The two sports might only seem loosely connected: race cars thundering around an asphalt track and sleds speeding down the winding arm of an ice track. But at The Dow Chemical Company, engineers are borrowing from techniques they’ve longed used for NASCAR to make the USA Luge Team quicker at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
A partner of the Olympic Games and of Team USA, Dow engineers and scientists are helping the USA Luge Team tune its sleds to get an edge over the competition. Using a web of sensors, GPS data, physics models and lab testing, Dow is helping to improve the team’s speed and agility, while helping racers understand the South Korean race conditions so they can make last-minute adjustments to their sleds.