The most expensive project of the Winter Olympics, a track cost 500 million yuan to build, China broke the monopoly of Europe and the United States

The most "money-burning" project of the Winter Olympics, a special snowmobile manufacturing cost of 300,000 yuan, counting the various types of equipment used by the players 200,000 yuan, a total of 500,000 yuan has reached 500,000 yuan, not only that, to create a professional snowmobile track at least cost 500 million yuan, so this sport is also known as the "rich game".

There are very few countries that can participate in this project in the early Winter Olympics, and the mainland did not establish a snowmobile national team until 2016, so why is this seemingly ordinary Olympic event so expensive? Where is all this money "burned"?

Snowmobile project

Also known as "luge", the bobsleigh is a multi-person sport that can be sliding on the ice track in a controllable direction, and it is called "Ice F1", which can reach a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour, almost comparable to a car.

Although the snowmobile calls for a ride, it does not have wheels, nor does it need to run with the help of gasoline, its power depends entirely on the starting speed and gravity, and the athlete needs to cooperate in advance to push the snowmobile forward, get the starting speed and then jump into the car.

After that, the snowmobile uses inertia and gravity to glide forward to complete the speed competition, in the process requiring people and cars to reduce drag as much as possible to achieve the purpose of the race, so that both the skills of the athletes and the equipment of the snowmobile must be taken into account.

The overall structure of the snowmobile is mainly streamlined, consisting of the chassis, cockpit, coaster, protective cover, steering rudder and brakes, and from these components we can see a function of it.

The most obvious is the coaster, which is two sets of independent sliding steel blades at the bottom of the snowmobile, which can be controlled by the steering rudder inside the snowmobile, which is equivalent to the steering wheel of the car, and the athlete controls the steering of the body in a traction way;

The brake is an important device for the snowmobile to slow down and pull the brakes to stop; and the protective cover is related to the safety of the athletes, coupled with the very small space in the snowmobile cabin, the pressure on the skater when sliding over the corner is 5 to 6 times that of its own gravity, close to the limit of the human body.

To know that a regular snowmobile track is between 1300 and 2000 meters in length, the width is about 1.4 meters, in order to increase competitiveness, the whole process is also set up with 15 to 20 curves, each curve is not less than 20 meters, so that the height difference between the starting point and the end point is nearly 100 to 150 meters, so if you want the snowmobile to play a reliable protection role and reduce drag, you must do the fineness of the snowmobile to the extreme.

Break the long-term monopoly abroad

In September 2021, the first domestic snowmobile in the mainland was born, ending the long-term monopoly of snowmobile equipment by foreign countries, which is mainly made of carbon fiber composite materials and metals, and most of the carbon fiber is used in the manufacture of spacecraft.

Compared with traditional materials, carbon fiber is lighter in weight and stronger than twice that of steel, and according to international standards, snowmobiles need to have the characteristics of lightness, hardness, and corrosiveness, and the weight cannot exceed the specified weight, so it is most suitable to make snowmobiles with carbon fiber.

The sport of snowmobiling originated in Northern Europe, and was officially included in the Winter Olympic Games in 1924, and European and American countries won most of the medals in this project because of their climatic and geographical advantages, and also monopolized the snowmobile and snowmobile equipment industry.

Compared with them, the mainland started late in this project, and did not officially establish the snowmobile national team until 2016, all the equipment used for training depends on high-priced imports or rentals, but the rented equipment will deviate from the athletes' habits, resulting in difficulty in the game to play the right level, and in the process of damage also have to pay a large amount of money.

In this context, in 2019, China FAW and China Aerospace Science and Technology undertook the task of China's first snowmobile, it is worth noting that no engineer had seen a real snowmobile before the establishment of the project, and the only thing that could be referred to was the technical standards of the International Snow Federation and the two retired old-fashioned snowmobiles specially purchased from abroad.

For aerospace engineers, rockets can be built, but in the face of this small snowmobile is difficult, and then after research, it was found that its overall structure is very close to the launch vehicle, and the emergence of this breakthrough instantly made engineers feel empowered.

Finally, drawing on the principle of aerospace technology and vehicle drag reduction, coupled with many interviews with more than 20 athletes and snowmobile coaches, combined with the suggestions they gave, we finally created a Chinese snowmobile that meets the needs of athletes.

In September 2019, China's first 2-person snowmobile and 4-person snowmobile made a public appearance, and the current R&D team has mastered more than 20 key technologies, and after testing, the average speed of domestic snowmobiles exceeds 3% of that of foreign snowmobiles, and the wind resistance coefficient is 5% less than that of imported similar snowmobiles.

It can be said that the mainland has created a world miracle of safety and ultra-high-speed operation, and has put it together with the track with high slope, precision and artificial snow requirements, and has become the most "money-burning" project in the Winter Olympics.

In fact, as early as 2010, the news reports had made a general introduction to the cost of this sport, when a snowmobile asked for at least 280,000 yuan, and the high-standard spike boots were as high as 286,000.

The whole set of jumpsuits and helmets add up to nearly 5,000 yuan, the ski gloves worn by athletes also need 340 yuan, plus the damage to boots and snowmobiles during training, and the daily maintenance of the track, which is a huge expense.

At present, the Winter Olympic Games are being carried out in an orderly manner, and its holding has once again allowed the world to see the soft power of our country, and has also further promoted the social and economic development of the mainland, so every investment in the Winter Olympics is an investment in the future.