The Nor'Easter - October 2015

NEW BOOKS
Physics for Gearheads: An Introduction to Vehicle Dynamics, Energy, and Power - with Examples from Motorsports

Earlier this year Bentley sent me Physics for Gearheads to review. I've held back, because I didn't want the review to be so early you wouldn't remember to put it on your holiday shopping list. Because you absolutely should!

As a driver, the information is invaluable. As a gearhead, it's detailed, and deeply fascinating. As a car owner it's instrumental to understanding what your car does and why. As an armchair physicist, it's just a lot of fun!

The book is a true lesson in physics. So if you haven't thought about physics since high school, and high school was a while back, this is a refresher course made interesting by our mutual obsession with cars. If you're a racer or DE driver, and physics is way, way back in your rearview mirror, you're seriously missing out on the advantage true understanding of every aspect of what you're doing out there, because it is ALL physics. When you understand the dynamics of a torque curve, mixed with the centrifugal force applied in a corner to eeek out every millisecond of power, you're way, way ahead of the game. And the name of the game is speed.

So if you are at all precision inclined, and you own, race or drive a high performance car, this book is indispensable. Get it on your list!

Review from and courtesy of The Nor'Easter - The Official Magazine of the Porsche Club of America Northeast Region - October 2015

http://www.porschenet.com/noreaster-online/