Going Faster!: Mastering the Art of Race Driving: The Skip Barber Racing School [Paperback]

Pros:
1) it assumes you initially know nothing. And for most of us, even car fanatics, it is damn true. Actually 99.99999% of people don't know the difference between oversteer and understeer! the explanation given by most websites and magazines is absolutely incomplete and useless for a pilot. Did you know that a car whose rear is visibly leaning outside the trajectory is *NOT* necessarily oversteering? (actually it can be understeering!)
2) this books covers every possible aspect of racing, including insights in the world of racing, psychological aspects, preparation for the race, chassis setup, the role of hardware, limiting the damage in case of accidents and spins etc.
3) it's far from the useless belief that car control is a skill you're born with. It's a brutal demystification of the reality of racing
4) it's full of anecdotes and pearls of wisdom from the Skip Barber Racing School Instructors, which makes it more complete and more enjoyable to read. It's recommended even for the general motorsport enthusiast, and at the same time for the professional pilots, I didn't think this was possible...
5) it comes from multiple inputs. Far from the inevitably distorted theories of individuals, this book is very objective about where lap time comes from. If you talk to individual pilots, they tend to emphasize the importance of the aspect of racing which is most challenging for THEM, instead of emphasizing the objective importance of, say, higher corner exit speed vs. shorter braking distance. I heard more than one real pilot stressing the primary importance of perfect threshold braking... read this book and you will find out that for a good percentage of corners you DON'T use threshold braking (in order to speed up the turn-in phase) unlike everyone thinks, and anyway optimized braking zones are the least important thing for lap time. It goes to the extent of showing the output of data acquisition monitors of professional racers and apprentices, to point out the mistakes and to QUANTIFY them. I don't think other books do this. Every line of text made me discover new things.
6) other qualities that I cannot think about right now :-)

Cons:

1) for the most technically oriented, of course this book won't answer all the questions (it isn't an encyclopedy). For instance, many of you will want to know more about tire technology in order to exploit their potential better (which is a crucial skill). To satisfy any further curiosity, you should read technical books (indicated in this book, anyway). This one focuses on driving, but it does not overlook car technology which influences driving techniques and concepts. You simply may want a deeper "engineering" insight. Impossible to include everything...
2) it stresses the importance of the hand-eye coordination, but non soon enough. I would have put it in the first chapter. It is the source of so many mistakes, people tend to look at the car instead of looking forward. You must look at where you want to go, not at your car.
3) it doesn't replace a stage on track, nor days of practice. An instructor will do what this book can't. The problem is that an instructor (and a lot of practice) is needed to do what *ANY* book cannot do.

Bottom line: this book is absolutely a must read, it's the ideal first step to enter a new performance dimension.

--

Shawn C.