Ferrari, BMW lend expertise to Olympic bobsled, skeleton, luge
Motorsports and sliding have plenty in common.
"There's always the link between the Formula One companies, or any
motor company, and skeleton and bobsleigh," says Rachel Blackburn, the
engineer who has been involved in Britain's skeleton program since 2006
and who used to work for McLaren.
"There's the Ferrari sleds and the BMW sleds ... when we were at
McLaren it kind of made a good story," she told Reuters by telephone
from her home in Dubai.
That somewhat manufactured rivalry has died down in the years since
Sochi, with McLaren no longer involved and Ferrari's presence low key.
But the worlds of grand prix motor racing and sliding sports still have plenty in common.
Bobsled, luge and skeleton are among the fastest of Olympic sports,
with bobsleds reaching speeds over 90 mph. Drivers are subjected to
gut-wrenching G-forces, and crashes can be fatal.
And then there is the ongoing debate about cost controls, the
direction of future rules, preserving a level playing field and
obsessive secrecy — all endlessly recurring themes in Formula One.
(AutoBlog.com)
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