Best books to understand how (super/sports/racing) cars work
Discussion
I'd like to learn a lot more how a car works, not just performing repairs (which a lot of books seem to be aimed at) but understanding all the various components. In particular i'd like to understand the following components/subjects:
-Engine
-Exhaust
-Aero
-Gearbox
Regarding the type of car I'd like to say general fundamentals, but if asked specifically: super, sports, GT and F1.
Are there any good books, preferably in the style of a Dorling Kindersley "describe every component with good detail and annotations" covering this?
Thanks in advance,
-Engine
-Exhaust
-Aero
-Gearbox
Regarding the type of car I'd like to say general fundamentals, but if asked specifically: super, sports, GT and F1.
Are there any good books, preferably in the style of a Dorling Kindersley "describe every component with good detail and annotations" covering this?
Thanks in advance,
Edited by faa77 on Saturday 27th April 23:00
Edited by faa77 on Saturday 27th April 23:01
It depends what you want to learn and how you want to learn it.
I can't think of any single, current book that covers everything - these days you'd tend to get one book about suspension, another about aero, another about engines, and so on.
If it's specifically sports racing cars, then you might start with Colin Campbell's The Design of Racing Sports Cars, but it's well out of date now, having been written in the early '70's.
Campbell was a good technical author, of a kind we no longer have, however.
I can't think of any single, current book that covers everything - these days you'd tend to get one book about suspension, another about aero, another about engines, and so on.
If it's specifically sports racing cars, then you might start with Colin Campbell's The Design of Racing Sports Cars, but it's well out of date now, having been written in the early '70's.
Campbell was a good technical author, of a kind we no longer have, however.
Equus said:
It depends what you want to learn and how you want to learn it.
I can't think of any single, current book that covers everything - these days you'd tend to get one book about suspension, another about aero, another about engines, and so on.
If it's specifically sports racing cars, then you might start with Colin Campbell's The Design of Racing Sports Cars, but it's well out of date now, having been written in the early '70's.
Campbell was a good technical author, of a kind we no longer have, however.
Thanks for your response. I forgot to mention suspension, yes that is something else I would be interested in.I can't think of any single, current book that covers everything - these days you'd tend to get one book about suspension, another about aero, another about engines, and so on.
If it's specifically sports racing cars, then you might start with Colin Campbell's The Design of Racing Sports Cars, but it's well out of date now, having been written in the early '70's.
Campbell was a good technical author, of a kind we no longer have, however.
I probably didn't describe it properly but I'm interested in supercars (Ferrari, McLaren, Lambourghini etc), sports, GT (Porsche, Aston Martin etc) and to a lesser extent (because it is so specialised) F1.
OK, well Colin Campbell did another book, called 'the Sports Car, its Design and Performance' that covers road going sports cars, but again it's well out of date now - to give you some idea, the cars it uses in its case studies are things like the Lotus Esprit, Porsche 928 and Jaguar XJS.
I don't know of any more modern authors that give a broad overview, though.
Edited to add: there's a lot of good stuff on the internet, these days, too, of course.
If you're into racing sports cars, maybe start with the Mulsanne's Corner website.
I don't know of any more modern authors that give a broad overview, though.
Edited to add: there's a lot of good stuff on the internet, these days, too, of course.
If you're into racing sports cars, maybe start with the Mulsanne's Corner website.
Edited by Equus on Saturday 27th April 23:36
The best book I ever read on 'How cars work' was a book called The Reluctant Motor Mechanic by John Fordham, but it's got to be knocking on 40+ years old. Fundamentals haven't changed but there's almost certainly a more modern version with a similar, simple theme out there.
If you find a copy it's still worth a read. I got mine for 1p but these days they're £50 and £60 for some reason on Amazon.
If you find a copy it's still worth a read. I got mine for 1p but these days they're £50 and £60 for some reason on Amazon.
faa77 said:
faa77 said:
Found a few Haynes manuals on Red Bull F1 (2010), (2010-2014) and Williams (1992/93) cars.
Guys, ignore this. Later I read the reviews on Amazon and they're not written like typical Haynes manuals.In terms of Haynes, they have a series of books called "Techbook". each book is about specific things on a car. I bought books on Brakes, Electrics and Carbuerttors (as I'm doing up a Lada and need to know more about these things). Cost me £3 from a charity shop, but they're even better than the normal Haynes manuals as they expand on a lot of bits that the normal manuals just skip over.
I think this is what you're looking for. I bought it when I realised that Haynes books (or the official workshop manuals) werehelping me to fix things that I barely understood in the first place.
Hillier's Fundamentals of Motor Vehicle Technology Book 1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408515180/ref=cm_sw_e...
Books 2 and 3 cover respectively motor vehicle electrics and motorsport engineering.
Hillier's Fundamentals of Motor Vehicle Technology Book 1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408515180/ref=cm_sw_e...
Books 2 and 3 cover respectively motor vehicle electrics and motorsport engineering.
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