Chassis Engineering: Chassis Design, Building & Tuning for High Performance Handling

this book is written in a manner that the slightly above average guy can understand the concepts neededto design or work to tune automotive suspension systems.there is certainly enough information to get a basic understanding and a source or rather a springboard to a deeper understanding of suspension systems.anyone thinking of building a custom car, or some special purpose vehicle can certainly glean enough information so as not to make mistakes that are costly and take a lot of time to correct.great book in my opinion and highly recommend it.my interest is based on my next project being a cyclekart/car where i will be designing front and rear suspensions for the vehicle. at my age i don't like having to cut and try over and over again hoping to get lucky.or worse building something thinking i know what is needed only to find out after a rollover that i don't know what i think i do.highly recommend this book as an addition to ones library and further education.mobile_bob

I am In the process of building a rear chassis for an EZGO golf cart that can integrate a Yanmar 3 CYL turbo diesel. I have Never built a chassis before so this book really helped with the basics and break it down for a gear head to understand. I highly Recommend reading the book then investing in Bend-Tech Software it’s literally auto cad or solidworks for dummies. Good luck!

I bought several books which all gave valuable information on designing and building a race car. But this one to me was the most useful. It explains in simple terms everything on which the other books loose the practical approach and go into theory that is hard to apply.The section on chassis design was the most useful to me. Something as simple as building a model and testing the forces gave me the assurance that my design was sound. Much more than any calculations or computer models that I could've done.Thanks for this great book.

This is a good book to give you a factual primer on chassis and suspension design elements and concepts, from an author who has himself been successful in the field. As some reviewers have pointed out, it is not a deep dive into the subject. I do however think it's far more informative than any car magazine you'll read, especially if you're trying to get into automotive design. It's also useful for quick reference and refresh. Definitely worth buying, and I think a few of the reviews are a bit harsh.If you're seriously interested in the subject, I recommend reading this a couple of times to prime yourself, and then moving on to "Racing & Sports Car Chassis Design" by Michael Costin and David Phipps, and then "Race Car Engineering" by Warren J. Rowley.

informative

This book makes it easy to understand the fundamentals of chassis geometry and dynamics.The different forces acting on the car during acceleration, braking, cornering and when the suspension is compressed, are explained. How these forces affect handling, due to lack of rigidity of various parts of the car is thoroughly explained. There is much focus on:* live rear axle (stiff), as opposed to independent* round/oval track requirements* rear wheel driveThere is not so much focus on (or neglected):* independent rear suspension* front wheel driveOverall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a thorough understanding of how an why a car handles the way it does, and how handling can be improved. It is a good place to start if you want to optimise your car, or even consider designing your own.

First of all I should say this isn't a terrible book. The main issue I had with it is that it is very oriented towards a type of racing and type of technology that isn't applicable to my interests.This is very "American" in terms of its content and point of view. The author is a former engineer for GM, came up through the production car ranks (true to form many references are made to "cost", which usually isn't the first concern of a racer) before stepping into racing, and the emphasis is on oval track cars, solid axles suspension types, and related topics. If you come from the world of independent suspensions and road racing, you might find it amusing when he refers to types of independent rear suspensions as "Corvette" and "Jaguar" and cringe when he illustrates how to bend axle housings on solid axles cars to change camber and toe "settings". Independent suspensions are given a cursory overview and treatment, but it's clear the author isn't as comfortable talking about them or have the depth of expertise as compared to other suspension alternatives.That said, I did learn more about the world of solid (or live) axle suspension types, while not directly useful to my pursuits, did expand my knowledge of how they work, the applications they are better suited for, and their comparative advantages to their independent cousins.If you are looking for a great alternative to this book, I highly, highly recommend Fred Puhn's "How to Make Your Car Handle" also available here on Amazon, of course. Ignore the kind of hokey title, it's packed full of useful, practical information and does an excellent job of explaining some pretty complex topics.