LEXINGTON, NC. — NASCAR fans will want to keep tabs on one event in particular during the 2022 Winter Olympics.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Virginia native Matthew Wiles develops advanced components to race car engines for NASCAR

  • With successes in top level racing, including Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500, Wiles thought he could handle a Luge run in the 2022 Winter Olympics

  • Luge is one sport where the engineering and preparation of the equipment is critical

  • The USA Luge men’s team failed to make the podium, but women’s and team competitions continue throughout the week

 

That’s because a team who normally builds race car engines was called in to help make one the fastest Winter Olympic sports even faster.

With the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics now underway, many focus on the athletes performing, however there is always some kind of equipment involved.

Virginia native Matthew Wiles is no stranger to making things go faster.

He tells Spectrum News 1,"It’s always invigorating to be able to put effort into a problem and see that you’ve enhanced it or made it better."

The 42-year-old is Director of Engineering for ECR Engines, a division within Richard Childress Racing’s (RCR) headquarters, where he develops advanced components to race car engines for NASCAR.

With successes in top level racing, including Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500, Wiles thought he could handle a Luge run in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

“Fundamentally, we’re trying to increase the performance of that particular vehicle and or give the team time savings,” explains Wiles.

At their core, the two sports are similar, but each sport shares their own unique characteristics. The automotive engineer says whether it’s asphalt or ice speed is speed.

“Whether it’s a car racing on a track and you can measure improvement by seconds on up on a watch or watching an athlete go down the luge track itself and see the times improve,” said Wiles.

Luge is one sport where the engineering and preparation of the equipment is critical, and for this year’s games, Wiles and his crew took on a more active role.

“Specifically, some areas that RCR and ECR have contributed include taking the wrap material that we use to apply to the surface of our cars. We no longer paint cars. For labor savings, we apply a vinyl graphic that we can print livery on.’’

Since the speed of a luge depends so much on technology and with the U.S. falling behind in this area, he and his team wanted to collaborate with USA Luge and Dow Chemical to create its own speedsters for the frozen tracks.

“We’re also using our advance design and manufacturing techniques to produce certain components for the sled, specifically the steels. The steels are the part that contact the ice and perhaps one of the important parts of the sled,” suggests Wiles.

Wiles knows from experience much of what determines who wins comes at the start. 

“Individual contributions do matter, team contributions matter and ultimately I know that all our efforts will pay off eventually with a good finish,” explains Wiles.

During the games, there will be men’s singles, women’s singles and a doubles competition, plus a team relay. 

No matter what time of day it is, Wiles will be up watching with pride.

“Getting up early on the weekends I don’t think anybody likes to do it, but if there’s a special occasion, especially seeing something that you contributed towards compete on that’s rewarding,” adds Wiles.

Overall, the Olympic rookie hopes this engages the next generation to seek an interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The USA Luge men’s team failed to make the podium, but women’s and team competitions continue throughout the week. 

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