My new book - A Century of Car Aerodynamics

[JulianEdgar]

My new book - A Century of Car Aerodynamics - is now available.

While writing it, I had a number of people giving me feedback on the draft. Here are some of their comments:

"Someone once said that to know where you are going you need to know where you have come from. Julian Edgar's new book provides car aerodynamicists with a vivid and detailed understanding of how we got here over the past 100 years." - Jeff Howell, Visiting Professor Loughborough University and former head of Aerodynamics at Rover, Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors European Technical Centre.

"This book takes you on a fascinating and engrossing journey through the history of automotive aerodynamics, highlighting notable milestones in learning and technology, but also bringing real humanity to some of the illustrious names of the field, and adding illuminating context to their work." - Rob Palin, Tesla lead aerodynamcist for the development of the Model S

"A fascinating and well-researched trip through history that will expand the understanding of anyone interested in vehicle aerodynamics." - Jon Young, aerodynamics enthusiast on EM

[JulianEdgar]

Publicity pic.

[JulianEdgar]

Back cover blurb:

Covering every decade from the 1920s until now, this book reveals an incredible array of fascinating and advanced aerodynamic designs – cars shaped to cheat the wind or stick to the road.

Meet an automotive inventor so weird he’d taken a vow of silence and had to communicate by writing notes… discover one of the lowest-drag cooling systems ever used in a production car… and see how the science and art of car aerodynamics have progressed over the last 100 years.

Written with the full cooperation of car aerodynamicists from Porsche, Tesla, General Motors and Volkswagen, the coverage is detailed and accurate. Over 60 individual cars are described – from the tiny Fiat Uno to the mighty Bluebird Land Speed Record car.

Learn about wings and spoilers, the Kamm tail and how today’s low-drag electric cars are being developed. Be amazed that some cars built over 80 years ago have better aerodynamic figures than many current cars. See rare concept cars from Mercedes, Ford and Chrysler.

Researched on three continents and containing more than 450 photos, diagrams and graphs, this book will forever change how you view car aerodynamics.

[freebeard]

I hope you do well with it.

[JulianEdgar]

Thank you.

Financially my books provide little and so I basically just do them for the learning that I gain, and the thought that hopefully I can share that learning with others.

I hope the book does well, if only to acknowledge the unstinting help that people like Jeff Howell, Thomas Wolf, Rob Palin, Wolf-Heinrich Hucho and Jon Young gave me during its development.

Most regulars here would have at least some knowledge of car aero history, primarily through the efforts of Aerohead. But putting car aero development into a formal time sequence, using really credible sources and with the content overseen by real experts, gives the coverage a very different flavour to anything else I have seen.

[freebeard]

Last night I was wondering if you could post an excerpt, on Fuller's Omnidirectional Transport. This morning I find:

I was reading tonight about Buckminster Fuller's 1930s “omni-medium, jet-propelled 4D transport” that he proposed. A car with inflatable collapsible wings that could travel by road, sea or air. Trouble is, to work, it required inventions that hadn't actually yet been made. And still haven't been.

This tells me you've seen the preprototype design work. Relevant to the 'Why don't cars have wings' thread.

The 'stilt-jet' has been made (Hawker Harrier), the inflatable wing has been made (Goodyear Inflatoplane). What's left?

Could you show your work for this one aspect? I don't have room for another book.

[JulianEdgar]

That's nice - currently number 1 in new automotive engineering releases on Amazon!

[JulianEdgar]

I have just realised that I can probably do a discount on this book to EM members. If you are interested:

- send me a PM
- tell me your postal address and phone number (Amazon requires both)

...and I'll send you a price. Payment would be via PayPal.

I can't tell how much the discount will be until I see where you live.

Same also applies to Aero Testing 2nd edition.

[aerohead]

what difference would it make?

[freebeard]

Amazon gets to feed it's database.