In an exciting race, the THM Motorsport team from Gießen secured second place with a specially designed motorcycle in the Supermono competition in Italy.

The 15-person team from the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen ( THM ), consisting of students, laboratory engineer Ben Falgenhauer and Prof. Klaus Herzog, took part in the competition in the class up to 450 cubic centimeters. They designed a motorcycle that weighs 110 kilograms and has an output of 46 kW, i.e. 62.6 hp, at the wheel.

In the Supermono competition, only prototype motorcycles start on the 2.3 kilometer long route in Varano de' Melegari in Emilia-Romagna. The basis for the THM motorcycle was the motorcycle designed for a 250 cubic centimeter engine, which competed in the Moto Student student competition in Aragon, Spain, last year. For the race in Italy, the chassis had to be heavily modified; the team completely redeveloped the intake and exhaust system as well as the fuel supply. The chassis also had to be extensively adjusted. This required numerous night shifts.

In Italy, driver Fabian Fritzsch competed for the THM Motorsport team. After the training runs at over 35 degrees Celsius, the team members fixed the last technical problems. Two days later things got serious. A total of 18 motorcycles took part, and the motorcycle had to last nine laps in temperatures of almost 40 degrees Celsius. While Luca Maria Casagrande Contardi secured the lead immediately after the start and won the competition, Fabian Fritzsch and Sara Guerreri were in a constant duel for second place, which Fritzsch won on the last lap.

The university group THM -Motorsport Gießen has been developing racing vehicles in student projects for over 15 years. The first was a monoposto racing vehicle, i.e. a single-seater, for participation in international Formula Student competitions. Every year the teams developed and built a new formula racing car in accordance with the constantly changing regulations.

For four years, the interdisciplinary team of students from many departments has also been developing motorcycles for participation in both student and professional competitions. The team is supervised by Prof. Herzog and laboratory engineer Falgenhauer, who himself was a student member of the Formula Student team a good ten years ago.

The team would like to thank the numerous sponsors from industry and trade as well as the university.