Swoooooooossssh. . . .
Yes, that’s “BMW” as in the car company. Yes, that’s the wind tunnel where BMW aerodynamicists make sure that the Ultimate Driving Machines are slippery. And, yes, that is a man on a luge.
Yes, that’s “BMW” as in the car company. Yes, that’s the wind tunnel where BMW aerodynamicists make sure that the Ultimate Driving Machines are slippery. And, yes, that is a man on a luge. The Germans take their sports very seriously.
The Bobsleigh and Luge Federation for Germany (BSD) have been working in the BMW wind tunnel to measure aerodynamic drag, lift, and downforce, and to help optimize the body positions, materials, and equipment. Says Hans Kerschbaum, head of Aerodynamics at the BMW Group, “The main difference is that our vehicles have wheels, whereas the bobsleighs have runners. Otherwise the principles are the same.”
While it might seem that a bobsleigh might be more aerodynamic than a passenger car, that’s not the case. The coefficient of drag (Cd) for a current BMW 3 series is 0.26, it is between 0.32 and 0.35 for a bobsleigh (lower is better).
Incidentally, tests are run on the luge sleds at speeds in excess of 140 km/hr.
