performance Handling Handbook" was a much more useful guide to suspension basics and tuning for street cars.

I am building my second sports car,and I purchased this book looking for information into the mysteries and science of front end geometry. I have found that it is well written and has supplied me with the information which I was after. When dealing with the problems of the Ackermann angle
and it's advantages I could not ask for a better teacher. Allan Staniforth has put it all down so that even the amateur like my self can follow with understanding. Some knowledge of maths and maybe the biggest asset you would need is determination to understand what you are trying to achieve.

I have read and re-read many of Allan Staniforth's great books. They are incredibly useful, informative, and shockingly enjoyable to read. The history and general wittiness are very refreshing, the images are extremely well done, and of course the main content is presented in the most useful and understandable way. I recommend anything written by him.

Scott

This book is for elitist bench racers. There is almost no (read ZERO) math. It is all narration and supposition from a very non-technical standpoint. It is really a HISTORY of competition car suspension as the better part of the book is spent describing outdated suspension designs in very general terms. If you think you are going to come away with any kind of working knowledge or any knowledge period, don't bother. It is stuffily written and poorly organized. Enjoy!

I couldn't put this book down when I got it. Staniforth gives a great back ground on suspension development and a good over view of how to design a suspension. Each aspect of suspention design is clearly described, and he gives a good description on what certain changes can to the the behavior of the car. I would recommend that anybody thinking about building their own car or suspension get this book first.

If your plan is to build a purpose-built race car from scratch, this book is a great reference. The author was obviously a very knowledgeable, highly respected, and well-liked member of the racing community, and the book does a very good job of walking the reader through the process of designing and testing a race car. But if like me, your interest is in how to optimize the settings (spring rates, roll bar diameter/design, shock bounce/rebound settings, and alignment/corner balance) of an existing car to provide the best possible set-up for the track, this really isn't the book for you. Although, after many hours of searching, I'm not sure such a book exists. Does anyone know of one?

My other gripe with the book is that the author doesn't do a very good job of defining terms; he'll introduce a new topic, replete with the associated jargon, without really defining the meaning of most of the terms he just introduced. So, my search continues for a book or other reference that meets my needs...