Race Car Vehicle Dymanics

This is the mother of all books about race cars. If you were missing deep theoretical background on tuning your sports car or street car, this volume is for you. It is impossible to describe in detail what this textbook is about, in a single review. What I liked most is the chapter on dampers (shock absorbers). It gave me the answers to lots of questions that I had before reading this published work, for example how to choose "ride/handling compromise" when adjusting damping ratio? Why stiffer dampers are more comfortable on large-amplitude bumps, while softer dampers provide smoother ride on small-amplitude bumps? "In an automobile, a suspension is used to reduce the discomfort induced by unevenness in the highway. As measure of discomfort is the vertical acceleration that the passenger is subjected while sitting in the vehicle". The book demonstrates the model where the passenger is linked to the road via three springs in a sequence: tire, coil and the seat, and one damper (shock absorber). There is a graph showing passenger vertical acceleration depending on the amplitude (frequency) of road irregularities, for distinct shock absorbers with various damping ratios. For a stiff shock absorber this diagram shows relatively flat curve, where the vertical acceleration is almost independent of frequency of bumps. For the soft shock absorber, there is a very high peak (several times higher comparing to a stiff damper) of vertical acceleration for the low-frequency bumps, and this acceleration curve quickly decays as the frequency increases. There is another graph, "transient load transfer analysis", which shows that with soft dampers, the suspension load in a turn fluctuates. This is another answer to the question why stiffer dampers (to a certain extent) provide better handling. The order of the chapters is somewhat sporadic. The books is a mixture of sections of engineering information (formulas), historical background, sketches (e.g. torque arm rear axle suspension), recipes (KONI's published instructions for damper adjustment), and sample data (e.g. Goodyear tire data). Nevertheless, the work is so deep that in a couple of years after it's publication, it had been started being used as a university textbook. Based on comments from faculty, SAE have requested the authors to prepare a supplementary book of problems, to help the universities to examine the students. I also recommend "Theory of Ground Vehicles", by J. Y. Wong, in addition to this book.

This was a gift; recipient was delighted.

I work in the automotive industry and this book is the bible for all things vehicle dynamics. A must have for any engineer or aspiring engineer who plans to work in vehicle dynamics or chassis design!

Came a week earlier than expected great condition for used just some marking on cover

This workbook companion is just as complicated as the 900 page daddy book, But it is an icon of suspension design and used in college SAE classes

Outstanding engineering reference book with a good bit of background and historical perspective. Broad and detailed information which I've used to develop some outstanding street suspension systems to retrofit muscle cars. It is an engineering book, nowhere is there is a list of parts to buy for your car. The intent is to understand and balance the principles listed, and design your own.

Used by UNCC mechanical engineering department as part of their automobile technology program. Very detail but well written. A non-engineer would find the book to be too technical, but to a mechanical engineer, the book is well written and illustrated. I use many of the examples in the book during my race car setup clinics to help students understand the dynamics. Can cure insomnia if you do not love the details on how/why a race car does what it does.

Amazing book, and a must have for anyone interested in vehicle dynamics/simulation. My only gripe with the book is the variable descriptions in the first half of the book. They are listed on the first page of the book and described prior to each equation. Unfortunately their definitions get lost amongst the sea of sub/super scripts and reused variables. I also highly recommend buying the companion book for extra computational practice.