The first book to summarize the secrets of the rapidly developing field of high-speed vehicle design. From F1 to Indy Car, Drag and Sedan racing, this book provides clear explanations for engineers who want to improve their design skills and enthusiasts who simply want to understand how their favorite race cars go fast. Explains how aerodynamics win races, why downforce is more important than streamlining and drag reduction, designing wings and venturis, plus wind tunnel designs and more.
Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles details the aerodynamics of passenger cars, commercial vehicles, sports cars, and race cars; their external flow field; as well as their internal flow field. The book, after giving an introduction to automobile aerodynamics and some fundamentals of fluid mechanics, covers topics such as the performance and aerodynamics of different kinds of vehicles, as well as test techniques for their aerodynamics. The book also covers other concepts related to automobiles such as cooling systems and ventilations for vehicles. The text is recommended for mechanical engineers and phycisists in the automobile industry who would like to understand more about aerodynamics of motor vehicles and its importance on the field of road safety and automobile production.
Providing a firsthand history of the sport, this book takes a detailed look at all aspects of drag racing: the sport, the business, and tracks the innovations that permitted racers to disprove the "laws of physics". 147 halftones.
The detailed presentation of fundamental aerodynamics principles that influence and improve vehicle design have made Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles the engineer’s “source” for information. This fifth edition features updated and expanded information beyond that which was presented in previous releases. Completely new content covers lateral stability, safety and comfort, wind noise, high performance vehicles, helmets, engine cooling, and computational fluid dynamics. A proven, successful engineering design approach is presented that includes: • Fundamentals of fluid mechanics related to vehicle aerodynamics • Essential experimental results that are the ground rules of fluid mechanics • Design strategies for individual experimental results • General design solutions from combined experimental results The aerodynamics of passenger cars, commercial vehicles, motorcycles, sports cars, and race cars is dealt with in detail, inclusive of systems, testing techniques, measuring and numerical aerodynamics methods and simulations that significantly contribute to vehicle development. Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles is an excellent reference tool and an indispensable source for the industry’s vehicle engineers, designers, and researchers, as well as for enthusiasts, students, and those working in academia or government regulatory agencies.
Racecar data acquisition used to be limited to well-funded teams in high-profile championships. Today, the cost of electronics has decreased dramatically, making them available to everyone. But the cost of any data acquisition system is a waste of money if the recorded data is not interpreted correctly. This book, updated from the best-selling 2008 edition, contains techniques for analyzing data recorded by any vehicle's data acquisition system. It details how to measure the performance of the vehicle and driver, what can be learned from it, and how this information can be used to advantage next time the vehicle hits the track. Such information is invaluable to racing engineers and managers, race teams, and racing data analysts in all motorsports. Whether measuring the performance of a Formula One racecar or that of a road-legal street car on the local drag strip, the dynamics of vehicles and their drivers remain the same. Identical analysis techniques apply. Some race series have restricted data logging to decrease the team’s running budgets. In these cases it is extremely important that a maximum of information is extracted and interpreted from the hardware at hand. A team that uses data more efficiently will have an edge over the competition. However, the ever-decreasing cost of electronics makes advanced sensors and logging capabilities more accessible for everybody. With this comes the risk of information overload. Techniques are needed to help draw the right conclusions quickly from very large data sets. In addition to updates throughout, this new edition contains three new chapters: one on techniques for analyzing tire performance, one that provides an introduction to metric-driven analysis, a technique that is used throughout the book, and another that explains what kind of information the data contains about the track.
In any rotating machinery system, the bearing has traditionally been a crit ical member of the entire system, since it is the component that permits the relative motion between the stationary and moving parts. Depending on the application, a number of different bearing types have been used, such as oil-lubricated hydrodynamic bearings, gas bearings, magnetic suspensions, rolling element bearings, etc. Hydrodynamic bearings can provide any desired load support, but they are limited in stiffness and the associated power loss may be quite large. Gas bearings are used for high-precision applications where the supported loads are relatively light, bearing power losses are very low, and the rotating speeds generally high. For super precision components where no frictional dissipation or bearing power loss can be tolerated, magnetic suspensions are employed; again, the load support requirements are very low. Rolling element bearings have been widely used for those applications that require greater bearing versatility, due to the requirements for high-load and high-stiffness characteristics, while allowing moderate power loss and permitting variable speeds. A study of the dynamic interaction of rolling elements is, therefore, the subject of this text. Texts covering the analysis and design methodology of rolling elements are very limited. Notable works include Analysis of Stresses and Deflections (Jones, 1946, Vols. I and II), Ball and Roller Bearings, Their Theory, Design and Application (Eschmann, Hasbargen, and Weigand, 1958), Ball and Roller Bearing Engineering (Palmgren, 1959, 3rd ed. ), Advanced Bearing Technology (Bisson and Anderson, 1965), and Rolling Bearing Analysis (Harris, 1966).
Whether the reader wants to knows how their NASCAR heroes achieve their superspeedway feats or how to get the most of their own cars at the local track on Friday nights, this illustrated guide provides the answers. Topics like positioning, drafting, passing, cornering, proper lines and pit strategies are illustrated with color photos and specially commissioned illustrations. Also featured are comments from top NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte and Jeff Burton. A must-have guide for armchair fans as well as burgeoning local-track stars.