books
Posted By : Nigel Gibbins, 25-Jun-2003, 11:36pm
James,
Firstly, and I'm sure you can appreciate this, you can't learn to drive a race car from a book, it's more of a case of getting in the car and having a go, then having another go, and another etc etc. Until one day you look back and realise you're a racing driver.
There are books out there about car preperation and handling etc. but again you can follow all these instructions and end up throwing half of it away because it doesn't suit you. We've all been there. We've all done it.
But, as a starting point, I can recommend Jon Wolfe's Booklet on Spitfire Preperation, Dave Visards 'Tuning the A series Engine' (I know it's not the correct engine but most of the information still holds true) and Fred Puhn's 'How to make your car handle' Book.
I'm afraid you won't find a book called how to make you spitfire weigh less than 600Kgs though although every racer will talk about how much weight they have taken out of their car - more so than how much power they have!
Hope that gets you started - we'll see you a Brands then.
NiG
http://www.niginthecar.net
Firstly, and I'm sure you can appreciate this, you can't learn to drive a race car from a book, it's more of a case of getting in the car and having a go, then having another go, and another etc etc. Until one day you look back and realise you're a racing driver.
There are books out there about car preperation and handling etc. but again you can follow all these instructions and end up throwing half of it away because it doesn't suit you. We've all been there. We've all done it.
But, as a starting point, I can recommend Jon Wolfe's Booklet on Spitfire Preperation, Dave Visards 'Tuning the A series Engine' (I know it's not the correct engine but most of the information still holds true) and Fred Puhn's 'How to make your car handle' Book.
I'm afraid you won't find a book called how to make you spitfire weigh less than 600Kgs though although every racer will talk about how much weight they have taken out of their car - more so than how much power they have!
Hope that gets you started - we'll see you a Brands then.
NiG
http://www.niginthecar.net
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books
Posted By : James Carruthers, 26-Jun-2003, 12:43pm
Nigel,
Yeah... I know you can't learn it from a book! But it can't help not to read about it before you can do it...
I've always wanted to go racing - I met a couple of Spit racers in the SVRA championship in the US, and suddenly realised that it is "obtainable" - I loved the whole community feeling in the paddock... I then also find that one of my fathers friends races as well...
Spurred on even more so by me going Karting last month at Buckmore... (I even bought some Sparco gloves lol) I was pretty good at it (which surprised me
) - but it doesnt interest me too much because I want to change gears
and drive a proper car...
Plus also, I'm still getting in to my mechanics - and what better way to learn than building a race car...
James
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books
Posted By : Andy Vowell, 26-Jun-2003, 04:11pm
"a book on how to make you spitfire weigh less than 600Kgs"
Only a few more Kg to go, then I may write it!!! (or has John already)
Now where did I put the angle grinder :-)
Andy.V
books
Posted By : Graham Reeks, 26-Jun-2003, 07:28am
I don't know of any specific titles ... but I know a good site that might help you find them.
http://www.abe.com
This has a great search facility and has thousands of second hand booksellers stock online all over the world (esp. US & UK).
http://www.abe.com
This has a great search facility and has thousands of second hand booksellers stock online all over the world (esp. US & UK).
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books
Posted By : Richard King, 26-Jun-2003, 11:20am
James,
There are some excellent books on race techique. The only one I have read, however is Principles of Race Driving by Ayrton Senna, but it is quite good.
Of course, as Nigel says, there's no substitute to actually getting out there and having a go, but there is still a lot you can learn from the books.
I wouldn't worry too much about handling and setup initially, as to start with the limiting factor will be your driving and not the vehicle (unless it's miles out) once you feel that you could go quicker but the car won't let you then it's probably time to start mucking about. By this stage you'll also have more idea what you're changing and why, you'll then have a car that you are confident with and understand. Remember, everyone is different, what suits one driver may not suit another.
There's a discussion thread on this topic here that you may find interesting.
http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&...
Another good scheme is to get to a couple of trackdays or even a race school and get professional tuition, it's not as expensive as you might imagine and it worth seconds a lap. Plus it has the advantage of getting you out on a track while you're building your car or whatever, motivation ++