Fastest ever: Laura Friedmann’s mission accomplished
This Buckeye engineer achieved it as she led the electric motorcycle team to four world speed records. “At Ohio State, you win,” she says.
Laura Friedmann ’24 MS came to Ohio State because she wanted to go fast. Growing up in Minnesota, she loved building cars and racing. “This is the classic story of how a female gets into engineering: I grew up working in the garage with my dad,” Friedmann says.
Working as an intern with the Indian Motorcycle company as an undergrad at North Dakota State University, she got a taste of land-speed racing—pushing automotive engineering to the limits to set speed records. She went to the famed Bonneville Salt Flats in northwestern Utah with Indian and was hooked.
When Friedmann narrowed her choice of graduate schools, Ohio State stood out because of the world-class mechanical engineering program and Buckeye Current. The student-led electric motorcycle racing team had already won accolades—and under Friedmann’s leadership, the team would go further. And faster.
Last summer, Buckeye Current set four world and two national records with its built-from-scratch Ohio State RW-5 Voxan. One of the records saw the motorcycle top out at more than 180 mph.
“Laura is a talented engineer in her own right, making numerous key contributions to the technology behind the bike. She is an even more capable leader, motivator and competitor, all of which are key skills in building and leading a world record-setting race team,” says David Cooke ’12, ’15 MS, senior associate director of Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) and an advisor for Buckeye Current. “Laura’s never-quit, always-positive attitude helped propel the team to success on a global level and cemented their legacy as outstanding Buckeyes.”
The spirit of competition was another thing that drew Friedmann to Columbus. “At Ohio State, you win. That’s the culture. You don’t come here and say, ‘Oh, I go to Ohio State.’ You come here and say, ‘I go to THE Ohio State!’”
In August, Friedmann completed her master’s in mechanical engineering with an automotive specialization and at the same time led the team of 25 undergrads on the salt flats. A highlight of the trip was the chance to do something she couldn’t as a student, for liability reasons: ride the motorcycle. “The freedom you feel in the salt flats, the openness—it’s you and the road, you and the motorcycle. It was everything I had ever worked on and everything I had ever hoped.”
Buckeye Current after setting records at the Bonneville Salt Flats, where they set world records
