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

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

The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer

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

Written by: Adrian Newey, David Coulthard - introduction
Narrated by: Richard Trinder
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About this listen

'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 36-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, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, 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.

©2017 Adrian Newey Motor Sports Sports Automotive Engineering

Critic Reviews

‘Quite superb…This book pulls off the remarkable feat of being a first-class autobiography and textbook all in one. For those studying the evolution of the F1 car between the late ‘80s and now, it decodes all the mysteries previously hidden by competitive secrecy while revealing the man behind most of the greatest cars of that time period.’ Motorsport Online

‘In this gripping memoir, Newey reveals the highs and lows of his race to the top.’ Mail on Sunday Books of the Year

‘The greatest Formula One designer of his – or any other – age.’ Sunday Times

‘Newey has a legitimate claim on the title of "Britain’s greatest living engineer".’ Daily Telegraph

‘Adrian Newey has created more winners than all the super-brain computers in Formula One put together.’ The Times

‘Creative genius… the leading Formula One designer of his generation… refreshingly honest.’ Guardian

‘The most accomplished man in the world’s most glamorous sport… The Michelangelo of motorsport.’ New Yorker

‘If you love finding out how things work, if you’re a car nut, if you’re intrigued by the sport’s politics and even if your interest in Formula 1 is but a passing one, you absolutely must read this book.’ Octane Magazine

‘How to Build a Car encapsulates through Adrian’s remarkable life story, precisely what makes Formula 1 so thrilling.’ Car Mechanic

‘How to Build a Car gives a tremendous insight…fantastically entertaining.’ Daily Express

‘Honest…hilarious…inspirational.’ Motorsport Magazine

‘Illuminating reading.’ F1 Racing Magazine

‘How to Build a Car is an emphatic hit. It’s one of the most enjoyable F1 books I’ve read in quite some time.’ WTF1

‘How to Build a Car is an essential read for all fans of motor racing.’ F1 Fanatic

‘Adrian Newey is one of Formula 1’s finest technical brains… The prose is sharp, punchy… you learn almost without realising.’ Autosport
All stars
Most relevant
Anyone who has followed F1 likely knows who Adrian Newey is, so it's doubly fantastic to hear of his decades of experience and excellence as one of the sports premier figures. The narration too is excellent and with just enough emotions and humour. If you are someone who is looking to understand the nitty gritties of designing an F1 car, I suggest you go for the print or ebook versions which have accompanying drawings — audiobook has them as accompanying pdf, but the two are not well integrated. For someone like me who is relatively new to F1 but wants to understand it better, the audiobook is perfect.

Fantastic content and narration

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An inspiring and realistic story , blended with insightful technical details.
For a budding engineer , this is a must read.

A brilliant insight to realise what it takes

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I loved the book very much gives us a look inside the mind of a genius

Listened to it twice and go so much more from it than I could imagine

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Adrian Newey manages to provide a true Engineering perspective into the uber competitive sport of not only Formula 1 but other racing categories as well. The book was a joy to read providing deep technical insight into the miniature details that go into making a good race car , great. After having gone through it, my respect for the engineers in the sport has grown massively. Not only that, the book also provides a human outlook and the tolls associated with what it takes to compete at the apex level of motorsport.

The bad rating(for the performance) is only there because the narrator did a mediocre job at best, wrongly pronouncing many key things such as - Suzuka being called Suzaaka, Irvine to Erwin just to name a few. I hope they get someone who's actually aware of motor racing if not Formula 1 to narrate such a masterpiece.

Very insightful book ruined by a bad narrator

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Gives an insider view of Formula 1 Racing and aspects of F1 car design. We get to know Adrian Newey much better than from the cars he built.

Gives an insider view of Formula 1 Racing and aspects of F1 car design

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