REVIEWED: AERODYNAMICS GUIDE
COMPETITION CAR AERODYNAMICS A Practical Handbook
When I was given this to review, I had a quick skim through and my immediate reaction was that this would have been such a useful book to have had when I started in motorsport.
Then I read the first chapter and realised this history of race car aerodynamics pretty much covered my 35 years in the sport. I lived through a period of amazing development and I can confirm that we have come a very long way in our application of aerodynamics to racing machinery. I remember my early days in the 1/4-scale tunnel at Imperial College as we added downforce to our cars completely oblivious to sensitivities – how could we have been so naive? Competition Car Aerodynamics – A Practical Handbook, by Simon Mcbeath, is exactly what it says it is: a practical guide to the application of aerodynamic understanding in regards to racing cars. This 305-page third edition comprises 10 chapters plus five appendices and includes a foreword by Willem Toet, a Formula 1 aerodynamicist with more than 30 years’ experience.
This book is comprehensively illustrated, with clearly labelled diagrams, graphs and pictures. What makes it a great read, whether you are just starting your motorsport career or are simply an armchair enthusiast wanting to understand more, is that it assumes you know very little about aerodynamics.
But it doesn’t dumb the subject down – instead it walks you steadily through each topic, building up your understanding. It’s not heavy on the mathematics side and some understanding of simple equations would be useful if you want to apply the theory to your vehicle.
It gets started with the basics – what is the effect of downforce and drag on your car, and what will it cost you in terms of horsepower versus the gain in cornering speed? – before moving on to discuss where these magical forces come from. The chapters cover various topics, from a brief flirt with CFD (computational fluid dynamics), to wings and underbody aero. The practicalities of measuring these aerodynamic forces are also explained before Mcbeath moves onto case studies including F1 examples, drafting stock cars, sports-prototypes and the effect of yaw and zero downforce in single-seaters.
The book concludes with Mcbeath’s final thoughts and advice on how the reader can use their new knowledge. Although he breaks down the various appendages into chapters, Mcbeath always reminds the reader to remember to view a racing car holistically. It’s a complicated animal and solutions don’t always transfer from one vehicle to the next.
I enjoyed reading this book.
The complexities of race car aerodynamics are often alluded to but never allowed to burden the narrative. Typically, aerodynamic development at the highest levels of motorsport is focused on sensitivities as well as downforce and efficiency. Driveability is key, good entry stability and minimal mid-corner understeer and excellent traction are the utopia of vehicle handling. But no-one is going to write that book – it’s all too current. MARK WILLIAMS
RRP £37.50 ISBN 978-1-787111-02-8