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Serious Question about the luge

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I know nothing about it, so I plead ignorance.

But what makes a great luger? It's all about a fast time, right? So is it all in the way you lay? Do you actually steer that thing a bit around corners with your body movement? Is it all about the launch??

Doesn't seem like the most athletic thing out there. Seems like it's more about the engineering of your sled. Toboggan? What is it? A luge?
 
The luge is about aerodynamics and how you transition the weight on the turns..... yes you can slow yourself down or try to go like the brides pants on wedding day...... the choice is yours. BTW if you fuck up the weight transition thing on the turns.... you fly off.
 
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But what makes a great luger? It's all about a fast time, right? So is it all in the way you lay? Do you actually steer that thing a bit around corners with your body movement? Is it all about the launch??
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Well a fast time does help you win gold but there are many aspects to the sport in getting the fast time. The launch is obviously important since the faster you start then the bigger the edge you have on the competition, but it's not as if you can stick Usain Bolt on a luge and see him win the medal. The way you lay is critical due to the physics type stuff - at the start, you have inertia (the running start) and gravity (to gain speed on the downhill run) on your side but taking away from that is friction and drag which slows you down. The friction is between the sled and the ice is large factor in the fastness of the time, the sled needs to be highly engineered and polished to minimize the friction. As for the drag, that's minimized by the funky suits and helmet they wear and their seating position is highly engineered as well - taking a peek at every corner to see where you're going is the difference between coming first and last. The sled is steered by the legs, there are little steering things near the front of the sled that are very sensitive to any movement.

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Doesn't seem like the most athletic thing out there. Seems like it's more about the engineering of your sled. Toboggan? What is it? A luge?
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It's a type of sled that's called a luge. If you don't think it's athletic then tell me how many fat people you see at the Olympics and if so, how well they do. You have to be so toned that your body can absorb all the shock of the friction with the ice and still be able to make minute adjustments in your body to steer it. And when you're going down the track at up to 90mph then you're subject to forces of 3G, 4G and up to 5G on some courses.

If you want to liken it to something you can relate to, it's quite close to Formula 1 racing but more like a 2 hour race condensed into 2 minutes. Both sports have a highly engineered means of transport, extensive aerodynamic testing through wind tunnels and such like, subject the rider to high G-forces as well as needing a precision-orientated driver.
 
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