The former Head of Operations at Red Bull Formula One Team is still building high-performance teams.
A humble beginning
Professor of Practice Sunswift Richard Hopkins at UNSW Engineering grew up in Surrey, southeast of London. He went to a “rough and ready school” and was “an okay but curious student”.
“I like to pull things apart and put them back together to see if they can be improved. As a kid I had radio cars, Scalextric, played with Meccano, I loved fixing my bike and I became a massive fan of Formula One,” he said.
An opportunity arose to explore his passion during Richard’s high-school work experience. His father suggested to the Formula One “tragic” that he should contact an F1 team for his placement.
“When I phoned McLaren and they said ‘no’ I was a little devastated, but thankfully Brabham Formula One Team said ‘yes’.”
That week Richard knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life.
Building high-performance teams
After finishing his exams, Richard went back to Brabham Formula One Team to see the car and spend a day there.
“When I arrived, Managing Director Colin Seeley whisked me into his office and offered me a job. I started working in Formula One at the age of 16 and stayed for 28 years,” he said.
Richard went from sweeping factory floors at Brabham, to travelling the world as a mechanic, on the Grand Prix circuit with McLaren and then leading the Red Bull Formula One Team to become world champions, as their Head of Operations.
“Taking the opportunity to manage people was when I understood my true vocation in life and I pride myself on being able to build high performing, focused teams,” he said.
Another day at the track ... Richard's 'happy place'.
Joining Sunswift Racing
Although Richard’s career was based in the UK, after having a daughter, he and his Australian wife decided to move to Sydney. He said it was “an easy decision”.
On the public speaking circuit Richard met Professor Mark Hoffman, former Dean of Engineering at UNSW.
“As soon as I uttered my last word of the talk, Mark came up to me and told me there was a project at UNSW I’d be perfect for,” Richard said.
That project was UNSW’s Vertically Integrated Sunswift Racing.
“I walked into the lab and I remember thinking, ‘I’m not a wizard but if I’ve still got a little bit of that magic, I could turn this into something pretty cool’,” he said.
“At Red Bull, my mission was to make every employee a world champion. Here, it’s to make every student a champion within the University and to provide real-world experience,” he said.
The VIP Program is an innovative approach to higher education for undergraduate and postgraduate students at UNSW. The Sunswift offering involves a long-term team building program whereby students get to work with Richard, to build electrical vehicle prototypes. He said the course is like a job. Building something together and working in the lab, but instead of getting paid for that work, the students get marks, gain qualifications and break world records.
“We operate under the ChallENG Program as a Vertically Integrated Project (VIP). It’s a fairly free structure which works brilliantly. I have more than 100 undergraduate Engineering and Business students and our goal is to design, manufacture and build world-leading prototypes of electric vehicles. It just so happens that on the journey, the students are assessed,” Richard said.
By the time undergraduates finish the VIP elective with Sunswift Racing, they’ve spent more than a year with Richard. The consistent time means this Professor of Practice can guide them the same way he would a sports team and the relationships continue beyond the laboratory.
Sunswift 7, winner of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and the Guinness World Record holder. An amazing piece of student engineering.
Sunswift now and into the future
Since its launch in 1996, there have been seven versions of electric solar vehicles built by students. Sunswift 7 broke and still holds a Guinness World Record, so the new challenge Richard has set for his team of students is to create Australia’s first hydrogen-powered fuel cell car – Sunswift 8.
This goal is supported by $3 million worth of investment from industry partners. Richard hopes this version will be a tri-brid, fuelled by solar, batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.
Taking the research and output to the next level, Richard has just launched his latest venture, in partnership with UNSW – P-ONE Technology. It’s a commercialisation of Sunswift, an automative research and design agency set to “transform cutting-edge research into market-ready, automative solutions through industry & government partnerships”.
Sunswift 8 - the next prototype.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Don’t be afraid of asking questions.
What might surprise your colleagues?
Probably that I didn’t go to university.
What makes you happy?
Spending time with my daughter.
What day would you like to relive?
The day my daughter was born. It was the happiest day of my life.
What’s the best thing you’ve heard in the last year?
A podcast I’m currently listening to called ‘Strangers on a Bench’, hosted by Tom Rosenthal.
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