Bdriving? A childhood dream. With a steering wheel and tub full can into the valley. A king, who was allowed to change from the wooden sledge Davos. Today they are available for 25.95 euros. Half-life no winter. A hundred-year-old devices are on display in a museum in St. Moritz. Iron frame, steering wheels, uncovered. Tangible story. Sports enthusiasts should only approach Francesco Friedrich’s four-man bobsleigh under supervision. Touching is forbidden, looking inside is sacrilegious. Modern sledges are a matter of secret.
A product of brain power and childlike joy to shoot through at least 1500 meters of ice channel. The Germans have been good at it for a long time. Now they are kings again. Three gold medals in four competitions at the Olympic Games, seven medals out of a possible twelve. “That,” says head coach René Spies, who has just returned from China, “I won’t experience that again. Our athletes were in top form. And the devices, well done.”
That’s what they like to hear, the thinkers and inventors in Berlin from Bob-Manufaktur. Sounds like manual work, the name of the sled manufacturer is a bit cerebral and bureaucratic: Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment (FES). A GDR heir saved in the Unification Treaty. 80 technicians, engineers, one director: Michael Nitsch. Friendly, even when things don’t go well. Cheerful, with such a huge gold decoration as a souvenir. The FES was involved in 16 of the 27 medals won by the German Olympic team through the Eiskanal faction. “It’s not just about bobsleigh for us,” says Nitsch and lists: in addition to support for luge and skeleton, also help for ski jumpers, snowboarders, not to mention the summer program in track bike construction.
Everything was right: the hood to the frame, the frame (the chassis) to the runners.
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Image: FES
But the big boxes with the runners were and are an affair of the heart, a prestige program. “Everything from a single source,” says Nitsch. Despite all the pride, the sentence also has a political meaning. The FES is viewed critically. The taxpayer finances this part of the German medal factory with 7 million euros per year. For this it should be part of the supply chain, gold for money.
More than a week ago, Francesco Friedrich stroked the hood of his vehicle at the finish line in Yanqing. As if he wanted to thank him for driving to the fourth gold in the fourth Olympic race. Two wins in South Korea in 2018, now two with the latest generation in China. No pilot has such a series to offer. “Everything,” says the Saxon, “fits.” The hood to the frame, the frame (the chassis) to the runners.
Those are the three core pieces of the bob, whether four or two. A dividing joint between the front boat and the rear boat allows for torsion when entering and exiting steep turns. All lightweight constructed of carbon fiber, fiberglass, Kevlar, aluminum and steel. No electronics, no motor, there are more complicated things – at first glance. The prototypes are created digitally, as are the constant evolutions. “We design on the computer and simulate. We only produce what we think works,” says Nitsch. Frame, runners made of specified unit steel and the hood, baked in their own oven.
The Germans have been good at it for a long time. Now they are the kings of the ice track again. The vehicle is a technical secret.
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Image: Witters
The 1:1 model is checked in the BMW wind tunnel. Pilot and pusher are there. To find out which arrangement behind the control artist serves the aerodynamics best. The result: a world record for Friedrich and his team in 2017: 157 km/h on the notorious Canadian track from Whistler.
That was before the last step of the FES to the only design size in the German camp. When the threat came from Austria, from a man with a penchant for the drawing board. Leo Wallner was on the track, was a business partner for the Germans and a sought-after designer, even during the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea. Friedrich drove away in the FES two-man and then switched to the Wallner four-man. “The FES felt like they had the honor,” says head coach Spies. The German Bobsleigh and Luge Federation (BSD) had put “its” smithy under pressure after the Sochi disaster in 2014: no medal for the Germans for the first time in fifty years. Wallner came into play. An expensive strategy. Hardly anyone says what bobs cost. But no one would disagree with this claim. A fast four can be had for 120,000 euros, a two for 70,000 to 80,000. The BSD bought heavily from Wallner. In the meantime, gold, at least Olympic gold, has become cheaper. After 2018, all pilots switched to the FES foursome. Why?