This could be the quickest ever BMW that doesn’t have an engine.
The next Winter Olympic Games isn’t until 2022 in Beijing, China, but BMW is already preparing to help the German Bobsleigh, Luge, and Skeleton Federation by building the squad’s two-man bobsled. The first prototype is already in the automaker’s wind tunnel, and the initial tests on ice start before the end of the year.
With several years before the 2022 Olympics kick off, it’s understandable that BMW is still in the early stages of the bobsled’s development. The engineers call the prototype an “innovation driver” because it allows them to try out a variety of ideas and see what works the best. Bobsled drivers are also offering input on what they need from the vehicle so that they can make the most of BMW’s design.
“Aerodynamics, chassis development, and carbon fabrication are areas in which BMW is working at the highest level – and which are also extremely important for a racing sled,” Thomas Hahn, a BMW employee responsible for technology transfer, said about the bobsled.
While in a simple shade of white at the moment, the German sled will race with the German bobsled squad’s traditional yellow and black color scheme. The design will have a dazzle pattern akin to camouflage that test mules wear, and the eye-catching layout will be quite a sight sliding down the ice.
In previous years, BMW has helped the German bobsled team by working on their racing overalls, helmets, and other equipment. However, BMW of North America has done even more by designing the full bobsled (pictured above) for the U.S. team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The vehicle was good enough to earn the Americans a silver medal there.
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