University welcomes CEO of Vietnamese Motorsports Association

AS Vietnam prepares for its Formula One debut race, in April 2020, an unexpected visit to the University by the person leading the country’s motorsport development could now lead to the University of Huddersfield and a local Yorkshire company helping Vietnam embed the sport at a grassroots level, among both schoolchildren and university students.

Ms Nguyen Thi Quy Phuong was formerly responsible for developing football in Vietnam and it is now the country’s number one sport.  Such was her success that when the country won its bid to host a F1 grand prix, she was put in charge and became the CEO of the Vietnamese Motorsport Association.

The University of Huddersfield currently welcomes over 200 Vietnamese students and it was during a visit to the country in November last year, promoting the University, that Huddersfield’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bob Cryan, was introduced to Ms Phuong at a dinner.

From the chance meeting, various opportunities presented themselves, particularly in relation to engaging interest in motorsports among the country’s young people.  The concept appealed to Ms Phuong and it’s one she didn’t forget, for during a recent fact-finding visit to the UK, she contacted Professor Cryan to request a visit to the campus.  The University was delighted to welcome her.

For many years, the University of Huddersfield has entered the international Formula Student competition, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, which requires student teams to design, build, test and race a small-scale formula-style racing car. 

Ms Phuong met members of the current Huddersfield team and was shown the 2019 car that, at the UK tournament, earned the team 6th overall and 3rd in the UK.

The Formula Student scheme forms part of a degree-level project at many universities and is viewed by the motorsport industry as the standard for engineering graduates to meet, transitioning them from university to the workplace.

Ms Phuong was very impressed, particularly with the possibility of introducing her country’s universities to the competition with the help of Huddersfield staff and students mentoring and guiding them through Formula Student’s rigorous criteria.

F1 in Schools

As part of the visit, Professor Cryan also took the opportunity to invite the creator of F1 in Schools, Andrew Denford, to meet Ms Phuong on the campus.

Mr Denford is Chief Executive of local CAD/CAM solutions company Denford Ltd and he developed the F1 in Schools himself in 2000.  His aim was to help schoolchildren gain an understanding of the key concepts of Design and Technology through the excitement and appeal of Formula 1 racing.

He is looking to take F1 in Schools to Vietnam and the link now established with the Vietnamese Motorsport Association, through the University, will hopefully facilitate take up among the country’s schools.

“I was delighted to welcome Ms Phuong to the University to see our Formula Student work and to meet Andrew,” said Professor Cryan.  “We had very interesting discussions and I hope that opportunities for collaboration between our students and students in universities in Vietnam could be on the cards.

“As a university, we have a strategic role to play in the regional and national economy.  On this occasion, through this visit, we were able to provide an introduction for a locally company, Denford Ltd, who will now have opportunities to feed into schools in Vietnam with their F1 in Schools education project,” he added.