Just for a bit of bed time reading, what books would you recommend to increase basic knowledge?

I thought there may be a long list by now. I've just ordered a copy of Build Your Own Sports Car. I'll start with that: )

while not really bedtime reading, a copy of the iva manual is essential

also this link has about 20 pages preview of a book that may help
How To Build a Cheap Sports Car
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9b1SyHTHKJIC

I went for 'build your own sports car for £250', 'build your own sports car on a budget', and 'how to build tiger avon or gta sports cars for road or track'.

The first one is a good start read but I've not really got much out of it. The second one is covered with oil, pages bookmarked and worn, and is pretty much on hand in the garage all the time. The third one is the bedtime reading, there's a few clever ideas and it also covers fitting a full body (the GTA bodykit).

There a quite few books written on building specials (austin/ ford/ morris etc.) which make for entertaining reading, but since these books were printed in the 50s and 60s. Their state might not something you want to have next to your bed.

I;m clearing out here;

http://www.shedworks.eu/books.html

Not kit cars, specifically, and a bit dated these days but I'd recommend Carroll Smith's '...to win' series.

Excellent stuff guys.

Fortunately it looks like I bought the right version Build Your Own Sports Car (on a Budget) and I've now got a copy of the How To Build a Tiger Avon on the way as well.

How about...

Build Yourself An English Wheel For £250, and build a car with it.

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Originally posted by Sam_68
Not kit cars, specifically, and a bit dated these days but I'd recommend Carroll Smith's '...to win' series.

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Seconded. They're a fantastic set of books

quote:

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Originally posted by Sam_68
Not kit cars, specifically, and a bit dated these days but I'd recommend Carroll Smith's '...to win' series.

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I also really enjoyed "Competition Car Composites" by Simon McBeath. Then again, I'm obsessed by them.

"Engineer to Win" by Smith is another classic - full of how to do it well, based on lots of stuff he's seen in the pit-lane.

"Porsche 956/962" was a great book - all about their approaches to Le Mans. It had lots of insane stuff in, like when they made magnesium space frames and they were very brittle. They were so worried about this that they pressurised the frame and gave the drive a pressure gauge. If he saw the pressure drop he knew he had a crack in the frame and had to pit. How mad is that?

"Race Car Chassis Design and Construction" by Aird is another classic. Full of great diagrams, photos and examples of what's good and what's not.