A short hiss accompanied by a small cloud of mist, and two miniature racing cars powered by gas cartridges have already completed a 20-metre race track in less than 2 seconds. The cars were sent into the race by school teams from Mecklenburg-Pomerania on the occasion of the Regional Championship East, which took place on 22 March 2025 as part of STEM Racing at the Phantechnikum Wismar.
STEM stands for "science, technology, engineering and mathematics" and is a multidisciplinary technology competition in which pupils have to design their own branding, raise funds, write business plans and create a portfolio including a final presentation in addition to building a Formula 1-like racing car. In addition to companies from the region, they are also supported by our university in completing the various tasks.
Roland Larek, together with the cooperation partner for the dual study programme, the Open Factory Campus Schwerin (OFC), paved the way for the acquisition of a joint STEM racing track. This will be made available to schools in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern for the realisation of the project. In preparation for the Eastern Regional Championships, he has already welcomed teams to the production technology laboratory on the Wismar campus, where the pupils tested their vehicles on the new track set up here under real competition conditions. Professor Larek also familiarised the participants with the manufacturing techniques of 3D printing and milling in a workshop. The teams can use these two different processes to produce their vehicle. Furthermore, Prof Dr Christian Fink worked with the young people from Greifswald, Schwerin and Wismar on factors influencing the racing time of the vehicles, such as vehicle mass, moment of inertia of the wheels, etc.. The students were then able to measure the flow resistance of their models in the UAS's own wind tunnel.