The Royal Air Force’s bobsleigh team competed in the British championships at the end of last month in a sled given a new lease of life by repairs carried out at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre’s (AMRC) Composite Centre (www.amrc.co.uk).

The RAF had eight two-man bobsleigh teamsat the annual competition in Austria, but one of their sleds was out of commission earlier this year following an impact to its left bale (front wing) — until team manager Ross Brown met AMRC Composite Centre development engineer Craig Atkins at Cosford Air Show and was invited to visit the AMRC.

Corporal Brown said: “We took along three different sleds and were delighted that the AMRC agreed to assess the various ways the damaged sled could be improved — and to carry out the substantial repairs needed to get it back into service.”

Comprising carbon fibre reinforced plastic, glass fibre reinforced plastic and a metal chassis, a bobsleigh can reach speeds of 100mph, so any impact can do a lot of damage.

Mr Atkins said: “This leads to sleds often carrying numerous repairs, sometimes carried out at track-side during competition or training and most of them done in the same material; but components such as the bales can be cast from metal. This is cheaper and quicker, but its porosity means that these repairs can sometimes shatter on impact.”

When AMRC composite technician Josh Oxley cut away the damaged section of the bale, he found numerous old repairs; he engineered a new section that was lighter but also stronger.

Corporal Brown said: “I was hugely impressed by the AMRC Composite Centre, and the work carried out by Josh went above and beyond what I expected. Bobsleigh races are won or lost by hundredths of a second, so a quality repair is of the upmost importance to us.”