Olympics Torch test at BMW's Energy and Environmental Test Centre

With 100 days to go for the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, final preparations are in full swing. BMW, the event’s main automotive sponsor, has begun delivering the 4,000 special edition vehicles that will be allotted to the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG). But it doesn’t end there for the Bavarian car maker as their Energy and Environmental Test Centre (ETC) in Munich, Germany, is being used to test the functioning of the Olympic Torch under various weather conditions that prevail in the UK. 

BMW’s ETC is a state-of-the-art facility that can create some of the world’s most extreme weather conditions from Arctic conditions to desert climates with temperatures ranging from -20C to +55C. The ETC can generate wind speeds up to 280km/h, which is higher than those generated by most hurricanes. The facility can also replicate an altitude of 4,200 metres above sea level which is higher than the tallest mountain in the UK. 

These tests for the Olympic Torch are necessary as it will have to stay lit as it travels through various weather conditions around UK, including freezing temperatures at the summit of Snowdon to swirling winds on the Shetland Islands to the summer heat of the south coast of England and, of course, the inevitable summer showers. BMW’s ETC centre will subject the Olympic Torch to all these conditions and more; in fact the torch has already endured temperatures ranging from -5C to +40C and wind speeds of 80km/h, snow packing at the front of the Torch and driving rain as well. 

Double Olympic champion, Daley Thompson, experienced some of the conditions first hand, standing in one of the wind tunnels at the ETC with the Olympic Torch. He said: “The Olympic Torch Relay is set to build excitement for London 2012 throughout the UK, so it’s really important that the Torch can cope with our unpredictable British weather. Seeing the facility that BMW has and knowing the Torch has been tested so robustly makes me sure we’re going to be able to build that excitement ahead of a brilliant summer of sport.”

BMW’s ETC carries out 15 hours of testing every day to scrutinise their concept cars so as to develop better, safer and more efficient vehicles for the road.

As the 2012 London Olympic Games’ main automotive sponsor, the BMW Group will provide torchbearers that will include their customers, dealers, staff and charitable institutions the company supports. Starting May 19, 2012, the 70-day Torch Relay will involve 8,000 torchbearers.