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dankspeed
dankspeed Reader
11/20/10 9:19 a.m.

My family has asked what i would like for xmas. I enjoy a good read. What are some good "car related" books to have?

Thanks Dan

parker
parker New Reader
11/20/10 9:26 a.m.

The Art of Racing in the Rain.

RoosterSauce
RoosterSauce Reader
11/20/10 9:30 a.m.

Anything by Ross Bentley.

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy HalfDork
11/20/10 9:42 a.m.

Paul Newmans racing career-not exactly an indepth read, but interesting anyway.

Woody
Woody SuperDork
11/20/10 11:12 a.m.
parker wrote: The Art of Racing in the Rain.

If I haven't thrown away my copy yet (I may have), you can have it.

That book sucks.

M030
M030 HalfDork
11/20/10 11:15 a.m.

Cheesy title. Damn good book.

Platinum90
Platinum90 SuperDork
11/20/10 11:36 a.m.

The unfair advantage in reprint. I LOVE that book.

GTwannaB
GTwannaB Reader
11/20/10 11:54 a.m.

The Man in the White Suit: The Stig, Le Mans, the Fast Lane and Me

friedgreencorrado
friedgreencorrado SuperDork
11/20/10 12:07 p.m.

A terrible title for a great book: "A French Kiss with Death". Micheal Keyser's tale of how the film "Le Mans" was made (also includes a bio of Steve, and the history of the 24 Heurs du Mans).

http://www.amazon.com/French-Kiss-Death-Michael-Keyser/dp/0837602343

Big ego
Big ego SuperDork
11/20/10 12:40 p.m.

"Truck" Is a great book. http://www.amazon.com/Truck-Rebuilding-Worn-Out-Post-Technological-Adventures/dp/0874517559/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1290278285&sr=8-1

"Racing safely; Living Dangerously" by Bill Simpson. Love the man or hate him; He did some interesting stuff in his day. Just thought of him going to a drag strip and selling his fire suits to drivers by setting himself on fire is insane. http://www.amazon.com/Racing-Safely-Living-Dangerously-Motorsports/dp/0892725184/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290278344&sr=1-1

aeronca65t
aeronca65t Dork
11/20/10 1:37 p.m.

Obvious choice:

Build Your Own Sports Car for as Little as £250 and Race It! -- Ron Champion


Another obvious one (and GRM member here...I really enjoyed this book)

How to Build a Cheap Sports Car (Motorbooks Workshop) -- Keith Tanner


Here's one by a local northeast racer...a good guy.What this book really points out is that a lot of people talk about racing for years but don't actually do it. Many guys will endlessly hold back from racing, when the truth is, it ain't that complicated (or expensive). I think this book takes away some of the fears or misconseptions.

Go Ahead-Take the Wheel by Dave Gran

Giant Purple Snorklewacker
Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
11/20/10 2:12 p.m.
Woody wrote:
parker wrote: The Art of Racing in the Rain.
If I haven't thrown away my copy yet (I may have), you can have it. That book sucks.

Hahahaha!

+eleventy-billion

It's spiritual sequel to Marley and Me. It is a DOG book people. OK, well, philosopher dog... anyway. Stop pimping this tear-jerk crap off as a "Racing" book.

triumph5
triumph5 HalfDork
11/20/10 2:19 p.m.

ANYTHING by

Carroll Smith

Paul von Vaulkengerg (sp) (Tune To Win; Design to Win...etc...

How to Make You Car Handle by___I forgot

ANY of the Automobile Quarterlly books, found in many used book stores.

Book released a month or two ago, and announed on this site, on how to tune a fuell injected car. Covers Megasquirt, etc...

"Performance Welding"

The Stainless Steel Carrot, a great look into the under 2 liter Trans Am Class, as told by John Morton.

All around good quick reference book, lots of fornula, tensile strengths, sizes, properties, even first aid: The Pocket Ref, available at any TrueValue hardware Store, often at the register.

Lastlly, cruise ANY good used book store in the car section and the engineering section. You'd be amazed at how much cheaper certain books are. Even the big coffee table Glossy ones.

Yeah, I read a lot.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker
Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
11/20/10 2:24 p.m.

Not car related but excellent:

The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan is a a very good explanation of the Scientific Method for non-scientists with a lot of great applications to general superstition. I would make this required reading for every high school teacher first - then every student from then on.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker
Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
11/20/10 2:29 p.m.

Car related that have made the most "Ahhhh so thats how that works..." moments for me:

  • Competition Car Suspension: A Practical Handbook by Allan Staniforth
  • How to Make your Car Handle by Fred Puhn (mentioned above)
peter
peter New Reader
11/20/10 2:44 p.m.

If you've ever wanted to take a Skip Barber class but couldn't afford it, try their book "Going Faster! Mastering the art of Race Driving". Their 3-day racing school essentially takes those lessons and distills them into classroom sessions and track sessions. I read it before taking the class and it was full of "aha! so that's why..." moments.

red5_02
red5_02 New Reader
11/20/10 2:53 p.m.

Driving Like Crazy: Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-bending, Celebrating America the Way It's Supposed To Be -- With an Oil Well in Every Backyard, a Cadillac in every carport, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Mowing Our Lawn by PJ O'Rourke.

That's the title. And the rest of the book is just as entertaining.

friedgreencorrado
friedgreencorrado SuperDork
11/20/10 3:34 p.m.
red5_02 wrote: Driving Like Crazy: Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-bending, Celebrating America the Way It's Supposed To Be -- With an Oil Well in Every Backyard, a Cadillac in every carport, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Mowing Our Lawn by PJ O'Rourke. That's the title. And the rest of the book is just as entertaining.

I don't share PJ's politics..but I love his writing, and especially his writing about cars (I'm one of those who read his pieces in Car and Driver). And I highly recommend this book!

EDIT: Found the text of PJ's C&D article about pickups, but can't find the wonderful illustration of how to achieve equal weight balance in one (it was a pickup upside down in a ditch with "0%" over each axle).

barnca
barnca Reader
11/20/10 4:52 p.m.

anything from roger welch...

Marty!
Marty! Dork
11/20/10 5:46 p.m.

Not sure if this is up your alley, but this one will be on my Christmas list......

The poster formally known as 96DXCivic
The poster formally known as 96DXCivic SuperDork
11/20/10 6:17 p.m.

The Burt Levy books.

parker
parker New Reader
11/20/10 7:22 p.m.

Wow, I believe the OP said "car related". While I havn't finished it, Racing in the Rain has so far been a good read.

No it's not a technical manual, biography, or build a car in your basement book. It's a fun read that's "Car related".

The Burt Levy books are fun also. My favorite was the first one, don't recall the title.

wbjones
wbjones Dork
11/20/10 7:34 p.m.

Best Damn Garage In Town

jlm_photo
jlm_photo Reader
11/20/10 8:17 p.m.
The poster formally known as 96DXCivic wrote: The Burt Levy books.

Ditto. The new book is out...but you should read the other 3 before hand. I have enjoyed every minute of them. Don't get them unless you like to read....500 pages or more each.

http://www.lastopenroad.com

stroker
stroker Reader
11/20/10 9:50 p.m.

The first:

http://www.amazon.com/Stand-Novel-Stroker-William-Neely/dp/0894040820/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290311329&sr=1-1

The second:

http://www.amazon.com/Team-Lotus-Indianapolis-Andrew-Ferguson/dp/1844255220/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1290311394&sr=1-1

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