Chassis Engineering

okay for circle or oval enthusiasts

Although this book contains some useful information, it is geared primarily for oval or circle track applications. Much of the information is disjointed, and many of the diagrams are poorly labeled, leaving the reader to guess as to how the author came to some of his conclusions about suspension geometry. The author's distain for the Corvette suspension is obvious through much of this book, as is his admiration for that of the Camaro and the TransAm. This is inexplicable to me, considering the wide gap in handling performance between these cars. He also states that stiffer springs do not ever offer improved performance over softer ones, without offering enough evidence to support this claim. This seems to be contrary to many years and millions spent on R&D by every major car manufacurer who all use much stiffer spring rates on their high-performance packages and sports cars than they do on their normal passenger cars. Could he be right and everyone else be wrong? Anything is possible, but this book dosen't offer very much evedince to support his position. Overall, there was quite a bit of useful information, and particularly if one is interested in oval and circle track racing. Much of this book is geared towards these disciplines. There is not as much depth and explanation as I would expect for a book with this title, but for the novice, it provides a good general overview of chassis and suspension concepts.