Despite being known for their flashy cars and heavy bikes, BMW has made significant strides in the field of sports equipment too. The bobsled team USA that won medals galore at the 2014 Winter Olympics had their sports gear made by the BMW team. Continuing expansion in this field, BMW North America has announced that it will be making high-speed racing wheelchairs for USA’s track and field team. It has been researching and learning know how to develop these new machines for a while.
After good performances in Winter Olympics, BMW won a six-year contract with USA Paralympic team. Most of the work done by BMW will be based on converting their excellence in the field of automotive and turn into a success for these sports apparels. BMW will rely on its Global Creative Consultancy Designworks team to build these wheelchairs. The California-based organization will work directly in contact with the national team to make the best product possible by identifying key improvement areas.
Although the project has just begun, BMW is confident that it will completely revamp the design and create a much better racing machine then ever created before. Aerodynamics, steering, braking, auto restraint, bearing technology and other areas of the vehicle will undergo extensive analysis on the new chair.
According to BMW, the company is committed to providing an advanced athletic performance to the members of the team. Its contract includes technology transfer of these wheelchairs so that they can be used for successive models by the special sports association. The wheelchair project presents a relishing challenge for the design team and may also improve general mobility options for the handicapped people in general which goes in line with their Corporate Social Responsibility model as well.
The BMW will hope to deliver the final product by early 2016 to allow the athletes to train and practice with their new cutting edge weapon. Let’s see how many medals they can win with a BMW wheelchair!