Munters' Denmark Hans-Henrik Thomsen Competes for the World Record

Inventors and drag racing duo Hans-Henrik Thomsen and his cousin Glenn E. Nielsen are competing for a new world record of quickest electric motorcycle this weekend at the Santa Pod Raceway event “NOT The Euro Finals”, UK (11-13th Sept.).

Hans-Henrik is a Munters’ Senior Area Sales Manager in Denmark (and also managing the Munters Connected Climate concept). He explains that his interest in technology and innovation has led him both to tenaciously build and modify the electric bike and to pursue a technical education leading to his current position at Munters Denmark.

The electric drag racing duo, called True Cousins and sponsored by Munters, built the Silver Lightning electric bike in 5 months in 2019. It took the team only 18 runs on a track and subsequent modifications to get the new bike to go as fast as the old one. From there, further modifications have been made to increase acceleration with the objective of setting yet another world record.

True Cousins’ class records

In 2012 the True Cousins’ Silver Bullit bike achieved several class records. They set a world record at 6.75 seconds in the 96V class. The subsequent year the duo set two new records at 5.58 seconds in the 144V class and later improved this record creating a new one at 4.48 seconds in the 400V class.

During the Santa Pod competition this weekend, the duo will compete with a new bike built in 2019. “We built the new vehicle as we couldn’t get the old one to go faster. The motor, controllers and the battery from the previous bikes were reused in the new one and the chassis is built from scratch.”, Thomsen explains.

Even after these alterations, the team couldn’t improve their performance due to limitations in the motors leading to excessive heat build. As a result, True Cousins had two new engines built in Italy. They are slightly longer than the previous ones and combined with the battery packs from 250 to 350 V, the overall weight of the bike has increased to 386 kg.

The Silver Lightning bike during a race. All photo credits: Nico. 

The Santa Pod Race this week

To date, True Cousins have ten world records under their belt and are now aiming for “the most prestigious world record”, as Thomsen expresses it, in the Santa Pod competition in the UK 11-13th September 2020.

For the 402 meters track True Cousins are currently racing at 7.08 seconds and need to get down to approximately 6.94 seconds to set the world record in the UK. "Although the difference is only 0.14 seconds", Thomsen says, "it is a tough record to beat, especially so given limited preparations for the Santa Pod due to restrictions imposed on our closest track in Malmö, Sweden, because of the Covid-19 situation."  

This summer, the duo raced at Mantorp Park at 7.08 seconds. Since then, further alterations have been made to the bike including reduction of 10 kg of weight and the addition of a new motor, which the team has not been able to try out on a race track prior to the competition at Santa Pod this weekend. The reduced weight and increased power of the battery makes it possible for True Cousins to set the world record at Santa Pod.

“Everything has led up to this. To compete for the highest record of them all: the 6.94 seconds record from 2012 achieved by Larry “Spiderman” McBride.”, Thomsen concludes.

We wish the team best of luck for the competition!

Watch the trailer for True Cousins' world record attempt at Santa Pod Raceway: