Competition Car Aerodynamics 3rd Edition

Competition Car Aerodynamics 3rd Edition

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NeedMoreDeltaV posted on r/cartrackdays2w

Race Car Aerodynamics by Joseph Katz and Competition Car Aerodynamics by Simon McBeath are two books that I like. They cover a lot of the more mainstream concepts well without going too deep into the math and physics. McBeath's book is part of a small series of books covering aerodynamics, data logging, and composites, which is nice because those three things can kind of carry you in some basic development. For YouTube, KYLE.ENGINEERS is the only channel I will recommend. This channel has some videos that explain aerodynamic concepts and also does reviews of the aerodynamics of different cars, such as F1 cars, supercars, etc. They are a former Mercedes F1 aerodynamicist, but more critically, they are the only channel that recognizes that even an aerodynamicist can only make educated guesses on car designs without doing proper analysis. A lot of YouTube channels will look at pictures of cars' aero packages and say "this is what's going on." A lot of those channels are blatantly wrong on a lot of that stuff (I know because they've "reviewed" some cars I designed). Kyle instead will say "this is what looks like is going on, but I can't be sure without seeing analysis." That distinction is critical to their credibility and why they're the only channel I recommend. Unfortunately, aerodynamics, especially for something complex like a car, is a very deep topic and there's no real way to get around having a strong understanding of the math and physics to really understand what's going on. That said, if you're looking to put bolt on stuff and set up a car rather than designing parts from scratch you won't need to have that deep of an understanding. The fundamentals of downforce, drag, and aero balance and how that affects vehicle dynamics and top speed should be enough. I don't recommend trying to pick up and learn CFD unless you're ready to spend years of learning. There are a few companies now that market completely web browser based CFD simulation setup and cloud computing solving that abstract away a lot of the numerics and physics of CFD. I see a lot of hobbyists try to run CFD on their designs without really knowing what's going on, and it's a crap shoot whether their results are right or not. I think to start I'd recommend the books and YouTube. I personally wouldn't go dropping money like OP did before focusing on driver mod. Regularly pushing on limit handling is how you're going to be able to tell if your aero work is actually doing anything from a drivability standpoint. In terms of lap time, data logging is probably even more valuable. Simple data logging like speed trace and rpm trace is all you need at the basic level to tell if your aero setup work is helping or not.