How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer
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‘Adrian has a unique gift for understanding drivers and racing cars. He is ultra competitive but never forgets to have fun. An immensely likeable man.’ Damon Hill
The world s foremost designer in Formula One, Adrian Newey OBE is arguably one of Britain s greatest engineers and this is his fascinating, powerful memoir.
How to Build a Car explores the story of Adrian s unrivalled 35-year career in Formula One through the prism of the cars he has designed, the drivers he has worked alongside and the races in which he s been involved.
A true engineering genius, even in adolescence Adrian s thoughts naturally emerged in shape and form he began sketching his own car designs at the age of 12 and took a welding course in his school summer holidays. From his early career in IndyCar racing and on to his unparalleled success in Formula One, we learn in comprehensive, engaging and highly entertaining detail how a car actually works. Adrian has designed for the likes of Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, always with a shark-like purity of purpose: to make the car go faster. And while his career has been marked by unbelievable triumphs, there have also been deep tragedies; most notably Ayrton Senna s death during his time at Williams in 1994.
Beautifully illustrated with never-before-seen drawings, How to Build a Car encapsulates, through Adrian s remarkable life story, precisely what makes Formula One so thrilling its potential for the total synchronicity of man and machine, the perfect combination of style, efficiency and speed.
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Additional information
| Publisher | 1st edition (2 Nov. 2017), HarperCollins |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 400 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 000819680X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0008196806 |
| Dimensions | 19.1 x 3.8 x 24 cm |
by Ria
My son is an avid F1 fan and has followed Adrian Newey for a while now. So I brought this for his birthday, he was over the moon.
by Gembalaya
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.
by Jonathan Flack
Well written engaging autobiography of Adrian Newey even for those who aren’t interested in F1
by Kindle Customer
Very enjoyable book I loved reading about the journey of the greatest motorsport car designer of all time. Thank you so much for writing this book Adrian!
P. S. You can add the 2021, 2022 and 2023 (probably) drivers’ championship and the 2022 teams’ championship to your collection.
by Mark Dyer
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.