How to Build a Car

This book offers a fascinating mix of Adrian Newey's personal life, his accomplishments, his love for the drawing board, and different perspectives on racing, along with technical details of cars. Despite not having a strong background in car components and engineering, I was able to follow most of the technical details. However, if someone wants to read it solely for technical insights, I would not recommend it.

The book emphasizes the importance of aerodynamics in modern racing and F1 cars. It illustrates how regulation changes are introduced and enforced by the FIA, how teams adapt to these changes, and seek workarounds to enhance car performance, all while hoping that no other team comes up with better solutions the following year.

Additionally, it includes interesting stories, such as Newey’s experiences in American motorsports, Christian Horner getting picked up by bouncers, and Newey ruining Christian’s lawn.

Snappily written and divided into car-based sections and then further into bite-sized chapters and by the ghost writer this is a very easy read. It's generally light tone varies appropriately at parts such as the death of Ayrton Senna or brief mentions of martial difficulties. The Formula One gossip is interesting without being too btichy. The engineering parts all seem to just boil down to aerodynamics and body shape.returnreturnThe layout and typography are really nicely done as well.