Latest / The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen / 482 - When Will We Have A Vietnamese F1 Driver? - Owen Tangavelou Nguyen

Transcript

482 - When Will We Have A Vietnamese F1 Driver? - Owen Tangavelou Nguyen · The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen

0:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Welcome to the Vietnamese podcast.
0:02
[SPEAKER_02]: I today have a very interesting guess I've been really looking forward to this interview.
0:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Owen Tangabalu Nguyen, he is an F3 driver, which is a race car driver that is basically will get into it, but it's a sort of a feeder program.
0:21
[SPEAKER_02]: The F3 is a feeder program for the F1 drivers.
0:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Vietnamese podcast today, Owen.
0:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, it's really my pleasure.
0:33
[SPEAKER_02]: I, like I said, I have been really studying F1 before this interview, but the more I research, the more I study F1, the more I realize that there's so much to understand and to learn.
0:48
[SPEAKER_02]: And I watched F1 last year, the movie, and
0:55
[SPEAKER_02]: realize that there are people that really have no idea what this is about and the importance of F1 in modern driving technology is a really big thing.
1:08
[SPEAKER_02]: So I want to ask you, how did you get into racing?
1:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I was playing video games with my brother, and I was playing like F1 games, like F122013, sorry.
1:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And the patient comes from there.
1:33
[SPEAKER_00]: playing video games, watching F1 and TV, and always wanting to control something, especially cars.
1:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I always love the racing cars, especially senior teachers, and I started the car team late at 14 years old, and from there I climbed the ladder, and I'm right now
2:01
[SPEAKER_02]: So when you say that you started cutting late, what does that even mean?
2:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So late because all the fund drivers and all my opponents are start cutting very late.
2:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So dad is a from Ramon driver or really really early because the family is passionate about motorsports.
2:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So they start at four years old, six years old or even eight years old.
2:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I started at 14, I already had the early I was inexperienced and I had to do a lot of work
2:48
[SPEAKER_00]: to get the experience because I have almost six rooms along six and eight years gap of experience.
2:58
[SPEAKER_02]: What can you possibly be training for when you're four or five years old or six years old in carting?
3:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I think for them is, uh, hobby and then they train, they train and becomes a patient and um, after that, I think the for all of us is to be a Formula One driver, so I think that at their age they know they want to be a Formula One driver and earlier you start the better.
3:30
[SPEAKER_02]: What kind of exercises do you do when you're carting?
3:34
[SPEAKER_02]: If you're thinking about becoming a professional at six, seven years old, what kind of exercises does your coach or your mom and dad have you do?
3:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, I really don't know how they exercised themselves outside of racing, but for sure, they exercised themselves on track and driving, driving, driving, and that's how they learn how to be faster, and how they learn to build the Muslims for our precategories.
4:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Encourting is mostly for arms, is also the abs and all the arms and the neck, but mostly mostly the for arms and the abs.
4:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And when you're training for this stuff, is there a computer simulation when you're 14, and you could practice in something that's very real, to practice your abs and your forearms in a computer simulation?
4:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, not really, there's, in the simulator is not as is equal as in a risk car or in a car team.
4:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So you go to the gym mostly?
5:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, now tell me a little bit about carting because what kind of vehicles are being used for young drivers in carting?
5:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So in carting, um, from my side as I started very late in 14,
5:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I started with a really cheap car team.
5:26
[SPEAKER_00]: It's around 17 horsepower, it weighs about 140-5 kilos.
5:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's like a small vehicle, it's not the car, it's like hand-stated.
5:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and just to give the audience a kind of perspective and correct me from wrong here because I'm I'm learning about this stuff too like a regular fast recar that you can buy it a dealership maybe we're looking at 200 horsepower 300 horsepower
6:04
[SPEAKER_02]: a fast car and at like an F1 car race car is like a thousand horsepower.
6:10
[SPEAKER_02]: So am I right?
6:12
[SPEAKER_02]: So 17 horsepower is like almost like maybe like a motorbike or something like that.
6:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, correct.
6:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So I started with 17 horsepower and then you can get up to 30 without gears and you have cutting gears with which goes to 50 horsepower.
6:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And is there like organized racing events for Carding?
6:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
6:40
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a National Championships.
6:45
[SPEAKER_00]: There are European Championships and World Championships.
6:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And when I thought it Carding, I did the local racing friends.
6:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was really a niche championship.
6:59
[SPEAKER_00]: OK, but the championship in cutting are really, really expensive.
7:07
[SPEAKER_00]: When you're doing European championships, it's a championship, and also works championships.
7:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I can imagine, I'm thinking of being 14, just getting into the sport, maybe a year into your 15 now and you're looking at all the other 15 year old drivers, carding guys, and they're out there and they have at least five to eight years experience on you.
