Re: Chassis Engineering Herb Adams Pdf Download
Lorean Hoefert
In most forms of racing, cornering speed is the key to winning. On the street, precise and predictable handling is the key to high performance driving. However, the art and science of engineering a chassis can be difficult to comprehend, let alone apply. Chassis Engineering explains the complex principles of suspension geometry and chassis design in terms the novice can easily understand and apply to any project. Hundreds of photos and illustrations illustrate what it takes to design, build, and tune the ultimate chassis for maximum cornering power on and off the track.
On the topic of chassis design and setup, good, detailed information is difficult to come by. Many of the books out there are little more than topical magazine articles. Therefor, I thought it might be nice if we all shared books and other resources we found helpful and gave brief descriptions of them. I'll start with some of my favorites that I've acquired.
"Tune to Win" by Carroll Smith - I really like this one. It's a pretty deep dive into vehicle dynamics, so probably not a good first chassis related resource. However, it's not getting into the minutia of a college level engineering text, and the author's writing style makes him easy to follow. I've been told Carroll Smith's entire "To Win" series is required reading, and based on this book I'm inclined to believe it. They're all pretty affordable too.
"Auto Math Handbook" by John Lawlor and Bill Hancock - A collection of mathematical formulae you'll commonly use in automotive disciplines, with plenty of worked examples. I like it quite a bit and it's cheap. I found it helpful when I did my first engine balancing job.
"Racing & Sports Car Chassis Design" by Michael Costin and David Phipps - This one is awesome. It was published in the early 60s, so of course some information will be outdated (particularly where tyres are concerned). However, if you're interested designing cars with tubular steel construction and keep that cavaet in mind, this book was written when that technology was reaching a high water mark in motorsports. It's very detailed, and includes great photos and illustrations of various suspension types with their travel. The authors also go into their order of operations when designing a car, provide a layout template for vehicle components referenced to a datum, and three appendices for stress calculations, materials, and suspension calculations.
Awesome. Have you read "Engineer to Win?" or "Prepare to Win?" I'm considering grabbing one of those next. I also just got the one on hardware and plumbing, and it looks promising after skimming thru it.
I don't have the Millikens' book, but I do know the name - they are VERY highly regarded and many consider their work to be seminal in suspension and steering engineering and design. IIRC, they had a lot of involvement in British hillclimb specials and the old 750 class racers.
The Milliken's "Race Car Vehicle Dynamics" is a great book. Definitely an engineering text and not the first book you want in your library, but I can't count the number of time I have looked to it for insight into suspension design. A superficial reading of this book is as intereresting as a deep dive, thanks to some very fine writing by the Millikens.
Warren Rowley's "Race Car Engineering, Book 1" is pretty much a waste of time because he hitches his wagon to some obsolete and unsupported software. There doesn't appear to have been a Book 2, and I can't say I am sorry about that. If you can find a used copy cheap, you will be able to extract some intereting nuggets from it, but you will learn to dislike the author (as a writer) as much as I do in the process.
Finding good books on race car aerodynamics is a challenge. I have both Simon McBeath's "Competition Car Aerodynamics" and Joseph Katz's "Race Car Aerodynamics". Together they seem like a not bad introduction to the subject but if you have a serious interest in aero, you will be left wanting more (and for that I am not sure where to look).
I have a fair handful of books published by HP Books ("Brake Systems, OEM & Racing Brack Technology", "Race Car Engineering and Mechanics", "Chassis Engineering", "How to Make Your Car Handle", "Turbochargers"). They all seem to be some combination of obsolete, limited and poorly written.
I have three of Carrol Smith's books (Drive to Win, Engineer to Win, and Tune to Win). I guess they are enthusiast's required reading, but they have not aged that well. They all feel like a stream of consciousness that came out half-baked. Too bad Carol couldn't have expended the energy to put an index in any of them.
Race Car Vehicle Dynamics by the Millikens is an excellent resource and respected industry-wide. I would say though, that it's at the heavy-going end of the spectrum so I wouldn't recommend anyone to start with this book. It is full of the bare-bones first-principles theory of most VD related systems. As a guide, I wouldn't direct anyone towards this book unless they read and understand everything from Carroll Smith and are hungry to answer more "but why" type questions. I'm looking at the copy on my desk, must be close to 2 inches thick!
