ACE’s multiple testing capabilities offer Super Discovery about Super Bowl football game conditions

Just in time for the 2014 Super Bowl, Discovery Channel Canada's Daily Planet has come to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology's (UOIT) Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) looking for answers on how extreme weather may affect the big game.

The Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos are expected to play in the coldest-ever Super Bowl in potentially blustery conditions near New York City on February 2. To try and get an idea of how the athletes will cope and react physiologically to extreme conditions, Daily Planet paid a visit to ACE's powerful climatic wind tunnel to simulate what the game could be like.

Tossing the football around in the snow and cold of the ACE wind tunnel were legendary Canadian Football League (CFL) quarterback Damon Allen, and current Toronto Argonauts player Mike Bradwell. Both know a thing or two about playing in winter conditions that often occur in late-fall CFL games. The players were joined by a health scientist and a human physiologist who were manipulating conditions in the wind tunnel and offering commentary on player performance.

"ACE is perfectly designed for execution of a full range of dynamic tests extreme weather, whether it's a snowstorm, ice storm or the searing heat of the desert," said John Komar, ACE Director of Engineering and Operations. "We can throw any type of climate at any kind of product, whether it's a new vehicle, the structural component of building, an elite athlete, or even a football. The results of Daily Planet's visit were amazing and fun, and we certainly have a better sense of what the teams could be facing on Super Bowl Sunday."

Watch for the feature Sunday Discovery on Daily Planet, which airs Thursday, January 30 at 7 p.m. (repeat at 7 a.m. on Friday, January 31) on Discovery Channel Canada.