7:32
[SPEAKER_02]: What makes you think that you can compete with these guys eventually?
7:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's the, I have a lot of patience for this sport, I train physically for that, and to me, there are humans like me, they, we have a same body, so why I cannot, I cannot be as the ancestors then, and also I think
7:59
[SPEAKER_00]: with my talent and my grit to succeed, I learned really fast how to have to drive, and I just said it's a passion, it's talent, and since I'm four years old, I want to do this
8:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
8:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So when you're competing at 15 or 16 in the the European cart carting races, are you winning a lot at that time?
8:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I never did your pension chips at the time.
8:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Hmm.
8:37
[SPEAKER_02]: What what competitions did you do and did you win them?
8:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I did, um, so it was, um, a very niche cart and very niche championship in France.
8:47
[SPEAKER_00]: It was local races and, um, my first year I was doing really, really great, uh, I was in top five podiums, but we did really without coaching or without having, you know, the good material and, um,
9:03
[SPEAKER_00]: After that, I stepped up in 2020 to a higher category, so it was around 30 host power.
9:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And I did almost its podiums in my first race, and it was now a regional championship, so there was a higher level.
9:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was able to really quickly to do the championship into this court.
9:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I did really great in cutting, before stepping up in the form of the form.
9:36
[SPEAKER_02]: When you go from a 17 horsepower to a 30 horsepower to a 50 horsepower, what are the changes in your mind and your body?
9:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the speed is different, the point of view, the field of view, the how you experience speed, and the faster it goes, the more physical it is, so you really have to add up quickly to that.
10:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I think for the first time I drove the 30 horsepower was quite a big change because I went from a really local cutting and really local championship to a regional championship where it was really faster because faster.
10:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So the change at that time we've only a year of experience, it was a big step.
10:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I think throughout the conversation, I'm going to keep having to come back to this idea of money and financing a driver because what I'm understanding with these drivers and the cars and the teams is that, you know, if it's a Mercedes or it's a Ferrari or if it's a brand that has
10:59
[SPEAKER_02]: different reasons for their drivers and their cars to kind of like be on the F1 scene.
11:08
[SPEAKER_02]: There's reasons, multiple reasons for technology development, there's branding, there's marketing, there's all kinds of reasons Mercedes would be into F1 racing.
11:18
[SPEAKER_02]: But for somebody like you who comes from, it sounds like, you know, late to the game,
11:25
[SPEAKER_02]: How do you finance, and how do you get into the stream of the F1 circuit, because it sounds very difficult for me that anybody off the street can just come in and become a racecar driver.
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, um, um, hopefully, like, literally my mother, um, had, um, was, um, looking for sports for hip and, um, she was part, from the home, home carrier, looking for sports for hip communication.
12:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So, um, I was able, that's why I was able at 14 to, to
12:12
[SPEAKER_00]: who who paid for by cutting and up to now, but now as did as you go you climb the ladder it's more expensive and more expensive and my passion cannot pay anymore for for the sport.
12:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So what happens now?
12:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So now I'm studying, I'm back to studying in France.
12:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm in the top business school.
12:39
[SPEAKER_00]: But I keep looking for sponsorship investors.
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm always still looking for communication sponsorship too.
12:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not giving up the project of becoming the first Vietnamese driver in Formula One.
12:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
13:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so all through parting up until what point do you become an F3 driver?
13:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So, with the COVID period, I had to step up into national championship in France, as I said with the 30 host power
13:25
[SPEAKER_00]: But I covered the strike and I knew the rich is stopped for five, six months and during that time, I was going to a boarding school in France.
13:47
[SPEAKER_00]: It's in London where there's the 24 hours of London.
13:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I, with my brother, my mother, we went in the academy, which was in the world-fishing in the Mo, and I saw Formula 4 cars, and my mother told the owner of the academy that I wanted to step up in Formula 4, that my goal is to be in Formula 1 driver.
14:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And from there, I did, they wanted me to test the Flocker.
14:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So I tested a full car and if I was really fast or quite adapting well to these cars, I could potentially compete in the same season in Formula 4.
14:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And from the first time I drove the full car, there's a lot of potential in me.
14:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And I did the around three days days
14:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was a, you know, the, the, the, the progression was really, really fast.
15:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
15:03
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think we're going to have to talk because I only thought it was F 3 F 2 F 1.
15:07
[SPEAKER_02]: So there's F 4.
15:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Now can you tell you about the system?
15:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
15:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you tell me about the system of F 4 F 3 F 2 F 1?
15:13
[SPEAKER_02]: What are the sort of standards that every time you get to progress into the next level?
15:19
[SPEAKER_02]: What can you tell me about the system?
15:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So you started doing Formula 4, which I did.
15:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I had three days days, and then after the three days, I did my first training Formula 4.
15:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was really an experience, but I was able to other quickly.
15:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And this one is the Formula 4 was in France.
15:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was, yeah, I had two races in Europe and five races in France.
15:46
[SPEAKER_00]: but in formula 4 you have also the Spanish formula 4, the British formula 4, the Italian formula 4, and the French formula 4, and the French formula 4, the French formula 4, the
16:02
[SPEAKER_00]: the thing different from the other formula 4, explanation Italian, is that the cost of running the cars was really cheap compared to the over championships, and everyone had the same cars.
16:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So from there, you had, as I said, different countries and different formula 4,
16:28
[SPEAKER_00]: But I would say the most competing ones were French, Italian, Spanish, and British.
16:38
[SPEAKER_02]: So they just give you a standard car.
16:40
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no modification.
16:42
[SPEAKER_02]: The pit is not as intense as a Formula One.
16:46
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no, so there's really not a whole lot going on in the support ecosystem of Formula Four.
16:54
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just sort of like, here's a car.
16:57
[SPEAKER_02]: We all drive the same cars and you just go.
17:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so it was, it was, it was right for the formula for French, the French formula for, but for Italians, Spanish, and British, it teams, it teams, so different setups, different engineers, different experiences, so the, the French formula for was unique about this, because they wanted to give everyone a fair chance to, to, to win.
17:30
[SPEAKER_02]: and formula 4, going up to formula 3, what's the difference?
17:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So, compared to myself, the first one or four, you only had an engineer for drivers.
17:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And in formula 3, you have one engineer for one driver.
17:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's teams like Spanish F4, Italian F4, it's teams.
17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you have around 10 teams with 3 cars.
17:59
[SPEAKER_00]: and the car is faster, you have a lot more horsepower, a lot more downforce, the level is higher, and you drive in Europe, European circuits, mostly F1 circuits.
18:16
[SPEAKER_02]: And then from F3 to F2, what's the difference in that?
18:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So if we test two is, so you drive with the same, you drive the same weekends as Formula 1 in Formula 2 and you have a piece of strategy, you have more horsepower and more downforce.
18:40
[SPEAKER_02]: What is downforce?
18:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Down fourth is how the wind, the formula one wins the front wheeling, the rear wing is like the air pushing the wings down to create a grip to more sticky when you turn.
19:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So the more time first, you have a better grip, and you can go faster and around the corners, breaking the ties more efficient.
19:16
[SPEAKER_02]: But it's a lot harder to drive, or why is that...
19:21
[SPEAKER_02]: escalate every time you go up to F3, F2, F1, why does downforce, I understand horsepower.
19:27
[SPEAKER_02]: It makes sense, you know, like every time you go up, more horsepower, but why does downforce is so important and wouldn't, why is it one of the criteria of moving up on the on the scale?
19:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you can move it because you're great, you're a good driver, but you also need the funding behind to move up the ladder.
19:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And the more part you have, the more it because it's more difficult to control the car, and also the more than four you have, the more precise you have to be.
20:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you ever go from my F3 to F1 driver?
20:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you skip F2?
20:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that there is... Now right now you can't... You can do that.
20:17
[SPEAKER_00]: But there was a time... ...with a max of step-in... ...and the Lens troll.
20:23
[SPEAKER_00]: They were doing F3... ...and they skipped F2 to go to Formula 1.
20:30
[SPEAKER_00]: But right now, there's a trend where drivers keep F3 to go directly to Formula 2.
20:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, they skip F3.
20:38
[SPEAKER_02]: They just go straight to Formula 2.
20:40
[SPEAKER_02]: F2.
20:42
[SPEAKER_02]: All right.
20:43
[SPEAKER_02]: So how much are we talking about in terms of money that you need to go from like an F3 to an F2 and then from F2 to F1?
20:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Like what kind of money are we looking at every time you you spend in
21:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So, because there is also two different F3 you have U-print F3 and FIF3, which is the worldwide F3.
21:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So, U-print F3, formula 3, World Championship is around 1.5 million euros without training, without training.
21:27
[SPEAKER_02]: $1.5 million to what is that $1.5 million go to?
21:33
[SPEAKER_00]: It goes to the team and the championship because you have to prepare the car, the travel to page engineers, the mechanics, the championship.
21:48
[SPEAKER_02]: So how does the investor get their money back on the $1.5 million?
21:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So they get money if I go to Formula One or Indicard.
22:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So the money, it's in the, what, what you win.
22:05
[SPEAKER_02]: The money is, and how much is, you know, like, if you win an F3, how much money is that number one spot?
22:21
[SPEAKER_00]: price there was no price yeah but it changes and now I I don't have the price now but you you can have them there's like a small I would say scholarship to move to F2 but it's a small compared to the to the the cluster of the season yeah because you won't you won't make that money back going to win F3 F2 you won't win it
22:49
[SPEAKER_02]: But you have to win F1, so the investors can get their money back, right?
22:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, once you're in F1, and you're there for two, three years, you can get your money back.
23:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Usually.
23:00
[SPEAKER_02]: It seems like a very impossible task to get that ROI, the return on the investment from a sponsor.
23:09
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I wanted to ask,
23:12
[SPEAKER_02]: The difficulty of you putting in 1.5, like as an investor, if I put in 1.5 million dollars, I won't see that money, there's a chance, there's a big chance I won't see that money, and to you get to two or three years into F1, if you even get to F1, right?
23:29
[SPEAKER_02]: So the risk is, so how do you persuade an investor to bank on you to get to F1?
23:38
[SPEAKER_02]: So there's what you're argument to get there.
23:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
23:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So you get, if you're going to get to Formula One, where you are paid, if you're going to get to in the car, if you're going to get to endurance racing.
23:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you get a professional racing driver, you get paid.
23:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And you get the AROI from this.
24:00
[SPEAKER_00]: But also you have the marketing.
24:03
[SPEAKER_00]: When you invest, you have your logo on the card.
24:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's really, really, I would say, a good factor because F1 has a lot of popularity.
24:14
[SPEAKER_00]: It's increased a lot.
24:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you have the other going, the F2 or F3, for example, it's really, really good because the, it's really, the broadcast, you have like 40 broadcasts, you have, you want the F2 video games.
24:31
[SPEAKER_00]: your follow-up world will write.
24:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So you have the you invest, but also you have already returned in the marketing already.
24:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that makes sense.
24:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I could see that.
24:43
[SPEAKER_02]: And what are some of the ways that you go out and find investors?
24:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Are you hanging out at the racetrack?
24:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Are you hanging out at a coffee shop?
24:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, you know what I mean?
24:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Where do you find these investors?
24:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so usually, um, it's very difficult because I, from this is my, my mother's doing the work for, for that, but she usually writes emails, um, and look at the doors.
25:14
[SPEAKER_00]: But now or so, one thing is, uh, there's a lot of nation right now, like Argentina and Paraguay.
25:23
[SPEAKER_00]: who is investing in drivers so they can get to Formula 1 and getting to Formula 1, it represents the nation.
25:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Like right now, we have, there is a tropical epito with backed by his country.
25:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, Argentina is, the country has a lot of motorsport fans and a big motorsport
25:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And representing the country in Formula 1 is a big advantage and it helps say it shows that the country is able to have a driver in Formula 1.
26:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So it represents power.
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Brazil, too.
26:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It's really in motorsportation.
26:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks to Emerson's 50th anniversary, 50th anniversary, which
26:16
[SPEAKER_00]: or so Paraguay, there's a F2 driver who is a Paraguayan and the Paraguay helps the driver to go to Formula 1 because when you go to Formula 1 and you're the first Paraguayan driver, you'll say the impact for the country and for all the markets and all the firms are issued.
26:42
[SPEAKER_02]: So for any of my audience who is Vietnamese, big business man coming out of Vietnam, we should look into investing in you as a Formula One driver, right?
26:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that would make sense, right?
26:55
[SPEAKER_02]: We don't have any national contender in Vietnam with them waiting last name, right?
27:02
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, are you like the first, you have to be like, I guess I've never heard of any other driver in F-1, F-2, F-3.
27:10
[SPEAKER_02]: You have to be like the first one.
27:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, why wouldn't Vietnam put their money behind you to kind of like, you know, invest?
27:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so my mission is to bring Vietnam its first driver in Formula 1.
27:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And also to raise the awareness about motorsport in Vietnam,
27:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm the first driver to win in a Formula 3 to get propositions and fastest laps for Vietnam.
27:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm really proud to represent Vietnam and I want my ultimate goal is to bring the nation and to represent the people, the resilience, the indomitable spirit of Vietnamese people and Vietnam.
27:51
[SPEAKER_00]: in Formula 1.
27:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I love that.
27:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
27:54
[SPEAKER_02]: I think F1 was coming to Hanoi a few years ago, right, before the pandemic, or do you know much about that?
28:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I was in the sport at quite late, I heard about Vietnam.
28:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I was really excited to get the term Grand Prix, but they had to constantly
28:20
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think that when you represent a country like Vietnam with your last name, your father's Vietnamese,
28:31
[SPEAKER_02]: or you represent Argentina because of the, they need drivers.
28:37
[SPEAKER_02]: And how does that work in terms of fan base from Argentina?
28:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Because you don't, if Vietnam sponsors you, right, or the government, or some big business men and Vietnam sponsors you from Vietnam, that makes perfect sense.
28:52
[SPEAKER_02]: But when you go to get sponsored from Argentina or Brazil, how does that make sense to the national pride of the people?
29:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So for example, I'm backed by an emotional Emerson 50-party senior, who is a former
29:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And when he started his caring formula one, there were no Brazilian drivers at all.
29:29
[SPEAKER_00]: No Brazil was a football nation.
29:33
[SPEAKER_00]: It was all about football.
29:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And thanks to him, he brought the spirit of motorsports into the people.
29:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And thanks to him, there were Nezon Pike, her Tonsena.
29:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And now Brazil is in motorsportation.
29:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think for Andre Tina, they wanted the same, because they had a Juan Manuel Fonjo.
29:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So they wanted their fork to be in Formula 1, because now it's a tradition.
30:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Hmm, beautiful.
30:13
[SPEAKER_02]: have so much hope that you can find investors coming out of Vietnam, whether it's from the government or from the people that, you know, there's a lot of F1 fans from inside of Vietnam and outside of Vietnam who are Vietnamese people.
30:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And I hope that this podcast can travel a little bit so they can have that exposure to who you are.
30:35
[SPEAKER_02]: It's such a wonderful thing that we have somebody who's representing
30:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Vietnam in the motorsport.
30:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
30:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, there's a tight driver in Formula 1.
30:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And he won the country.
30:55
[SPEAKER_00]: There was he had the investors sponsors because he's the only tight driver in Formula 1.
31:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's one of the first in Formula 1.
31:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you get a driver in Formula 1 from a country like Thailand, it represents power for the country.
31:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that the country is able to compete with over big countries who had already experienced in motorsport, you know, in Europe, in motorsport comes mostly from Europe.
31:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you, you are in the country where you're not from motorsports, and you have not
31:32
[SPEAKER_00]: When you get an F1 driver from Vietnam, it shows that the country is powerful, is about to do.
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: To compete with European countries, no, the even China has its first F1 driver not long time ago.
31:49
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I think about when you are on your off time, you're waiting for another race, you're waiting for investors, you're waiting for money, how do you keep in shape?
31:59
[SPEAKER_02]: And how do you get better?
32:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Because, you know, as a runner, you know, if I'm running a marathon, if I'm a marathon runner, I can just go outside and run every day or do my training.
32:07
[SPEAKER_02]: But as a driver, you have to get into a car.
32:11
[SPEAKER_02]: You have to condition a certain way.
32:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, what do you do to keep in shape?
32:16
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the difficult thing because motor sports is quite an equal about this to get better, to get faster, you need to train a lot and to train a lot, you need to have a lot of backing, you need to have a lot of money.
32:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why in my career, one of my strengths is that I was able to always compete with high-level drivers with less preparation, you know, coming
32:49
[SPEAKER_00]: cutting at 14 years old had like six, uh, eight years, uh, without, uh, without experience.
32:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was able to adapt really quickly, and even in the formula cars, uh, you know, some drivers are driving every, every week.
33:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
33:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And it keeps them training, and, you know, it's much more about preparation than talent, and my, my key strengths is that I was able to always,
33:14
[SPEAKER_00]: have a good level to compete without having a lot of mileage.
33:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So the preparation, the testing, you have testing days is key to prepare yourself.
33:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You have also gym training and I have a simulator at home working to be still in shape.
33:45
[SPEAKER_00]: How different is because you insulator is great because you have the pedals, you have the wheel but you don't feel the speed, you don't feel the G's, you don't feel the G force.
34:01
[SPEAKER_00]: you don't have the perception of the, you don't have the feeling, you only feeling you have to the pedal and the wheel.
34:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have the feeling about when you're on your hips, on your leg, you don't have all the feeling.
34:15
[SPEAKER_02]: But on a real simulator, like a big simulator, do they have the, is there any way to recreate the G force, which is the gravity force of a real car?
34:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, there are some really, really good simulators.
34:31
[SPEAKER_00]: There's things where they have them.
34:35
[SPEAKER_00]: with teenagers, it's like a big, big, have a ball, which is on some, have a hydraulic presses, and from this they can have the rotation, they can recreate some gis, but it will
35:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And when you're when you're moving at a few hundred miles an hour, how much G force is it compared to like a jet.
35:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, when you're flying in a fighter pilot fighter jet.
35:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So from that one, they can get to five, six.
35:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wow.
35:16
[SPEAKER_00]: You've been serving seven Gs.
35:19
[SPEAKER_00]: But in my category, I think it's already four Gs around.
35:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so in a plane, it's six, seven Gs you said.
35:29
[SPEAKER_00]: In a thing, I think it's maximum eight, I would say.
35:32
[SPEAKER_00]: HG is that, HG is that.
35:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I'm not one there, the breaking and cornering is already like five inches.
35:41
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a lot.
35:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And you can't even recreate one G, I think in a simulator, right?
35:46
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, in any of the best simulators, I mean, can they, they can't recreate even one G, can they?
35:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure about this, honestly.
35:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they can recreate about a G. I would say, but I'm really not sure about this information.
36:04
[SPEAKER_02]: And I asked that because it does make a difference.
36:07
[SPEAKER_02]: How much mileage you get to be in a car, right?
36:11
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.
36:12
[SPEAKER_02]: But another thing that I think about to is like the track that you practice on has to be a special track to create.
36:23
[SPEAKER_02]: It has to be like a really big track to create like regular streets in Europe and wherever the F1 tracks are,
36:32
[SPEAKER_02]: the turns and the way that these things are constantly showing up in a regular European street, you need a big area to train.
36:42
[SPEAKER_02]: So I imagine that anybody who wants to train in first time you have to have the car, then you have to have this big track.
36:50
[SPEAKER_02]: It seems so difficult
36:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because you have schedule for testing days, but the logistics is quite big.
37:05
[SPEAKER_00]: No, the driver has to travel.
37:08
[SPEAKER_00]: No, some in your, usually it's in Spain, can be in Belgium, Italy.
37:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, to train, you have need to get a lot of time.
37:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I was at school and it was really difficult to switch between to almost a week of courses because you have to train.
37:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's really a long process.
37:42
[SPEAKER_02]: You said something earlier about talent versus preparation.
37:47
[SPEAKER_02]: You said you think that driving is not, as the talent is not as important as the preparation and the training.
37:57
[SPEAKER_02]: But I have a question about that statement, which is,
38:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I remember growing up in the United States, I would meet a few football players or college basketball players, but all at the college level, and I remember a lot of them were saying to me throughout the years.
38:14
[SPEAKER_02]: I would meet different athletes, and they would say a D1, which is sort of like the highest in college, those athletes,
38:23
[SPEAKER_02]: versus like a regular athlete that you play in the gym, a college basketball player.
38:29
[SPEAKER_02]: There, it's called Twitch fibers in your body, is at a higher level than a regular person.
38:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And whatever that is training or genetics, college players are at a higher level.
38:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And then when you think about like, only the guys that play in the NBA, the top level athletes, the Twitch fibers and the muscle movements,
38:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And the mind, eye coordination, the eye to body coordination is that even a higher level.
38:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And you can witness it when they play basketball.
39:00
[SPEAKER_02]: These players tell me, you can feel when these guys are at just a different level when you're playing with them on the court.
39:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you feel that way when you're driving on a track with other people that you actually have
39:20
[SPEAKER_02]: what it takes to be at that highest level and you can beat out these guys, I mean, do you think about that or do you just think preparation preparation preparation preparation?
39:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it difficult because, um, no, you can you can prepare yourself, but you still need to be good, you know, um, when you go higher in the categories, order drivers are prepared, but all the drivers are really talented too, so, um,
39:48
[SPEAKER_00]: The, of course, later the top tier drivers have really fast reflexes, and so I will tell you they've lost this performance, but you need them, they have a better feeling about the car, about the bumps on the track, about the feeling of the brake pedal, steering wheel,
40:16
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, you have better opponents, they're high level, but also you have less chances of crushing, because they know how to race, for example.
40:34
[SPEAKER_02]: This is definitely not a democratic sport, the playing field is definitely not a level place to, you know, it's all kinds of, you know, like if my dad was an F1 driver and he is in that world of F1 drivers and sponsorships and investors.
40:52
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, at five years old, you know, I know that I'm going to be able to, you know, carry on the tradition of my father with all the support that he has and the genetics that he has.
41:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's almost like impossible to think about because, you know, that's why I look at you and I hear your story now and I'm, you know, I have so much respect for the grit that you, the determination of continuing on this path.
41:17
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's just amazing to hear about your story.
41:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you very much.
41:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I really appreciate it.
41:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we're not done yet.
41:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I do want to know.
41:27
[SPEAKER_02]: So you're studying business at France right now, right?
41:32
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
41:32
[SPEAKER_02]: And how has this business, these business courses help with your racing mentally, and sort of like strategically?
41:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, when I wasn't school even before starting motorsport, I was really the competitor.
41:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to have the best grades.
41:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to be the best student, and I would say the motorsport has me better for the studies than the studies have me from motorsport.
42:11
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, even with, you know, I missed like 14 days of classes for a year.
42:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's also really difficult to catch up with the courses.
42:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had to to make you break, I had to I did a year gap for the studies because it was really difficult to to the both.
42:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Because in France, it's not like in America.
42:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have a whole system where you can do the college,
42:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So, to me it's more motorsport happy me to be better at school, that's cool, happy me to be better at a sport.
43:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the motorsports, you run so much about life, about strategies, about the way people are, you learn so much more than that school.
43:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I can imagine.
43:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Have you been to Vietnam?
43:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, every year I go to Vietnam, back in 4th, where in Vietnam?
43:27
[SPEAKER_02]: And why do you go every year?
43:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
43:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So my family is from Saigon.
43:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So my dad is from Saigon.
43:37
[SPEAKER_00]: There's my cousins, my grandma, my uncles.
43:42
[SPEAKER_02]: So all my families is from Saigon.
43:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I was always there.
43:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I was born in France, but I was always, I was serving it all the ways to, to see my family and everything, and do you speak Vietnamese?
44:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's quickly a bit, a bit.
44:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
44:05
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, when I was young, when I was 10, I asked my father to learn the Vietnamese, but he didn't want to learn the Vietnamese.
44:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
44:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Why do you think he didn't want to teach you?
44:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know because I know five years ago, my mother and my father separated, so it was my mother doing my sponsorship, communications.
44:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So my mother was always backing me and I have a lot of support from my mother, but not so much from my father and right now.
44:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have no contact in my father anymore.
44:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But I really didn't know why he didn't want to, wanted me to 200 enemies.
44:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that.
44:54
[SPEAKER_02]: I asked that because I have children seven and eight years old and it's so difficult for me to teach them Vietnamese and I always wonder why that it's a, you know, why is that such a case that, you know, for people, I speak it and write it in a read Vietnamese and it's so difficult to really, you know,
45:14
[SPEAKER_02]: teach them Vietnamese.
45:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So I always wonder about what motivates parents to really do a good job.
45:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Because I know a lot of people who do a great job teaching their children the language, but for me it's just so difficult to kind of like put the focus on that.
45:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because the roots of the language is really different with the tones, and also Vietnamese is the mix of roots in their Chinese influence, but also the Australia that take roots.
45:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a really difficult language to explain and to learn.
45:55
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I am...
45:58
[SPEAKER_02]: This question that I'm going to ask is a little bit tricky.
46:03
[SPEAKER_02]: And obviously, I hope that you get to F1, that is my hope.
46:09
[SPEAKER_02]: But do you ever think that if you don't get to F1, do you have a plan B?
46:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just going to school, I want to say.
46:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I have Formula 1, but I can go again, I had also offers to go to Indinext, which is a step away from Indicar in the United States.
46:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and I had also proposals for testing Indicar already in 2026 by the end of the year.
46:42
[SPEAKER_00]: But without backings, it's really difficult.
46:45
[SPEAKER_00]: But without motorsports, I just got to school.
46:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you don't continue with the F-1 of two journey, you go to Indy, which is United States, a US race, correct?
47:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, and yeah, go ahead.
47:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So sorry, so yeah, the plan B is, it's not to plan B because the goal is always because you have Formula 1, which is the pineapple of motorsport, but Indy car is the pineapple of motorsporting North America.
47:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So, but if I don't have, if I don't become a professional racing driver, I would go to school.
47:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you wouldn't go into team management or branding and sponsorship management anything like that?
47:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Become an engineer?
47:35
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I thought about that, but I prefer to be a racing driver.
47:47
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's either you're going to be a driver or nothing to do with the sport.
47:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
47:52
[SPEAKER_02]: All right.
47:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Why do you think that you have that mind set?
48:04
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's to be in some times to be an engineer.
48:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
48:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes you have a driver who are not really
48:11
[SPEAKER_00]: just there to have fun, you know, sometimes their drivers are not putting the work enough for the engineer.
48:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't want to look after, you know, some of these drivers.
48:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know why I don't, it's cool to be an engineer, but I think for me it's better to be the driver.
48:41
[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't know why I don't want to be.
48:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's, I will maybe think about my past years in racing.
48:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't think it would be great.
48:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it wouldn't be a good feeling.
48:58
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you said you had an offer to indie next, and what does that mean when you have an offer from indie next?
49:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Does that mean investors?
49:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And there's people that are saying, I'll put money, and then you can drive an indie next.
49:12
[SPEAKER_00]: When I say offers, it's like, you know, teams are interesting in your profile teams interesting in the form of Formula 3, Formula 2, and even in the next in America.
49:24
[SPEAKER_00]: But when I say the offer is like, they allow me to raise for their team because they're interested in my profile, my background, my how why...
49:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll say how I set up the car, how my feeling, how I say how I say when you go driver, you're fast, but you're so you know how to set up the car, know how to give your feeling about 20 to 20 engineers.
49:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And you get the offer, but then you need the money to drive.
50:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, so you still have to find the money to drive, even if you get an offer from in the next.
50:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, offer, like, when I say offer for F3, F2, and in the next is having the contract.
50:17
[SPEAKER_00]: But they, they give it a contract, but you, you have to, you have to have your sponsors, you know, investors to be able to compete.
50:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, wow, that's, that's, you're still in the same.