Ditto on many of the HP Books. I also found "Automotive Machining" by Mike Mavrigan to be very lacking in practical value, save for the chapter on engine balancing which I found very useful when I was learning to balance. For the most part, I think it's one of those books that exists to teach customers just enough to be difficult and act like they know your job better than you. :p
I'm reading McBeath's aero book currently. So far I think it's great. I'm going to confess that I can only take so much aerodynamics or fluid dynamics at a time before needing a break, so I'm taking my time with it.
Thanks for sharing that PDF, my copy is very old and feels like it's seen better days. I think it's extremely valuable if you're interested in tubular chassis design and you can sort the outdated from the relevant. And the drawings in it are splendid.
Forgive me if this isn't the place, but I think it's relevant to race car construction and repair - I really enjoyed "Sheet Metal Shaping" and "Sheet Metal Fabrication" by Ed Barr. Really well spoken and personable author who makes the tasks feel a lot less daunting.
Thanks for sharing that James. I had a flick through it now and it looks great. Part of the enjoyment will definitely be flicking through the old pages though! It's always funny to me how much technology we make use of that filters down from smart people over the years, but basic things like not putting things in bending, load paths, and avoiding single shear (all things it looks like he covers in this book) are still ignored by so many people today.
Regarding the High Performance Brake Systems book - would it be a useful resource in helping to calculate/determine the proper components for switching to a non-assisted braking system for rallying? If not, can anyone maybe recommend another book or online material on this topic?
I'm in the process of doing that for a BMW e36, and the material I've found online is, at best, conflicting at times, so while I've got a rough idea of what I need, some more theory behind this would be great - to better understand the maximum piston area, pedal ratio, and proper master cylinder sizing to have a reasonably hard brake pedal that will also let me slow down from silly speeds on gravel as quickly as possible
There is a topic on this here on the forum ( -discussion/show/brake-caliper-piston-area-vs-master-cylinder-piston-area-any-rule-of-thumb), but Gord's super-detailed answer is the first part of a longer story to cover everything needed :)
James Walker's "High-Performance Brake Systems, Design, Selection and Installation" has a good description of the process of calculating brake system gain. I found the chapter on brake system design to be very good.
That book should give you all the information you need - but in short, the pedal assembly and master cylinder diameters will depend on the line pressure in each circuit, which will depend on the pressure required to operate the brakes.
Hi Douglas, what sort of diff tuning are you interested in - for road/circuit racing or rally and offroad? I'm not sure I know of any books that cover diff tuning exclusively but may be able to recommend some references.
Thanks for the questions. This is for a road race application. All my experience is with a stock application so the amount of tuning has been limited. Mostly just preload of the pack. But, recently we have begun the process of putting a true race transaxle in our car and the makers of the trans are asking me where I want the diff to start at. The amount of options available to me is quite staggering compared to what I'm used to and the ability to completely tune the diff to each application/different track will give me tools I have never had before. So, I am looking for info so I can make an educated decision before I begin a true test plan once the car is completed. I have been asking around, but this data seems to be quite coveted as I am getting fairly vague answers to my questions that really don't help. We are buying a Sadev transaxle with the cassette diff, so we will be able to make diff changes easily. This would be would be similar to the Albins you would have used in Aussie V8.
I know what you're saying about the number of options available to tune a proper racing diff - a lot of parameters to deal with! While the Australian V8s do have a proper racing transaxle, they also have a spool diff, so at least we didn't have to worry about that!
As for a source for some information to help you out, I flicked through a couple of the books on my desk to see how much coverage they give to the subject. After looking through those, and having a bit of a Google I was left a bit disappointed in the lack of technical discussion on this. Maybe this mean we need a course on it ?
Ultimately the best source of information for a good starting point is Sadev themselves. After all, it's their diff! At a minimum, I would be expecting some support from them to help you spec the initial setup. If you give them some basic vehicle information as well as the intended application and the typical circuit layouts you use this should be straightforward for them.
7fc3f7cf58