Thanks for all the responses on books about handling. Since many of the
responses came in "off-line" and the responses were valuable, I elected to
summarize them and post back to the list. The two most highly suggested
books, by a wide margin, were:
How to make your car handle, by Fred Puhn, (surprisingly inexpensive)
Race Car Vehicle Dynamics, by William Milliken. (brutally expensive)
The Carroll Smith series of books were highly recommended too, especially
"Tune to Win".
Also suggested were, and these are direct quotes.....
1. Alan Daniforth has written a book called "Race and Rallycar Sourcebook"
which has some good bits on suspension. Paul Van Valkenberg is
well-respected for his work.
2. Carroll Smith books. I like Alan Standiforth's book "Competition Car
Suspension" (again, this is close, but may not be exact). Finally, if you
want to get really technical the Milliken's book titled something like
"Vehicle Dynamics" is really
impressive - and I may even finish it some day...
(Editor's note - Comments about not having finished reading the Milkier
book were surprisingly common. This highly recommended book must be brutal
reading)
3. Herb Adams did a good series in Circle Track magazine in the '80s.
Steve Smith has some books on roundy round cars that also address the
subject.
4. Another book that I have found helpful is Chassis Engineering by Herb
Adams. It should be available at all the regular sources.
That summarizes a compendium of automotive handling information suggested
by some of the finest racers on the face of the earth. As for what I will
be doing, I will be buying the Puhn book very soon, and (as suggested by
more than one of you) this "Mechanical Enginerd" is planning on the future
purchase of the Milliken book too because it seems like it may be the most
technical, theoretical book out there. Along the way, I'll be looking for
the some of the Smith and other books too.
Thanks again to everyone,
Jack (smarter and faster every day) Brooks
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