The inside of a modern bobsled is surprisingly bare and very cramped, built only for speed, control, and safety.

Basic layout

Inside, a bobsled is essentially a narrow metal chassis inside an aerodynamic shell, with just enough room for the athletes to squeeze in.

  • At the very front is the pilot’s position, with their legs stretched forward into the nose of the sled.
  • Directly behind come the remaining athletes (one, two, or three depending on 2-man or 4-man), all sitting low and tightly packed.
  • At the very back is the brakeman , who stands and pushes at the start, then jumps in and pulls the brake at the finish.

What you actually see inside

The interior is deliberately sparse so there’s less to break, less weight, and nothing that can snag the athletes at high speed.

You’d typically see:

  • A bare metal frame/chassis running along the bottom.
  • Smooth inner walls of fiberglass or carbon-fiber shell, often unpadded, just painted or gel-coated.
  • Simple metal footholds/rests where athletes wedge their spikes and boots.
  • Very little extra equipment: no gauges, no dashboard, no electronics in the racing shell itself.

It feels more like the inside of a stripped-down race car tub or a narrow canoe made of metal and composite than a “sled” from everyday life.

Steering and controls up front

All steering is done by the pilot, and the controls are extremely simple.

  • Two vertical ropes/steel cables with handles (called D‑rings) come up from the nose.
  • Pulling the right or left handle twists the front runners slightly that direction.
  • The steering linkage is exposed or semi-exposed metal hardware in the nose area—functional, not pretty.

There’s no steering wheel, no power assist; it’s all mechanical leverage through these handles and the pilot’s arms.

Brakes and rear area

Only the athlete in the back has access to the brakes.

  • A brake handle or T‑bar is mounted low at the rear.
  • When pulled up at the end of a run, metal teeth drop down behind the rear runners to dig into the ice.
  • This hardware is visible as a simple bar and linkage; again, it looks rugged and utilitarian rather than high-tech.

During the run, the brakeman sits hunched down with the brake locked off so it doesn’t drag.

Athlete positions inside

From a TV angle, it can look like the sled is roomy, but inside it’s extremely tight.

  • Everyone sits in a single file line, knees bent and tucked, shoulders rolled forward.
  • After the start, they fold down so their helmets follow the curve of the shell for aerodynamics; from the front you often see only the pilot’s helmet.
  • Athletes brace against the bare frame and each other rather than against cushioned seats.

A common description from riders is that it feels like being packed into a metal tube, with every bump transmitted through the sled.

Texture and “feel” of the interior

If you were sitting in one:

  • Your back would be against a hard shell or thin padding.
  • Your legs would be wedged beside parts of the frame and under the pilot in front of you.
  • You’d see metal rods, bolts, and the underside of the shell more than any “finished” interior trim.
  • There’s almost no insulation; it’s cold, noisy, and you feel all the vibration.

Everything you see is either there to steer, to brake, to hold the runners, or to keep the shell stiff at 120+ km/h.

TL;DR: The inside of a bobsled looks like a narrow, bare metal-and- composite tube with a simple steering rope system in the nose, a brake handle in the back, and athletes packed in tightly with almost no padding or extra equipment—purely built for speed and control.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.