Dune Buggy Quick Start Learning Guide
Get started on your race car project today with this Quick Start Learning Guide to help you choose books that will provide the best initial value, information and guidance.
Tips On Choosing Dune Buggy Books
Dune buggies are usually built from a VW beetle chassis or from scratch. If you are taking the VW donor approach, we suggest starting with one of the books oriented toward the bug chassis along side a basic book on vehicle handling (University level vehicle dynamics isn’t suggested unless you intend to race professionally)
If you are taking the scratch-build approach, the above type books are suggested, plus specialized books on chassis design, suspension design, metal fabrication and powertrain books suited to your concept. The suspensions used on 4×4 or off-road machines tend not to be documented in any race car design books, but other books on suspension design are readily applied to the high-travel type suspensions found off-road.
| Book Category | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chassis |  Chassis Engineering: Chassis Design, Building & Tuning for High Performance Handling  (4.5 / 5)Chassis Engineering is a great introduction to race car design. In a practical and down-to-earth way, it covers the fundamentals of how race cars handle and the requirements for designing and constructing a car. The book includes chapters on chassis design, suspension design, frame construction, aerodynamics and tuning. Overall it provides the reader with the foundation of how the key components of a race car work and interact together. Get "Chassis Engineering: Chassis Design, Building & Tuning for High Performance Handling":    | |||
| Chassis |  The Race Car Chassis : Design, Structures and Materials for Road, Drag and Circle Track Open- and Closed-Wheel Chassis  (4 / 5)Aspiring designers will find Forbes Aird's book on chassis design to be a good introduction to the fundamental purposes, structures and materials of race car (or road car) chassis. What the book might lack in formulas and design calculations, it makes up for in sheer breadth of chassis design and construction ideas. It provides sufficient information to the reader to leave them with a solid understanding of the various chassis types, materials and construction so they can make informed choices about designing their own chassis. Get "The Race Car Chassis : Design, Structures and Materials for Road, Drag and Circle Track Open- and Closed-Wheel Chassis": | |||
| Driving |  4-Wheel Freedom: The Art Of Off-Road Driving (4.5 / 5)Teaches basics of 4 wheel drive vehicles and off-road driving techniques. Chapters on basics of 4 wheel drive, selecting a 4x4, customizing and upgrading, and off-roading techniques. Off-road techniques include crawling, hills, recovery/winching, snow, ice, mud, and crossing streams. Get "4-Wheel Freedom: The Art Of Off-Road Driving": | |||
| Fasteners/Joining |  High Performance Hardware: Fastener Technology for Racers and Enthusiasts (4 / 5)High performance hardware provides both theory and extensive practical information on hardware and fasteners. It covers material properties that relate to fasteners as well as pretty much every type of fastener used on a race vehicle. Get "High Performance Hardware: Fastener Technology for Racers and Enthusiasts": | |||
| Materials/Fabrication |  Metal Fabricator's Handbook (4 / 5)Teaches welding techniques, metal forming, hammerforming and practical metal fabrication projects. Project include forming custom body panels, tanks, roll cages/safety cells and exhaust headers. Get "Metal Fabricator's Handbook": | |||
| Materials/Fabrication |  Racer's Encyclopedia of Metals, Fibers and Materials  (5 / 5)Provides introductory and more advanced information about metals, metal fatigue, composite fibers and the uses of a wide variety of materials in race cars. Get "Racer's Encyclopedia of Metals, Fibers and Materials": | |||
| Vehicle Dynamics/Handling |  How to Make Your Car Handle (5 / 5)Teaches how to improve vehicle handling through suspension and chassis modifications and understanding vehicle dynamics. Includes basic suspension theory on roll centers, roll axis, camber change, bump steer, anti-dive, ride rate, ride balance as well practical chassis modifications. Get "How to Make Your Car Handle": | |||
| Whole Car (Design and Build) |  Baja Bugs and Buggies: How to prepare VW-based cars for off-road fun and racing (4.5 / 5)Provides information on how to modify and build off-road buggies from a VW base. Include frames, roll cages, skid plates, engine/transaxle mods, suspension mods, tires, wheels, brakes, lights, electrical, fuel tanks, off-road breakdown solutions and driving/safety tips. Get "Baja Bugs and Buggies: How to prepare VW-based cars for off-road fun and racing": | |||
| Whole Car (Design and Build) |  Building a Dune Buggy - The Essential Manual: Everything you need to know to build any VW-based Dune Buggy yourself!  (3.5 / 5)Step-by-step guide to equipment and building techniques to construct a VW Beetle-based dune or beach buggy kit car. Covers donor vehicle and new parts selections, avoiding mistakes. Get "Building a Dune Buggy - The Essential Manual: Everything you need to know to build any VW-based Dune Buggy yourself!": | |||
| Whole Car (Design and Build) |  How to Build a Dune Buggy (3.5 / 5)As general guide to dune buggy construction. Includes steps and illustrations to guide the builder on selecting a frame, selecting and installing suspension and steering components, powertrain, fuel and electrical. This is not a design book but does provide some insights to those interested in dune buggy design. Get "How to Build a Dune Buggy": | |||
| Whole Car (Design and Build) |  How to Build Motorcycle-engined Racing Cars (4 / 5)How to design and construct a motorcycle engine powered race car. This book explains how select and integrate the engine into a car as well as the design of the other aspects such as chassis, powertrain, brakes, fuel, coolant and electrics. Get "How to Build Motorcycle-engined Racing Cars": |
More Information
For complete information on the design and construction of the Dune Buggy race car type and a full listing of books and learning resources, see our Dune Buggy race car type article.
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