Archive for Items Categorized 'Technology', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

The Wilson Preselector Gearbox, Armstrong Siddeley-Type

by Peter “Banjo” Meyer

It’s all in the name: preselecting allows you to call up the next gear, usually with the transmission remaining in the current gear until you press the “gear change pedal,” thereby obviating the need to master timing clutch to shift lever. It’s complicated. This book explains all.

The Dynamics of the Race Car

by Danny Nowlan

Theories, concepts, and equations explore the underpinnings of car handling and speed. The book also teaches how to analyze setup data and driver performance.

The Human Archaeology of Space

Lunar, Planetary and Interstellar Relics of Exploration

by Peter Joseph Capelotti

Capelotti teaches archaeology and concerns himself with both terrestrial and aerospace archaeology. Here he successfully achieves his goal of gathering “into a single source the data on the artifacts that Homo Sapiens have discarded in space and place them into the framework of archaeology.”

One Formula – 50 Years of Car Design

by Gordon Murray and Philip Porter  

“Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” – the extraordinary legacy of oenophile, soap box racer, and Bob Dylan disciple Gordon Murray. He is the man who also created the road-going sports car that won Le Mans, who designed  F1 cars that won 50 Grands Prix, and who is still pushing every envelope he can find.

One Man’s Vision

by Marjorie Teetor Meyer

Industry leader, SAE president, Automotive Hall of Famer. But do you know of him?? Next time you engage that “Speedostat” (aka cruise control) give a thought to Teetor who invented it and many other things—and was blind! (Don’t play with knives, kids.)

Motorola [Two books about_]

Those pesky batteries, always prone to run out when you need them most. Enter, Motorola. That was 1928. Motorola, Inc divided itself into two companies in 2011, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, still run from longtime Chicago facilities. We look at two books.

A Grand Complication

by Stacy Perman

This gripping social commentary and fine character study pins two men against each other who yearn to add the most complicated watch ever to their collections.

Details – Legendary Sports Cars Up Close: 1965–1969

by Wilfried Müller

“Up close” means just that—views from angles or in settings you don’t often see in books. And for American readers many of the 60 cars shown here will be outliers they’ve probably not seen in real life anyway.

Reid Railton, Man of Speed

by Karl Ludvigsen

In its award presentation, the Royal Automobile Club called this book “magisterial.” No argument. A Railton obit referred to him as “an exceedingly capable engineer and designer.” No argument. Finally here’s a book to tell the full story.

WO Bentley Rotary Aero Engines

by Tom Dine

Yes, we already posted a review of this book here but it wasn’t written by us. The book, and the circumstances of its publication, are important enough to re-review it once more but with more detail.

How to Build a Car

by Adrian Newey

If only really smart people can design race-winning cars then just how smart must someone be whose designs have won over 150 Grands Prix? An unexpectedly gifted writer, Newey reveals the man behind the cliché of the geeky designer in his ivory tower.

The Perfect Car

by Nick Skeens

If volatility of temperament is a measure of competence then Barnard should be counted a genius. And he is, because he really was. The exasperating perfectionist who cut down anyone and anything in his way makes for an intense story.

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