How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer

Perfect for any racing fan. I've spent this weekend thoroughly engrossed in this account of the infamous Adrian Newey's life with cars. It spans from his earliest childhood memories to his current Formula One career with Redbull Racing / Redbull Advanced Technologies; charting both personal and professional insights with his likeable, firm but fair style. As a Formula One fan since childhood I was delighted to receive a review copy from the publisher to be able to compare to the many F1 autobiographies and history books I've read across the years; I have to say this is one of my personal favourites as Newey is such an innovator of the sport and has such breadth and history amongst the pivotal teams in the sport that it is packed with detail and such a unique insight. From the early days of Fittipaldi, the internal politics at Williams, Senna's tragic Imola crash, the regulation changes in the sport over the years, highs and lows at McLaren and the evolution of Redbull Racing, the story of Newey's career is told in a clever concept that charts the chapters by each one of his historic car design concepts from the March 83G to the RB8 and formats them as a race track (his early years are "On the Grid", then his career moves are each divided in to "turns" as a track is designed). This concept is inspired; helpful as a historical guide across modern F1 history and good for quick reference if you prefer to dip in and out of the book. This book would make an ideal purchase for anyone with a love of motorsport, but also any interested in engineering/aerodynamic concepts or design. The illustrations provided for each car are just fantastic and provide such detail about key features, specifically regulation change innovations. There is a lot of technical terminology used but most important concepts are explained within each discussion and there is a handy glossary at the back if anything needs further explanation. There is so much to love about this book and I have been raving about it to several fellow F1 fans. I found it provided some important opinion on a lot of key issues within the sport that have been talked about over the years (diffusers, KERS, team fallouts) ; to hear Newey's opinion and take on such matters (as he's not typically one of the outspoken people within the sport) was very interesting, and amongst other autobiographies such as Mark Webber's Aussie Grit etc you see a broad picture of what was often left unexplained or given a media spin at the time. I found it fascinating how despite being such an innovator of modern car technology Newey prefers old school drawing by hand to any technical computerised drawings; having an old drawing board that has literally followed him from each role. It is telling how Newey seems discontent with the current state of the sport, a feeling echoed by many fans, and perhaps clearly indicates the divide of direction that has crept up over the past decade.

Absolutely brilliant book,thoroughly enjoyed reading about Adrian’s remarkable career in F1,a true genius,who is without doubt,one of Formula One’s greatest designers.

Generally interesting and user-friendly, so very readable. Newey's work in terms of results speaks for itself and has been mostly excellent. Not so, unfortunately, for his ghost writer on this - his grammar is sometimes dodgy and there are quite a few solecisms. The book also seems to have benefitted from only superficial copy editing as there are frequent typos. However, Newey himself has a good story to tell, with many years of innovative thinking and doing; his approach is well portrayed by the illustrations (his freehand drawing). It's also fair to say that it takes some doing to explain the more arcane aspects of vehicle aerodynamics, and this book achieves that to some extent. For £10 this is really good value and is a nice thing in itself - size, weight, quality of paper/printing and binding.

A most enjoyable book that entertained and informed on a number of levels. I brought knowledge from A-level physics and applied maths in 1978 and watching the F1 cars at Brands Hatch, thus an enthusiast and fan with just enough knowledge to be dangerous and had just missed out on the very early days of aero and the wings on stilts. I didn't realise that Adrian Newey had been a race engineer for quite some time, in my ignorance I thought he was 'just' the leading aerodynamicist who had brought Red Bull their run of championships overcoming the handicap of not having the best drivers nor the best engines. I liked reading of how driven he was that he would be just physically present on family holidays whilst mentally far away, changing designs in his head or with paper and pencil, even having a great idea whilst staring out of an aeroplane window. I wasn't surprised at the developments in his personal life nor the limited amount of space in the book he allocated to describing them. I found the illustrations and technical descriptions in the early part of the book interesting but by the time we reached the last few chapters the technicalities were far too deep for my limited brain space and short attention span. I wasn't expecting great revelations of personal and working relationships - the author seems to be very much a self-contained engineer rather than a people person - but I thought he struck the right balance when talking about 'characters' he encountered along the way; just enough titillation to whet the appetite but no huge hatchet-jobs. The passage about the design, changes and build of Senna's car were poignant and gave a sense of the demons still within Newey's head. Perhaps only AN would wear goggles to go onto the podium because he didn't like Vettell spraying bubbly into his eyes, a lovely solution to the problem and it made me smile.

