"I'm not interested in just qualifying," he said yesterday.
"We are looking to produce a team that is going over there to do well."
A New Zealand bobsleigh team first competed at the Winter Olympics in 1988.
"Our Olympic performances have been mediocre and very disappointing," Ross said.
"This time round, it's about putting the pieces in place to give us every chance of success.
"We've never had professional coaching or good equipment before or the calibre of athletes we have this time."
A comprehensive competitive programme in North America and Europe has been arranged to test the bobsleigh team.
The team will then travel to Europe before Christmas and go back to the United States for the world championships at Lake Placid in February.
"We need to find out how the team goes on ice and how they cope with the crash and bash of going down a hill at pace," Ross said. Forty-one athletes fronted for the bobsleigh trials in Dunedin early this month, and a further two tested overseas. Triallists were then ranked on their 30m time, jumps and bodyweight and nine were selected in the squad from which four will be picked for the world championships at Lake Placid.
"There will always be question marks until we get them on ice," Ross said.
"The keys to success in bobsleigh are pushing it fast."
German bobsleigh coach Gerd Grimme is expected to be appointed coach of the New Zealand team.
"He has had a lot of experience in both the German and Canadian programmes," Ross said.
"He told me that a resistance sprint with a 15kg sled correlates closely with performances on ice."
He is sending Ross the protocols that have been used in the Canadian programme where he has been for the past six years. Ross also has the data from some of the Canadian athletes.
"I'm pretty confident we can ascertain the physical qualities required," he said.
But there is also a mental toughness required to be successful on the bobsleigh.
"Some get into the bobsleigh, take one trip, and never get in it again," Ross said.
"We can't determine that until we get them in ice."
Ross said that the initial results were extremely promising and compared well with the data he has on the top overseas teams.
"But there is a lot of training to be done between now and Vancouver Olympics for that potential to be realised," Ross said.
The nine members of the New Zealand bobsleigh squad will be put through more tests in camp in Dunedin at the weekend.
A guest at the camp will be Peter Henry, one of the inaugural Olympians in the 1988 New Zealand Olympic team.
The Dunedin firm of Action Engineering modified the sled to make it more realistic for the trials.
