BMW Sled for German Bobsleigh Olympic Team

The German Bobsleigh and Sled Sports Federation (BSD) athletes have a score to settle at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang (KOR) in February 2018. Four years ago, the successful bob athletes came away without a medal. At the three world championships that followed, Germany returned to winning ways and appears to be ready for the Olympics. BSD technology partner BMW was also involved in the development of the sporting equipment. A whole host of BMW engineering expertise is incorporated into the sleds: aerodynamics, ergonomics and structural analysis.

As the long-standing premium and technology partner of the BSD, BMW supports the association with the development and optimisation of the sleds. BMW brings its extensive expertise from car manufacturing, as well as its unique infrastructure. In the BMW Group’s aerodynamic test centre and in the wind tunnel, the BSD is able to test and optimise the sporting equipment, as well as consult with the BMW aerodynamics experts. BMW also provides important expertise on carbon technology. In the area of CFRP (carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic) in particular, BMW has unique knowledge as the first car manufacturer to make use of the material carbon in mass production.

Ergonomics and materials technology.

Bobs are manufactured from carbon, a material with which BMW is very familiar; BMW demonstrates its expertise not only in car manufacturing and motorsport, but also in the America’s Cup, the most challenging sailing competition in the world. Thomas Hahn, who is head of the BMW technology transfer, has spent many years working on the construction of the high-tech racing yachts for two-time America’s Cup winner ORACLE Team USA. He knows the challenges and the potential of carbon. The aerospace engineer uses his specialist knowledge to support bobsleigh builder Johannes Wallner, who manufactures the 2-man and 4-man bobs for the reigning world champion bob teams Lochner and Friedrich.

“First, we measured and digitalised the bob, and optimised it using computer simulation,” explained Hahn. “To produce the prototypes, we used a precision mill to manufacture a negative mould that will then be used to bring the carbon fibres to the exact desired positions. This precision form guarantees that the test, measurement and race results are transparent and comparable. Which means the sleds produced can be reproduced identically.”

The positions of the three pushers require different qualities. For example, two requires more power, four requires more speed and a higher step frequency. In the 4-man sled of Francesco Friedrich, this position is held by former decathlete Thorsten Margis, who is an imposing 1.92 metres tall. He needs more space to position himself as flat as possible in the bob to reduce air resistance. The position of his seat needed to be adjusted for this.

Head coach René Spies said: “Over the summer we optimised the Wallner bobs for the teams Friedrich and Lochner. Many ideas for improving the aerodynamics of the sleds and for the seat positions were developed and implemented. The valuable tests in the BMW wind tunnel enabled us to confirm the positive results and get that last hundredth of a second for our Mission Gold. A big thank you goes to BMW for this.”

Hahn said: “Changing the seating positions is nowhere near as trivial as one might think. Such optimisations change the centre of gravity and the handling, among other things. But we are very pleased with the result. Identifying and implementing the optimum compromise is a challenge that has to be mastered every day in car manufacturing.”