Blog SOLIDWORKS at the 2014 Winter Olympics
What does SOLIDWORKS have to do with the Olympics? If you attended SOLIDWORKS World in January, you already know that the connection is with Geoff Bodine and Bob Cuneo, the two men behind the Gold Medal winning “Night Train” Bobsled.
Geoff Bodine, winner of the Daytona 500 in 1986, contacted Bob Cuneo, owner of Chassis Dynamics, in 1992 and together they partnered to form the Bo-Dyn Bobsled project.
Click here to watch Bodine explain how he came up with the idea to build an American-made, medal-winning bobsled.
After successfully winning an Olympic gold medal in Vancouver in 2010 with the bobsled, “Night Train,” the Bo-Dyn Bobsled project decided to utilize SOLIDWORKS to create an even faster bobsled.
Due to the difference in the track at the Sochi Games compared to the Canadian track, Bodine knew they needed to try something different. “We knew we needed an accurate and precise 3D design that could give us a realistic and cost-effective way to test and tweak Night Train 2 prototypes. The solution was SolidWorks,” said Bodine.
When it comes to bobsledding, hundredths of a second are extremely important. At the start of the race, the bobsledders run for about 5 seconds and can get up to speeds of over 25 miles per hour.
Watch the Bo-Dyn bobsled team explain how important their head engineer is to their success.
The Bobsleigh Four-man competition at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics will be held on February 22nd and 23rd. We will have to wait and see if Bo-Dyn and Night Train 2 bring home the gold medal!