50:32
[SPEAKER_02]: mechanical side of the money side, which is you still have to raise money to raise.
50:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the only thing you get where you're your pet is the top top of financial from the one in the car entrance tracing, but you're not pet where when you are in the when you're climbing the ladder to get to formula one on the car, you have to pay.
50:57
[SPEAKER_02]: You have to pay the play.
51:00
[SPEAKER_02]: What did you think about the F1 movie?
51:02
[SPEAKER_02]: How accurate is all of that?
51:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't seen the F1 movie.
51:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So...
51:13
[SPEAKER_00]: But I would say, it's quite, I saw the, I would say the, you know, the small, the, like the one minute video from the movie, the trailer.
51:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And the, the trailer, sorry, the trailer.
51:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And the, she's like it's a bit too, too, I would say, to remember, um,
51:36
[SPEAKER_02]: romanticized.
51:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, romanticized.
51:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It's still romanticized.
51:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
51:41
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not good.
51:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like for the 40 year old driver, isn't going to step up from GT cars to Formula 1.
51:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Why is that?
51:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you're just an impossible.
51:56
[SPEAKER_00]: This doesn't exist.
51:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, your body doesn't.
51:59
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no way your body can do that.
52:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's still some like anonzo is I think 43-44 and it's still competing in Formula 1, but it is also a really experience and it's training a lot to be in shape.
52:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought we were from a GT cars to Formula 1 without singer steer and the experience of this speed in Formula 1 is possible.
52:25
[SPEAKER_02]: What's the big difference between like Indy, the Indy 500 and the Formula 1?
52:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Is it the the the the type of car, the speed, what what is the differences?
52:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So, in Formula One is worldwide championship where you have teams, but the teams develop their car.
52:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and also sometimes their engines.
52:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and the budget is really, really high.
52:51
[SPEAKER_00]: To you know, they have the lot of sponsors.
52:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And the budget for season is...
52:57
[SPEAKER_00]: is really with expensive and each teams have different budget to prepare the car, to pay the drivers, to develop the cars.
53:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So they have a limit for the budget, but every team is
53:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll say, it's less expensive.
53:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone at the same car, and the chassis are the same since I think five, six years.
53:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So the cost of running the cars are lower.
53:41
[SPEAKER_00]: The championship is primarily in North America.
53:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And so all drivers have the same chassis.
53:51
[SPEAKER_00]: You have two manufacturer for engines, which are a Chevrolet and Honda, and so the cost of running the cars are cheaper, but the development is less development in the cars than in Formula 1, which is also a competition for the engineers.
54:19
[SPEAKER_00]: It's in the case between formula 2 and formula 1 and formula 1 is the fastest cars on the streets on the street circuit or have say a number circuit, but in the car you have also the overall rate is and the overall rate is the in the car faster and positive.
54:48
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, today I learned that, you know, to move up on the F1, F2 ladder, F3 ladder is not about anything other than really it's about a money game right it's about financing.
55:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, you have to be good, but you have good drivers who aren't competing because they don't have money, you know, and you have, like, drivers are, or less quick, who are, who are worse and still goes to F3 or F2 because they, they have the backing.
55:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
55:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I want to put it out there in the universe, and hopefully that we can, you know, we see you in the F2 F1 series, you know, in the next few years, and hopefully if anybody's listening to this, all we need is that one person to send this link to somebody who can have connections to money and the government, or some big business man in Vietnam, to
55:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I hope so.
56:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because my project is more than just a carrier, you know, it's about its emission.
56:08
[SPEAKER_00]: My goal is to represent Vietnam.
56:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And Vietnam now has the talented driver.
56:13
[SPEAKER_00]: The data has the opportunity to get its first revenge from 11.
56:19
[SPEAKER_00]: No, the dream is, it's reachable.
56:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Totally reachable.
56:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Totally reachable.
56:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you have an upcoming race anytime soon?
56:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And right now, I don't have any races.
56:31
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I had no, I withdraw the F3, F2, or in the next offers.
56:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So because I didn't get any backings.
56:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So right now, I'm as cool, but I still continue to do sports, reflexes training, and simulator.
56:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, well, we hope that you continue down this path.
56:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, if you get another race after the race, please reach out.
57:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And we'll have another interview.
57:02
[SPEAKER_02]: I want to hear about how the race turns out.
57:04
[SPEAKER_02]: And best of luck on your journey and your schooling.
57:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I really appreciate you coming on the Vietnamese podcast today.
57:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you very much.
57:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And thank you again for the opportunity to be in your podcast.
57:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you all.
57:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for listening to the Vietnamese with Kenneth Wynne.
57:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Special thanks to Brittany Tran, to Jane Wynne, Catherine Wynne, Tina Fam, Sydney Jamie and Crystal Tran.
57:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Please find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at the Vietnamese podcast.