Engineers going for GOLD
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Engineers going for GOLD
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Become a part of the USA Olympic Luge effort and find yourself in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Team USA needs engineers willing to go for Gold. The USA Olympic Luge Team is launching a development program to improve our competitiveness in the “fastest sport on ice”. If you are willing to accept our challenge, you will work directly with USA Olympians and Coaches to evaluate your results. Your knowledge and skills could get Team USA Gold in 2010.
Team USA needs your development efforts in these areas of technology;
1. Steel to Ice coefficient of friction
Team USA needs to understand the technical elements between steel and ice to make our athletes faster on the track. Do different metals work better with ice, should the steel be shaped differently, how does a fractional change in temperature effect performance? These are just a few of the questions that we need answered. Knowledge about the coefficient of friction between steel and ice could be the greatest advantage we could gain to win GOLD.
2. Testing
Team USA needs power on the track and in the laboratory. We are looking for programmers to model racing conditions. It is our dream to be able to model programs to analyze racing conditions without having to actually race. We want to establish the conditions to analyze and have the computer model determine the outcome. Testing should be able to analyze combinations of steel, ice, finishes, textiles, and air.
Then we want to be able to simulate the computer data in real life situations. The better we can build a database of race conditions with anticipated results, the better we can set our race equipment for the GOLD.
3. Finishes
Team USA needs to understand which, if any, finishes improve the coefficient of friction between steel and ice to make the luge faster down the track. We are familiar with some finishes that improve our speeds but we don’t necessarily understand why this is so. We need to understand the chemistry of finishes so that we can select the best finish to improve speed given certain race conditions.
4. Textiles
Team USA needs to develop lighter and faster race suits. We would like to develop suits that efficiently move through cold air allowing less drag and faster speeds. Materials, finishes, and construction are a few of the areas we need evaluated to move our athletes faster to GOLD.
Your efforts could result in a trip to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics as a personal guest of Team USA Luge. You are always welcome to visit the USA Olympic Training Center and Olympic Luge Center located in Lake Placid, New York.
For more information about how you can help Team USA win the GOLD, contact Silver Medalist USA Luge, Gordy Sheer at gordy@usaluge.org or 518.523.2071
