Customer Reviews

Winning: A Race Driver's Handbook

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If you want the one source for how to get started in amatuer motorsports - look no more - this is your book. From how to shop for a car to how much it will cost, this book covers all bases. While you will still need guest reviewer Carrol Smith's series on preparation, this book provides a launching pad for how to get started. I find myself re-reading it time and time again for there is so much information to use. I can only hope that this book receives the exposure it deserves - I am now racing cars instead of watching them on TV and my thanks go out to the Author. PS - My wife wishes this one never found it to my door. Any reprints should include a chapter on how to convince the family that racing is a good thing

I see many reviews of this book are very favorable, but here's an alternate view from a race driver that has read several books on the subject.

The integration of expert commentary through the text is original, but it sounds like there's a tiff between Bertil Roos and the Author - they never seem to agree with each other, or the other contributors for that matter. Here is an example of the kind of petty squabbling you'll read about:
Carroll Smith: "'Slowest...at the initial turn-in....' Bertil is the only person in the world who believes this! Is it possible that Moss, Clark, Stewart, Lauda, Jones, Andretti, Senna, et. Al., are wrong?"

I'm not sure it's a good idea to write a book where your contributors are trying to discredit each other, or the author trying to discredit his contributors, and vice versa. It shows both sides of an opinion, but it leads the reader to think that driving technique is only about opinions. What the book misses is that there are basic tools for driving technique that give a driver the opportunity to develop his own style. Lessons on driving technique should not tell a driver whether he should be late apexing or early apexing; whether he should be full brake to full throttle or a smooth transition; or even whether trail braking should be used. These are all decisions that must be made on each individual corner of each individual track. A book like this should concentrate more on giving the reader a skill set from which he can make his own decisions and I think this is where it falls short - and to a fault, which brings me to the glossary. I couldn't tell if the author was trying to be funny, sarcastic or serious, but it ruined the whole book for me. Take these examples from the appendix:
Lift: Euphemism for getting off the gas when you probably shouldn't be doing so. Also referred to as a "slight lift" or a confidence lift." Your opponents will be grateful.
Spin (as participant): If you do not spin occasionally, you are not going fast enough.

OK, so you young drivers got that? If you lift you're a sissy - keep that foot planted regardless of that crest in the corner or the sudden understeer from the surface change! And if you end up in the wall, well that's your fault. And spin that car! - how else will you know where the limit is? >>> This perpetuates an attitude in amateur racing that being aggressive is more important than car control - I just hope that his readers don't end up in the hospital or wrecking yard before they arrive at the podium. In a more appropriate book, "Speed Secrets", Ross Bentley will tell you that you're not going fast enough if your car feels like it's on rails; but spinning is much too expensive to test the limit. At the least it will cost you time and position; at the worst it will cost you your life.

This is a chapter analysis to give an idea of what you will find in the book:
1. Getting Started - Good discussion of classes and costs, and the SCCA; it may be a bit dated now.
2. Basic Physics - A good and basic discussion of polar moment, slip angle, and weight transfer
3. Basic Driving Techniques - this is where the contributors really chime in. Generally I enjoy reading about Driving Techniques, but this was nearly my least favorite part of this book.
4. Basic Driver Information - decent information about preparation
5. Your First Race - decent information about the first race
6. Intermediate Driving Techniques - less contributed text. Most of the information can be found in other books where it's covered more completely (Carl Lopez's Going Faster!)
7. Learning in Your Street Car - a very short chapter (3 pages) about being aware in traffic and lane positioning. Ross Bentley's Speed Secrets is more useful for this.
8. Autocross Solo II Competition - another very short chapter (4 pages) about special techniques for this type of racing
9. Unexciting But Important - decent information about safety
Appendices
Contacts, Sources, and Driving Schools - a good compilation, but a bit out of date.
Publications - suggestions for books that you should have bought instead of this one.
Hot Laps - Nice US track maps with info from the pros. Some tracks are out-dated, but it could be useful before driving a track for the first time. Just remember the pro's are probably keeping a few secrets.
Glossary - tear this out and burn it!
Index

Such as what to expect at an SCCA event as far as tech inspections, and equipment checks, and what not. It also provides several different viewpoints from different drivers. It, at times, is almost like sitting around the table with the guys, and discussing racing.

It IS a little lite on content in some places. Speed Secrets is as good if not better for the beginner, along with Going Faster! For more in-depth coverage of the topics.

This book provides almost all of the information needed to get started in racing. The best part of the text is that it covers all of the bases. There are many other books that cover each of these subjects in detail, but Anderson does a great job of bringing many subjects together into one concise work.

Author here. I just came across Josh Allen's comments. I think he's probably a little light on experience if he thinks spins will end him up in the hospital or wrecking yard, but he's clearly entitled to his opinion.

Fortunately, Amazon now has the book on line so you can look for yourself. Check page 63 for the bigger picture where Carroll was chewing on Bertil. You might also browse a few pages beginning at 49. (Search on "weight is transferred") We all had a lot of fun with the back-and-forth stuff and nobody was mad at anybody.

Regarding the glossary, everone's sense of humor is different! Search on "glossary" and see what you think. BTW the publisher sort of crammed the glossary into spaces between the "Hot Laps" so it's a little hard to follow. Sorry 'bout that. Not my decision.

Don't forget the basics: (1) On the black part. (2) Rubber side down. (3) Have fun!

Geo.

I've read most (ok many) of the celebrity driver books, Carroll Smith's must read series, and years worth of motorsports magazines. George Anderson's "Winning" is far and away the best overview for the beginning racer, with plenty, I suspect, to teach the experienced driver. Full of pragmatic advice, useful examples, and concise illustrations/diagrams. The book to buy if you are only buying one book on racing, the first book to read if you are reading many books on racing.