Quote:
Originally Posted by sgtlethargic
Is this book good for someone that wants to eventually build a car from scratch (or heavily modify a car or various body parts) in an attempt to get a very low CdA steeet-driven car?
What about your book?
I'm leaning toward not reading books (nor arguing on the internet) and just building a vintage-looking version of the Aerodynamic Streamlining Template.
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I've written lots of books - 20 at the last count. None of them cover building a car from scratch - I didn't see any point when 99 per cent of people who start that project never finish it.
Amateur Car Aerodynamics Sourcebook is a compilation of my AutoSpeed (online magazine I edited for a long time) articles that I put together in 2013. It's OK, but it has some generalisations that aren't accurate and its testing approaches are way behind what I do now. It was also researched at the level at which I do magazine articles - so only an occasional SAE paper cited, for example.
Modifying the Aerodynamics of Your Road Car is a much more detailed book. It benefits over the previous book in that (1) I worked with a professional aerodynamicist (
Dick Barnard) acting as a consultant, and (2) I did really detailed research (many SAE papers and all the major books ever published on car aero). It's the only book available in the world on modifying your road car's aero, and covers in detail drag reduction. When it was being written, the content was also reviewed by Adrian Gaylard (head of Jaguar aero), Joe Katz (professor of aerospace and author of multiple books and papers on car aero) and Willem Toet (F1 aerodynamicist). All gave feedback on the draft chapters that was included in the final book. This year I sent the book to Rob Palin (ex-Tesla), Dr Thomas Wolf (head of Porsche aero) and Dr Wolf-Heinrich Hucho (basically, the father of modern car aero). All three were very positive about the book.
Car Aerodynamic Testing for Road and Track is just a small book I brought out a few weeks ago. Basically, it takes the testing techniques that I covered in the above book and brings them up to the level I do now. It doesn't give much context or background - it just covers testing. The testing covers techniques that I have developed and, with the exception of measuring actual Cd (it covers
changes in Cd), gives you all the results achievable in a wind tunnel - at very little cost.
So yes, the latter two books are very appropriate for someone who wants to "heavily modify a car or various body parts in an attempt to get a very low CdA street-driven car".