Car manufacturer BMW is apparently getting into the bobsled game and announced Wednesday that it’s been working on a new two-man sled for the USBSF that could be ready in time for the 2014 Olympics.
“We’re no strangers to sport performance characteristics such as agility, speed and aerodynamics,” Ludwig Willisch, CEO for BMW of North America, told the Associated Press. “We can’t wait to see this finished sled on the ice.”
BMW, which is signed up as an official sponsor of the U.S Olympic Committee, as well as the speed skating, track, bobsled and skeleton teams through 2016, hopes to increase the speed and “overall sport performance” of the U.S. sled by using its EfficientDynamics technology, which includes lightweight materials, aerodynamics, and chassis dynamics similar to their top line cars.
A prototype that BMW creative director Michael Scully called “recognizably different” has already been delivered to the U.S. team. Vancouver Olympic champ Steve Holcombe took it for a test drive in Utah earlier this year and the sled could make its competitive debut as early as this World Cup season, but no date is set.
There’s also no word yet on how the German team feels about a German car company improving the medal chances of its U.S. rivals, but we’ve seen “Cool Runnings” and can only imagine the animosity is palpable.