As a committed fan of Formula One, I, like many, have long regarded Adrian Newey as the ‘Senna’ of racing car designers. Someone who has an innate and super-natural understanding of his field and how to do it all just a bit better that slightly defies comprehension. The fact that he is seemingly a shy and private individual (a degree of reluctance to court self publicity is explained within) has added to the sense of mystery. This volume gives a (typically Newey) scientific and methodical insight into the making of the man and recounts his early life, education and development through a career which has seen his creations win sports-car championships, Indycar championships and ten Formula One constructors championships with three different teams. The culmination of these achievements, four ‘doubles’ where an upcoming Red Bull team took their first win and then four double drivers/constructors championships within five years. This is probably something that no designer for a private constructor (without the financial might of a major vehicle manufacturer) will ever equal. Newey reveals a great deal of himself as he takes us on the journey. He wasn’t seemingly a natural academic and struggled through many parts of his education. Something of a misfit, he was expelled from school. He very nearly left his degree course at Southampton (aeronautical engineering) because he found the maths so difficult. Few, if any during his early years would have tipped him for greatness. All fresh insights to me. What becomes apparent is that (like Senna, who sadly was the only driver so far to die in one of Newey’s cars) he doesn’t just possess some strange superpower. Whatever he has is leveraged by an immense degree of focus and fearsome determination to succeed, to prove the doubters (and there have been many) wrong. All of these qualities have been sintered in the ultra competitive crucible of motorsport. The inspirational aspect here is that it’s clear that nothing ever came easy to him. All the great successes followed periods where things went wrong and he was often racked with angst and self doubt as to why. Edison told us that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. I somehow doubt the truth of the ratio, but this book confirms the sentiment. A truly great read.

Adrian Newey is without doubt the best designer in Formula One, a fact substantiated statistically by his results. His book gives an interesting insight to his thought processes during many significant points in F1 history that are well known from the media coverage but not from the inside perspective. He covers his early days and how he came to be interested in motor racing and how he eventually managed to get into F1, his ultimate prize. It is interesting to hear the difficulties he had at Williams and McLaren and what was behind the circumstances of his departure. He also provides a lot of information on his design philosophy and provides diagrams, although I must say I found them both hard to see or understand. He gives some background to his personal life and the impact certain life events and work had in that quarter. There are a number of real highs and lows in the book but there is also a mix of humour that makes it both enjoyable and readable overall.

An interesting and thought-provoking book. One for the library.

Cover 5/5 Spot on for the subject and the hard cover version book handled well despite being not very aerodynamic. Contents. Found the first few chapters very entertaining. Nice to read more behind his reputation.Having known a woman who was the wife of a F1 team mechanic until she got fed up with him working all the time I understand why Newey's personal life was not over successful. It always amazes me how little time difference there is between the various teams.The whole business of pushing regulations and airflows was an interesting part of the book. Overall a good read. I have made arrangments to read Ross Brawn's book so it will make interesting comparative reading. Alexander of the Allrighters and Ywnwab!

Great book very informative about Fomula 1 and car design. A really good read.

Very informative while being entertaining. A look into the behind the scenes workings of the F1 circus. The result of dedicated passion and long hard hours of pursuing a satisfying fix to to never ending changes.

Bella edizione.

Bardzo szybka dostawa z odbiorem w sobotę, dobrze opakowana. A książki służą najczęściej do czytania...

Great book giving an interesting insight into the mind of a high impact person. Easy to read.