Bobsled is a winter sport in which two or four people sit together; one behind the other in a sled. This makes its run through narrow- sloping ice pathways that are banked and twisted sending the sled sliding down at high speeds.
The first bobsled track was built in Switzerland which was designed for traveling. Caspar Badrutt, owner of the Krup Hotel built the half-pipe track in eighteen-seventy. The earlier ones were two skeleton sleds; that were attached together with a board and a steering mechanism. Caspar Badrutts’ more affluent guests started using the ‘delivery sleds’ for recreation and sliding into village lanes and roads. So the sleds were attached with steering mechanisms; and later, Badrutt built a special track for his guests. This track is still operational today.
This track is the first natural ice track; and requires no artificial refrigeration. This track also was used during two Olympic games. The first bobsled tracks were mostly straight. However, the tracks have evolved now with twists and turns and designed so that the sleds reach high speeds. The sleds which were made of wood, were now made with fiberglass and metal. The bobsleighs go as fast as one hundred and fifty kilo meters per hour/ ninety miles per hour.
The record for the fastest recored is about two hundred kilo meters per hour/ one hundred and twenty-five miles per hour. The tracks now are made essentially of concrete and then coated with ice. Tracks usually are about thirteen hundred meters.
A crew is usually made of five or six people. A pilot, a brakeman and two pushers. The pushers are selected on the basis of their weight, strength and skill. The pilots are highly trained in timing, precision and finesse; so that they can achieve the best turns; and maintain those high speeds. To steer the sled, the pilot pulls the left string and to go right, he pulls the right string accordingly. The turns have to be made, subtly and precisely as turning hard at such high speeds could result in a deadly crash. The brakemans job is to pull the lever that activates the brake at the end of the race.
The races are categorized on their
Length (from about one thousand to about one thousand six hundred meters)
Vertical drop- which is who much the track is sloping (ranges from about ninety five meters to one hundred and fifty meters).
The number of curves and turns in the track
Now a worldwide sport, the bobsled has evolved over the years and become not just famous but an established sport that even has its turn in the Olympics.
