Hot Sleds: BMW Seeks To Improve Chances Of U.S. Olympic Team - Rough Sledding Ahead
By way of one of its usual trademark flowery press releases, BMW says it is developing a new two-man bobsled for use by Team USA in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
According to the release, “BMW aims to leverage its world-class engineering and design expertise to answer longstanding equipment and innovation needs of the U.S. Bobsled Team.” The team’s needs definitely demand world-class engineering: The last time the two-man bobsled team was 1953 (silver). In Vancouver 2010, Germany won gold and silver, Russia went home with bronze.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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So... isn't BMW going to catch grief at home if the US beats Germany in the next olympics?
So this means USA Bobsled is giving up on Bo-Dyn sleds? http://www.bodynbobsled.com/news.php?news_id=133 BMW vs NASCAR, this could be fun to watch.
I'm not up on my bobsled tech, but isn't it basically a combination of gravity and friction? Maybe toss in a little aerodynamics, but --really-- what can BMW do to improve the sled?