ABSTRACT
An example should clarify that one goal of the study is to objectivize statements about sport equipment. That is, to gate out the variances in statements from test runs with athletes
as far as possible. Test runs were conducted by Germany’s market leading company for the design of bobsleighs, implying different damping rubbers between the bobsleigh’s cover and the mainframe. The athlete’s were not informed about what set-up they were acutally running, whereas set-ups and drivers were mixed random. The drivers’ conclusions, however, differed widely about what set-up was the best. This once again confirms that the performance of the system athlete, or even team, and equipment is not only bound to technical parameters but also to psychological factors and matters of individual feeling for the equipment. Two actions are beign tried to implement to minimize the effect of such disturbing variables for optimization purposes:
● Perform test runs with retired but very experienced athletes to minimize the variance between runs and to avoid shortage in testing-time.
