Munich/Altenberg. This Friday sees the beginning of the 52nd FIL Luge World Championships in Altenberg (GER), supported by BMW as predominant companion. In entrance of a house crowd, the German crew is aiming to construct on its spectacular file of successes at main occasions. In this respect, the BSD has been counting on assist from expertise companion BMW since 2010. In luging, the expertise switch from automotive analysis, growth and manufacturing focuses on data-driven optimisation of the complicated system of luge, athlete, and racing line.
The ‘BMW Data Coach’ consists of sensors put in within the coaching sleds. These measure a variety of dynamic information relating to longitudinal and lateral velocity, acceleration and yaw charges, and ship high-resolution recordings. The sensors work in tandem with bespoke evaluation software program for information analysis, which might exactly reconstruct every run. This expertise has lengthy been a longtime a part of motor racing and the BMW Group and the BSD have been working to refine its utility for luging since 2016. Thanks to the evaluation of quite a few runs on one and the identical observe, the steadily rising trove of knowledge delivers more and more correct insights into the best materials and the quickest particular person racing line – in addition to revealing dependencies on exterior situations.
The software program has been developed and optimized by a number of Junior World Luge Champion Dr. Julian von Schleinitz, who advantages from his expertise as an athlete and his experience as an information scientist on the BMW Group. At any second between the beginning and end of a run, the ‘BMW Data Coach’ is ready to present the on-track place of the luge, the velocity, acceleration, steering actions, drift and rather more. It can even examine this information with different runs. “This allows us to recognise even the most minor steering errors and identify the ideal racing line, the most promising material and the perfect luge set-up,” says von Schleinitz. “Getting the set-up just right and staying on the ideal line become more crucial for longer ice channels – and this year’s World Championship track in Altenberg is very long.”
Objective evaluation reveals that the best line and the perfect materials might not be the identical for each athlete. Nonetheless, evaluating datasets for 2 athletes is what results in additional key insights. Multiple Olympic and world champion Felix Loch has been working with the ‘BMW Data Coach’ for a while and Max Langenhan, at present topping the general World Cup standings, began to make use of the expertise this season. “The fact that Max and I are working together benefits us both,” says Loch. “We can watch our races together on the computer in the most minute detail, which allows us to spot the best racing line and compare our materials.”
Data collected to date reveals that Langenhan and Loch are following barely totally different racing strains in Altenberg. These variations have been analysed in simulations forward of the World Championships, permitting the athletes to attract their particular person conclusions.
“Altenberg is a very sophisticated and varied track with a host of technical aspects. You can lose a lot of time between turn 1 and turn 18,” says Langenhan. “That makes it all the more important to stay on the ideal line for the whole run and stamp out the little slips that you might not even notice on the luge, but which are clear for all to see in the data. The BMW Data Coach is already working like a world champion, and now we just have to turn that into results.”
Today’s dash races will present the primary alternative to do exactly that. Saturday will function the medal races for the lads’s singles and ladies’s and males’s doubles. The World Championships wrap up on Sunday with the ladies’s singles and the crew relay.