Report on the co-operation between FH Aachen & Einhard-Gymnasium in 2025-26

Einhard-Gymnasium Aachen and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics at FH Aachen have been working closely together since 2011 as part of the Junior Engineering Academy (JIA). A central component of this is the annual "STEM Racing Germany" project: pupils develop and produce a miniature racing car on the computer in the WP II subject JIA and compete with it in regional and German championships.

The Einhard teams 2025-26

In Mrs Kraus' WP II JIA course and Mr Käller and Mr Albert's JIA-AG, six motivated teams of pupils have formed this school year to prepare for the STEM Racing Championship West 2026. Aachen's Einhard Gymnasium then competed there with 4 senior teams (AEROSTROM, aiXplosion, APEX Innovation, FastChapelle's) and 2 junior teams (E2 Motion, X-Racers)(see news from 3 March 2026 "With team spirit and technology to success").

Report by Svenja Grohe | Einhard Gymnasium:

Over the past six months, our Fast Chapelle's team at Einhard Gymnasium has been preparing together with five other teams to take part in the STEM Racing Regional Championship (RM) West 2026 in Heinsberg. We developed our own CAD car model using the Autodesk Fusion design software. This was then produced using a 3D printer and assembled by us. The finished vehicles were powered by a CO2 cartridge and reached very high speeds on the race track.

In addition to the technical development, marketing was also an important part of the competition. We created presentations, looked for sponsors and designed our own logos and team stands. This not only taught us a lot about technology, but also about teamwork, organisation and professional appearance.

The three teams from the WP II course "JIA" received particularly strong support from FH Aachen, which accompanied us throughout the entire project.

In September of last year, these teams were able to take part in a technical training course in CAD design at FH Aachen. There we learnt the basics of Autodesk Fusion and were given lots of helpful tips for the development of our prototypes. The training was led by graduate engineer Ralf Sander, who explained everything very clearly and supported us with a lot of patience. His help made it much easier for us to work with the programme.

As in previous years, the FH Aachen workshop produced the axles and wheels for our vehicles. These were manufactured with particular precision and helped us to gain valuable time on the race track - a big thank you to Mr Schellenberg's team!!!

As the season progressed, FH Aachen also supported us with technical advice. A special highlight was once again the opportunity to use the in-house flow channel. There we were able to test how a fluid moves around our vehicle and thus make targeted improvements to our design. Special thanks go to Mr Schönwald, who accompanied us during these tests and explained the results clearly.

The FH Aachen was always ready to help us throughout the entire project. We would like to express our sincere thanks for this valuable support and the great co-operation.

Report by Svenja Grohe | Einhard Gymnasium:

That was new this year:

1. All senior teams were obliged this 2025-26 season to integrate a halo even at the regional championship -> Unfortunately, we do not have the corresponding braking system for our school's own test track.
2. In addition to our 3 senior teams from Year 10-WP II, pupils from Year 8 at our school also took part in the STEM Racing Championship West in two junior teams - well prepared in a JIA club.
3. Last but not least, the aiXplosion team once again took part in the Regional Championship West. These students wanted to use all their previous knowledge from the RM and the German Championship (DM) 2025 to make it onto the podium at the RM again this year and on to the DM 26.

Then came the championship at the end of February, and all kinds of challenges awaited us:

1. Team Fast Chapelle's was unable to start due to a halo that was too low. As described above, we were unable to practise with the halo braking system during the test drives. Safety problems then arose during the competition, which led to the exclusion of our vehicle. Not only did we lose points as a result, but also important experience - particularly disappointing for our designer, who had put her heart and soul into designing the final model. We also only assembled the team stand at short notice, which caused a great deal of stress towards the end. It was only possible to connect to the screen with a computer. Fortunately, this problem could be solved at short notice.
2. The APEX Innovation team was also unable to start the race - for safety reasons, the eyelets for the guide chord on the cars handed in were not fully closed, which led to their exclusion from the race.

Nevertheless, the three teams of 10 took away a lot of valuable experience from the competition. In the end, the Fast Chapelle's finished in 12th place out of a total of 17 senior teams, Team APEX Innovation in 10th place and Team Aerostrom in 4th place.

The two one-hard junior teams "E2 Motion" and "X-Racers" took honourable 2nd and 4th places, E2-Motion was also honoured for the best junior presentation.

The aiXplosion team confidently took first place in NRW and, in addition to the special design prize, also took the prizes for the fastest senior car (with 1.172 s) and for both portfolios.