HOW TO BUILD A CAR is the understated title of Adrian Newey O.B.E.’s new autobiography. Recognised as the most successful aerodynamicist and design engineer in Formula 1 history, Newey’s book reveals the hard work and personal sacrifices that it takes to design and develop World Championship-winning racing cars.

As a boy, Newey was greatly influenced by his father, a Vet by profession but a prodigious tinkerer and owner of a number of interesting cars. Famously expelled from Repton Boarding School, Newey followed a different path to reach the career, even as a child, he knew he wanted to pursue.

In many ways, this book revolves around the story behind each of the winning cars he designed but stitched together by the thread of his personal life story. The illustrations of his design ideas are insightful and well explained and Newey does not evade mistakes he has made along the way but worked so hard to rectify and finally succeed.

Ayrton Senna’s death at Imola in 1994 in the Newey designed Williams FW16 is a sobering account of the responsibility that the design team have to the driver in a sport where winning is everything. The book is also peppered with humorous stories and anecdotes, so whether you are an F1 fan or have just passing interest in the sport, it’s well worth a read.

Highly recommended.

Available from the Book Depository

Words Geoff Dawes © 2017.