Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
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For most people performance is something you read on the tach. If you are among those few people who think that a Fiat 500 at 99,995% of its potential is going faster than a McLaren F1 at 98% of its potential, then you cannot miss this book, unless you've already won a world championship... maybe.

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.

This is the perfect book if you really want to "Go Faster." I have reread this book so many times that the cover is bent. The techniques mentioned in this book can carry over to any car you drive. I race karts, and the minute I really read and understood what is mentioned, I started "Going Faster" and won my first race. I also held the fastest time for the year at my track. Great book, I highly reccomend it.

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Shawn C.

I picked up this fantastic book after a Skip Barber 2-day driving school at Lime Rock, CT. A perfect compliment to that course it expanded on the topics the instructors could only touch upon- and the numerous pictures, diagrams and graphs really help the reader understand the theoretical concepts. Nothing is better than seat time, but I have no doubt that I am a more capable and knowledgeable driver after reading, and rereading this book.

I am currently reading this book along with Speed Secrets, and they are the perfect pair. Speed Secrets introduces you to the concept, and gives you a little information on it to familiarize you with it, and then, the next day, I read over the same material in "Going Faster", and it has more extensive information to hammer home the point, and to give you more of the how's and why's.

I have never raced cars but have developed an interest in the subject, so this is written from a layman's perspective. My background is in computer engineering; I've recently read "Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics", providing me with a basic background of the physics affecting cars.

That said, my one area of disappointment relating to this book is in its treatment of technical subjects. The book strives to describe complex physical phenomena in terminology accessible to the least technically-inclined among us. This goal is worhwhile, and I could understand simplification of the subject matter. However, it's not just a matter of simplification: there are items that appear to me to be factually wrong. The claims seem "kinda right", and essentially correct conclusions are drawn, but it's a case of the ends justifying the means. A particularly worrisome example (for those who have already read the book) is the initial discussion of tire slip angles.

Once the book settles into the primary topic of what a driver has to do when behind the wheel, I found the it to be an approachable and helpful introduction to the world of racing. Many of the techniques provided utilize heuristics rather than detailed analyses; while my logical mind was sometimes left wanting for a more rigorous treatment, the approach used is probably the only workable one given the length of the book, the target audience, and the highly-complex and constantly-changing nature of race driving.

Going Faster tells us exactly how to go faster. And it does so in a scientific manner, using both theories and actual practice.

What's really great about this book is that it's like a text book. While that might turn some people off, that's exactly the strength of this book. It teaches you, step by step, what you have to do to minimize your time around the track.

It tackles subjects such as the Racing Line, Turning, Braking and Entering, Accelerating off the corner... and it does so in a methodical manner. It not only teaches you HOW to do what you're supposed to do in a racecar, it also teaches you WHY. And that deepens your understanding, and consequent practice, of the techniques of racing.

If I had a list of 5 books on racing, this one would definitely be in that list.

Going Faster approaches race driving from a very technical perspective. The book investigates racing lines, techniques, and some preparation subjects by paying attention to the underlying physics. The writing is crisp and clean without coming off as childish. Peppered with quotes from real drivers, this book is very approachable and readable.

The result is a wonderful book that you can read from cover to cover, or flip open to review something that's giving you trouble.

What's lacking? There's nearly no treatment of the driver himself. There's no way to learn what to think about before the race, how to mentally prepare yourself. Or how to achieve consistent results, or deal with mistakes. For that, you'll want a Ross Bentley book.

This 278 page book is all about driving. If you were like me and cant understand how you could write 278 pages just on driving, your in for a real treat. This book is a racers bible. Teaches you the fastest way through a turn, how to find out how much side load your tires can withstand, how to run in someones draft, how to avoid accidents, what driving line to use in the rain,passing, lowering lap times, diffent ways to shift gears, deal with oversteer and understeer. I can go on and on. This book has improved my overall driving as an everyday daily driver. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their racing or just improve your overall driving.

I read "Going Faster" from cover to cover before participating in a 3 day Skip Barber Racing School program at Laguna Seca Raceway (Monterey, CA). This book is not only one of the most informative accounts on the techniques of both fast driving and competition racing, but is an enjoyable read as well. The content has it all, from basic car control, to much more complex technical information regarding car setup, and physics of a race car. I found this book to be both informative AND inspiring, which speaks volumes in itself. Regardless of whether you are an armchair racer, gamer, autocrosser, club racer, or pro, this book offers something for everyone. I have also read many of the other standards on auto racing (Bob Bondurant's guide to high performance racing, and Carrol Smith's "Drive to Win"), and "Going Faster" offers the best of both worlds. If I had to choose one "Bible of Racing," this would most certainly be it! Worth Every Penny!

I've been hot lapping on road courses for about 6 yrs now, but I was still able to get a lot out of this book. They say Skip Barber's classes are among the best, so that's why I took a chance on this book. Money well spent! This book would be great for a beginner, but also has finer points that would benefit drivers of all levels. The photos were very clear and helped support the text well. Racing is really like anything, you need to understand the fundamentals. If you're going to go out on a course, or even just want to control your car better around city streets, this book can take you to the next level.