BMW designs 2014 US Winter Olympic team bobsleds

Every four years, the world's best athletes come together to compete in the most prestigious of all snow-based sporting events, the winter Olympics. It's about that time again. In approximately two weeks, Sochi, Russia will play host to this event, welcoming talented athletes from all corners of the Earth.

In the spirit of interglobal competition, Germany and the United States have allied, bobsled style. BMW has designed and manufactured the bobsleds that will hopefully propel the United States bobsled team down an icy chute of Olympic victory.

The German automaker has always had the reputation of designing “the ultimate driving machines,” so it decided to try its hand in crafting the ultimate sliding machine. BMW left the sled design blueprints in the hands of race car driver Michael Scully. Scully wanted to create a sled that would deliver a more powerful, but at the same time more peaceful, trip down the course, allowing the driver to focus on the task at hand -- getting to the end as fast as possible in one piece.

Scully lowered the sled's center of gravity and narrowed out the nose, increasing aerodynamics while making steering a breeze, relatively speaking. The ultimate goal here was to make the 275-pound sled handle like a sports car … on ice.

Lead sheets were attached to the most beneficial spots of the interior of the sled, although those exact “beneficial spots” have been kept under wraps, mostly for the intimidation factor, we assume.

The sleds seem to be doing their job. U.S. two-man bobsled front-runner Steven Holcomb has won five of seven races so far this season. It will be interesting to see how the U.S. team measures up against Germany and Switzerland's esteemed bobsledding reputations when the two-man competition begins Feb. 16 on NBC.

BMW

By Natalie Sejnost