Red Bull Racing F1 Car - Owner's Workshop Manual
Just a caveat, although Haynes publishes excellent workshop manuals that offer a complete teardown of the vehicle with maintenance procedures, this book is more like the Red Bull Racing Teams RB7 Hayne's pamphlet. It is packaged to look like a Haynes manual, but is more like a high-level look at the RB6 and the technical characteristics of the Red Bull F1 cars. There are some photographs where an older RB car is used to prevent proprietary/secret designs from being released.
If you're interested in Formula 1 cars and would like to know a bit more about what goes on with the design of the car, and from the perspectives of the mechanic, engineer, and driver, this book is highly recommended. If you want more engineering detail, this book won't help. It is more of a "behind the scenes" book, with gratuitous photographs of sexy Formula 1 car parts. I envy the Red Bull racing team's garage layout, complete with a mini-refrigerator with Red Bull beverages for EACH car stall! The tools and engineering that goes behind each car is absolutely amazing. The telemetry is read and processed at Red Bull HQ in a mission control room that puts NASA to shame. Just looking at the Red Bull team, there is an unparalleled level of passion, professionalism, precision, and performance within the team and its efforts in the cars.
I've seen bits and pieces about how Ducati Corse operates their Superbike and MotoGP teams, as well as Scuderia Ferrari and Formula 1. These are probably the highest levels of professional motorsports, and they are not kidding around. These teams make Government and military research and development programs look like shade-tree operations. It is not surprising that competition drives each of the teams towards perfection, and in the process, they are highly developed and organized programs. I got quite a few ideas just from reading this book that I hope to apply in my job, but it is unlikely any of them would see fruition based on the organizational culture. Reading this book really inspired me and challenged me to try and aspire to become more like these Formula 1 teams.
Overall: 4/5 stars, lots of photographs, diagrams, and cut-away illustrations. If you're looking for in-depth technical data ala a Hayne's manual, you won't find it here. Nonetheless, it belongs on your shelf if you're a gearhead/petrol head or into Formula 1 or motorsports.