Inspired to Design (eBook)

F1 cars, Indycars & racing tyres: the autobiography of Nigel Bennett

Nigel Bennett (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2020
176 Seiten
Veloce (Verlag)
978-1-78711-696-2 (ISBN)

Infos

Nigel Bennett's unique autobiography describes his life and career, from growing-up influenced by car design, to his education and the building of his 750 specials. He describes his work as Firestone Development Manager, recounting many tales of the outstanding designers and drivers of the period. Detailing his work in Formula 1, as a Team Lotus engineer, and then as Team Ensign designer, he also covers his Indycar designs at Theodore, Lola Cars and Penske Cars. Life after his retirement, his involvement in boat design and with modern F1 teams, are also recounted.

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The differences between running an Indy car on a road circuit and an oval are described, as is the struggle to get the best from a car for the Indy 500 - a task which is described with unusual clarity. Nigel also tells the story of the 'Big Beast' - the Mercedes pushrod engine that won the 1994 Indy 500.
Sharing in detail his own view of the importance of suspension geometry, and how it deviates from present practices, this book also includes personal views on the Penske years from a number of motor sport figures, and those of a rival Indy car designer Bruce Ashmore. A fascinating first-hand behind-the-scenes insight.
Included in the story is considerable detail of Nigel's eight years spent with the Firestone European Racing Division, covering an area vital to racing car performance, plus the relationship between a tyre company and its leading contracted team. The 60s and 70s were rife with tyre wars, and many interesting stories unfolded during those decades. With descriptions of the importance of the Race Engineer to the driver, and to a team's competitiveness, Nigel offers detailed insight to how an engineer worked with a car and tuned its set-up in an era before computer readouts and telemetry came to dominate.

Autor

Nigel Bennett was one of Britain's most successful racing car designers of the 80s and 90s. His Indycars won 79 races, five National Drivers Championships, five Constructers Championships and five Indy 500 wins.
He raced his home-built 750F car, and was Development Manager for the Firestone Racing Division, working with Team Lotus, Ferrari, BRM, Hesketh, Porsche and JW Automotive.
He worked at Hesketh Racing before moving on to Team Lotus, and was engineer to Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson, becoming Chief Engineer to Colin Chapman. Designer of the Ensign F1 and Theodore Indy cars, Nigel was head-hunted by Lola Cars, later becoming Penske Cars' Chief Designer, a position he held for eight years.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 27.1.2020
• Verlagsort: Exeter
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Themenwelt: Natur / Technik ► Fahrzeuge / Flugzeuge / Schiffe ► Auto / Motorrad
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport ► Motor- / Rad- / Flugsport
• Schlagworte: Indycar, Indy Racing League, IRL, 500, Penske, Firestone, Lotus, Ferrari, BRM, Hesketh, Porsche, JW Automotive, Mario Andretti, Ronnie Peterson, Colin Chapman, F1, Formula 1, Theodore, Lola, Rick Mears, Chuck Sprague, Nigel Beresford, Bruce Ashmore, ground effect, Mauro Forgheiri, Jim Clarke, Jackie Stewart, Jo Siffert
• ISBN-10: 1-78711-696-4 / 1787116964
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78711-696-2 / 9781787116962