Adrian Newey, what makes him so good as a designer?

[marcush.]

The thing who strikes me is that the media are claiming that he is one of the last engineers who are still using the drawing board instead of a CAD program to design the cars and that he still manages to build one of the best cars on the world.
For me this can be nothing else than a pure lie.
Pictures with him on the drawing board are possible just posed for commercial use too.
Its ok when he makes a hand drew sketch in seconds but I can't see any sense in really making a accurate design on paper in these days. In the end you need it in digital anyways.
When I look at the car and see these well defined curves and 3D surfaces I know that they build it on a 3D system especially when you keep the short time for developing in mind.

When Adrian Newey is not using any CAD system then he probably hasn't drew any line on this car really himself.

That may well be possible...but i´m pretty sure he saw the car right in front of his eyes before anyone even had startet to put the thing in 3d data.
knowing all about CAD or alias does not make you a genius designer in fact a lot of crap looks quite ok in CAD but as soon as the real world returns suddenly everyone says ...oah how could you do it this way...

[timbo]

Talent, hard work, experience?

[segedunum]

Not using CAD.

Well, good ideas are good ideas whether they're drawn on paper or hashed out with software.

One thing I will say with Adrian is that he always seems to have an input into recruiting well around him. Peter Promodrou arrived with him from McLaren and Rob Marshall arrived from Renault who I think has had a big influence on the mechanical side. At McLaren he also had people like Nikolas Tombazis coming in and working alongside him as well. He's always had good people around him who he could push on.

[PlatinumZealot]

The best designers draw most of the main parts on paper first. The key to this is that there is an eraser on the pencil.

[Giblet]

He has a design philosophy that deepens with every car he makes. His designs from 10 and 15 years ago share many of the same hallmarks, and he never really needs to reinvent the wheel.

When you know what works, you don't change it, you build upon it.

Being a freakin' genius helps to.

[creedbratton]

How big is an F1 design team? Obviously the lead designer will have a a big influence over the car, but it is the whole design team that will refine the car.
Even if he does do all of his drawing by hand, he will have a draftee putting all of those designs into CAD/CAE, as it will help the prototyping and analysis speed.

[Jersey Tom]

Newey = haxx0r.

[lebesset]

to the best of my knowledge newey isn't in charge of production of things like brakes and spark plugs ; neither does he design them
these are the things that have failed this year , and both are bought in .....
so his cars are a little faster , surely it is for the component manufacturer to design for the extra stress that brings !

[Rob W]

The best designers draw most of the main parts on paper first. The key to this is that there is an eraser on the pencil.

I agree. This is also true for yacht designers like Bruce Farr as well

The thing who strikes me is that the media are claiming that he is one of the last engineers who are still using the drawing board instead of a CAD...

For me this can be nothing else than a pure lie.

I don't think using a pencil to design a car is necessarily limiting. For someone like Newey the concept in his head is the important thing. Someone else can take that concept and put it into CAD for prototype fabrication and CFD calculations. Neither of these things offer any new ideas - they offer tools for bridging the gap between concept and production - and offering feedback on them. The ideas still required an original idea which, in many cases, will still begin with a drawing on paper.

Bruce Farr of America's Cup design fame even used his gut feeling to save on testing models/time and history shows he was pretty good at it too.

[marcush.]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83762


I´d think he´s the Schumacher of F1 designers and of course it is not new to put key people around you you know are working in the ways you need them to work without explaining every single step...
I doubt one could come up with a new car every year in all details as a single person.It
is just too much in detail design and optimisation required so you need to make sure the
basic concept is sound and feasible and then to be hardliner when compromise creeps in and key areas get softened up if you have a lesser standing...So he seems very good at
holding the ship on course and comming up or inspiring the guys to come up with ideas that do not affect performance in a negative ways...
Having worked a lot in CAd package groups i´m aware of the situations and the constant
need to give direction in all areas unless you want to finish with a compromise wich is not necessarily a good one but one that is well how it worked out to be...accomodating all parts and functional..but not a visionary optimised solution to integrate all demands and get rid of all the bad points along the road.

[lebesset]

schumacher of designers ?

what an insult , he is far superior to that !

[marcush.]

schumacher of designers ?

what an insult , he is far superior to that !

with 7 titles under his belt I can´t see your point.Newey is longer in f1 but how many titles?

[Fil]

I´d think he´s the Schumacher of F1 designers

To be fair, the 'Schumacher of F1 designers' would have to be Rory Byrne..

Newey is still 1 WDC & 2 WCC's behind him.


Although, i'd almost claim that to achieve a WDC with Hill driving, would be worth 2 of Schumacher's

[manchild]

Please don't insult designers by comparing them with you know who. Haven't heard of any designer beating his rival by spilling ink on his colleague's drawing board or bending the ruler (now this is a great one)

[Fil]

Oh really manchild?

Ove Andersson, Gustav Brunner & Rene Hilhorst did their very best at just all that in 2002/2003

Designers are the biggest crooks in F1.. (well the successful ones anyway).
Thing is, their actions are behind closed doors; the drivers are in the public spotlight when they do their dirty work.