17Apr/102
What is the best way to learn automotive technology and engineering?
I like to do the things you see people in the fast and furious movies I like to pitch, etcPor please give suggestions that are not like the school of the car. Books and other things would be fine. Thanks!
April 17th, 2010 - 04:34
well, you’re in the right place. I would use the internet to its full capacity and do some research here. Yahoo (search engine) can help you find the pages where people talk about cars, and you can search published articles and even peoples opinions and personal experience. This may be BETTER than what you can read in a book published maybe 10 years ago. You can look at sites like car and driver and even car forums (find with a search engine) to find what specifically interests you. If someone uses a term or phrase you don’t understand, use wikipedia.org to find its meaning. Or just ask a more specific question here in the automotive section. Then, after you have gained some insight, you can decide if some school or automotive literature is right for you. Heck, you can read reviews on automotive literature online!
Personally, I am an engineer, but I have to learn much of what I know about cars online from car forums, online videos, and even online encyclopedias. Don’t be afraid to spend a few hours of your free time to search these things. I find it much more valuable than looking through a bookstore or watching races on TV. Go to as many websites as you can and eventually you will ind a common answer for what you are looking for.
April 17th, 2010 - 05:31
I honestly think experience can’t be beat. If you have a thousand dollars or so, get an old beat up car, and start restoring it. As far as schools, I would recommend Wyoming Tech because of some of the friends I have that have gone there, and what they do now. There are lots of good schools out there, but it really does come down to experience when you’re wanting to do custom work. ASE certification is out there, but that applies a lot more to stock repair than it does performance, although the ASE certifications are not bad to have.