anyone read these motorsport books?

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Sports Car and Competition Driving
by Paul Frere

The Technique of Motor Racing
by Piero Taruffo, Piero Taruffi

Speed Secrets: Professional Race Driving Techniques
by Ross Bentley

Trying to decide which to buy. I want one that explains racing teqniques and things that will make me a better driver on the road too.

[stringer_m]

I have read the Ross Bentley book and personally though it was very good. He puts the emphasis firmly on the being smooth approach to driving and from my (limited!) experience this seems to work very well.

There was a nice balance of technical information, anecdotes and the more "touchy-feely" side of things as well.

[fergus]

Paul Frere's book is a classic, though was written some time ago. Goes into quite a lot of technical depth about tyre slip angles, etc.

recommended.

[GarryM]

I've read the first two. Paul Frere's book is pretty much a re-write of Taruffo's IMHO. I liked them both but Taruffo's appealled to me more. It is obviously very dated but the principles remain. There is not a great deal about race strategy in either though. Have you thought of Carrol Smith's books?

[goo-goo-gjoob]

GarryM said:

Have you thought of Carrol Smith's books?

I'll check them out.

[phatgixer]

goo-goo-gjoob said:

Sports Car and Competition Driving by Paul Frere The Technique of Motor Racing by Piero Taruffo, Piero Taruffi Speed Secrets: Professional Race Driving Techniques by Ross Bentley Trying to decide which to buy. I want one that explains racing teqniques and things that will make me a better driver on the road too.

I have read the Paul Frere and Ross Bentley books. Both are good (the Frere book being particulary quaint!), but my favourites are Jackie Stewart and particularly the Alain Prost Book...

Prost describing Rosbergs style is a classic...

[HiRich]

Taruffi's book is very good, as it starts from the absolute basics of centrifugal acceleration and centripetal forces (ie larger radius corner = faster possible speed), then methodically adds each feature one-by-one to explain how the ideal line for every corner can be defined. As a trained engineer, it made perfect sense to me, and is the best way of explaining it. Even for non-engineers, it's a good explanation. However, it is quite a tricky read due to some dodgy translation and poor typesetting (the diagram is not on the same page as the text).

As another alternative, try Mark Hales' articles in Circuit Driver. If/when they are compiled, it will be the definitive guide. Written in great detail, but in driver-speak. And finally explains things like using weight transfer, Front & Rear wheel drive characteristics and why 911s don't crash.

[JimNoble]

There's also this one:

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0837602270/103-0972725-0703058?v=glance

Jim