Engineering in Performance—Satisfying the Need for Speed
Success at luging is all about speed and precision. It has always fascinated me how even a slight change in speed can have a wonderful effect on performance—or cause a train wreck. This is true in business as well as in luging. Achieving peak performance calls for a delicate balancing act and in luge we have been helping to keep our athletes moving along that tightrope as fast as possible.
As I reported previously, there are rules regulating how much extra weight a slider can carry. The Federation Internationale de Luge de Course (http://www.fil-luge.org) has a thick book establishing the rules for every aspect of the sport. Included is a large section for calculating the extra weight men, women, and doubles teams can put on in the form of lead weights. Each group must meet different weight requirements. These rules are absolutely critical, because this is a sport where the difference between 1st and 5th place can be less than five thousandths of a second. This is why every slider wants to carry the maximum weight allowed.
The answer to this challenge is lead. 20 years ago it was common for people to go to their local hardware store and buy a sheet of lead, which they often used for a shower pan that would keep water from leaking down and rotting the wood under their shower. Back then, the USA Luge Team would also buy sheets of lead and, with a scissors and a hand saw, cut up small pieces to sew into their weight vests and leggings. Still, it was difficult to achieve exact weights and desired shapes starting with lead sheet. This is a serious uncertainty, because the penalty for showing up at even slightly over the weight limit is immediate disqualification.
At this stage we began looking for ways to design and engineer lead weights that would be efficient for us to produce and productive for the team to use. Next week I’ll tell you how we all attacked balancing the need for precision and the need for speed.
While you are waiting, pay a visit to www.usaluge.org and get the latest info about recent competitions and achievements.