Reading

Here are books I read while working on the Wreck Racing team during college and during my time on the HSM team. This should not be treated as a list of best books on each topic – just ones I’ve read that I found decent or noteworthy. I left off many that weren’t worth mentioning.

EFI-system design and engine tuning:

• Bosch Fuel Injection and Engine Management by Charles Probst
  • The first book I read about EFI. Its age makes it a great intro to EFI, since the older technology described lacks the complexity of today’s sytems.
• Performance Fuel Injection Tuning by Jerry Hoffmann and Matt Cramer
  • Probably the best first book to read about EFI systems and engine tuning. Written by the MegaSquirt pros at DIYAutoTune (a GT Wreck Racing sponsor), who were nice enough to help me out with a few issues I had tuning the Wreck Racing MG.
• Four-stroke Performance Tuning by A. Graham Bell
  • A fascinating book offering glimpses of key engine technology like combustion-chamber design.
• Engineering Fundamentals of the Internal Combustion Engine by Pulkrabek
  • A comprehensive engineering textbook from my IC engines course at Georgia Tech
• Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals by Heywood
  • Another IC engines textbook we referenced in school

Forced induction:

• Maximum Boost by Corky Bell
  • Good book about turbocharging. My only complaint is Bell makes several tribal-knowledge assertions without evidence, similar to Carrol Smith’s style.
• Turbochargers by Hugh MacInnes
  • Another classic like Maximum Boost
• Turbocharging the Internal Combustion Engine by Watson and Janota
  • A rare book we had to get through university inter-library loan. It covers several obscure technologies I haven’t seen described elsewhere, like hyperbar turbocharging.
• Street Turbocharging by Mark Wagner
  • A well-structured intro to the basics. It’s a good first book on turbocharging to read, but not the best.

Suspension design and tuning:

• How to Make Your Car Handle by Fred Puhn
  • The first suspension book I read (multiple times)
• Autocross to Win by Dennis Grant
  • I think this is the most useful suspension book of the whole bunch, and it’s free to read online. Even if you’re not interested in autocross, I think it does the best job of describing vehicle dynamics practically and concretely.
• Race Car Engineering and Mechanics by Paul Van Valkenburgh
  • Like Autocross to Win, I found this book very practical and intellectually stimulating.
• Inside Racing Technology by Paul Haney
  • This is a book I don’t see on many reading lists, but I found it very insightful, especially for understanding more what professional race engineers do.
• Chassis Engineering by Herb Adams
  • What I remember most from this book is the wooden scale models used for emperically measuring torsional rigidity of various frame designs.
• Race Car Vehicle Dynamics by Milliken
  • Solid book I’ve used as a reference many times.
• Tune to Win by Carrol Smith
  • This book seems to turn every FSAE student into an expert overnight. I found it useful, but not by itself. Like Maximum Boost, it contains a lot of “trust me” advice – assertions without evidence.
• Advanced Race Car Chassis Technology by Bob Bolles
  • A book I got to learn more about stock-car tuning

Data analysis:

• Techniques for Race Car Data Acquisition by Jörge Segers
  • This is one of the best automotive books I’ve ever read. It was expensive, but following along with the vehicle-dynamics formulas and learning new ways of analyzing track data was invaluable.
• Competition Car Data Logging by Simon McBeath
  • This book was a bit more practical and intro-level than Techniques for Race Car Data Acquisition.

Electrical systems:

• Automotive Wiring and Electrical Systems by Tony Candela
  • This book helped me learn the basics when I was very new to wiring.

Other:

• Modern Electric, Hybrid Electric, and Fuel Cell Vehicles by Ehsani, Gao, and Emadi
  • Somehow my senior-level hybrids class (using this textbook) was the most interesting classes I took at Georgia Tech, more so than IC engines. I think the energy-system simulations were the coolest part.
• Race Car Aerodynamics by Joseph Katz
  • Another useful reference similar to Race Car Vehicle Dynamics
• Secrets of Solo Racing by Henry Watts
  • An analytical approach to autocross and time trial racing.

For what it’s worth, here’s a list I’ve built up over the years of books I’d like to read one day (in no particular order):