Race car design book

[rhyspw]

I was hoping that someone could recommend some books to read on the following:

Space frame chassis design
Suspension geometry design coupled with the design

I want to design my own race car space frame chassis. It will be for a Tvr based race car, so will have a fibreglass shell around it. It will be Ls powered.

I have access and use Catia daily as well as FEM tools.

I just want to do a lot of reading first. Any recomendations appreciated.

[RacerMike]

Milliken and Milliken would be a good place to start for suspension and vehicle dynamics. Remember though that it's very theoretical, and by far and a way the best way to get good results is to study what's done on top end race cars whilst bearing in mind the theory so you can see why certain things work.

[Dr Slotter]

As above and also 'Competition Car Suspension' which is a bit more accessible.

[Mr_Thyroid]

there's the Ron Champion book, How to Build Your Own Race Car if you want a more practical 'how to' guide.

[americancrx]

The books I used were:

"Mechanical design of machines and machines" by Jack Collins - the main book you'll need to design the frame itself.
"Prepare to Win" by Carroll Smith - shop practice and the race car design mentality.
"Race Car Vehicle Dynamics" by Milliken and Milliken - the first book you need for tires and suspension. Skip all of the shorter/"less technical" texts - they miss a lot and you'll get lost trying to fill the gaps to be able to do the design.
"Think Fast" by Neil Roberts - the Texas A&M Racing secrets on how to prioritize a racecar design and build.

Collins provides the "Failure Prevention" perspective to design and it's a great "cookbook" for machine parts.
Smith summarized Bruce McLaren's way to build a car and win. Nobody was ever better at it.
Milliken summarized what Jim Hall and GM Vehicle Dynamics learned from the Chaparrals.
Roberts designed the Swift ChampCars. The first one won its first race.

[rhyspw]

thanks all for the above ill get them ordered

[nsa]

Anything you can find by Alan Staniforth will be helpful for suspension and general preparation. I've got most of the books above and only Ron Champion's Build Your Own Sportscar had a chapter on spaceframes that I could see.

Some other authors worth looking out for:

Paul Van Valkenburgh
Mike Mavgrigan
Fred Puhn

Good luck.