A co-worker and I were discussing the luge and wondering is street “lugers” (or whatever you guys call yourselves) or ice lugers get higher speeds. (Assuming here on average or perhaps “best in class”) We were coming up with reason why both might go faster and could come to no decision. Can anyone around here answer from experience?
Just a guess but I would say an ice luger. Ice had a lower coefficent of friction than asphalt does. It would also depend upon the steepness of the course allowed by the respective sports.
An Olympic luger can hit 75 mph on parts of the course. I doubt that any wheeled sled can go that fast unless there is an extraordinarily steep course, which would likely cause the rider to fall off, or a hellacious tail wind.
I would also guess Ice, but for a different reason. A street luge is on a wheeled cart, so the coefficient of friction between the wheels and the ground is not important.
The wheels are turning, so they never slide against the ground and produce drag that way. What matters is the friction within the wheels themselves and (WAG) the size/mass of the wheels.
While I suppose friction on ice, rolling resistance, etc., etc. may limit the theoretical maximum for the different types, the ice lugers definitely can achieve higher speeds due to the courses they run on.
Ice luge runs in a designed trench, allowing very high speed turns and probably a lot steeper courses. Street luges run on streets which are designed to convey vehicles. I can’t say for certain that they’re less steep (steepest streets I know of have about a 30-35% grade, and these are straight. Luge events are on less steep hills than that). Unlike the ice events, street luges are often group races, not individually timed runs so the riders may have to manouver on the course to prevent crashing, reducing their speed a little more.
I’d have to guess the ice lugers. They have nice measured banked turns, allowing them to take the corners much faster. I’d guess if the street Lugers were going anywhere near that fast none of them would make the turns.