Alright here you go guys, and congratulations to everyone moving on to the final.
Pair A: The Architect vs. devilsrule911
The Architect - No track submitted
devilsrule ????????? [Tiger]:
Tech: Trackwork was very smooth, but I felt like most of your transitions were just too drawn out to make the ride really exciting. The Gs were realistic in that GCIs do mostly just floater, but if you watch a POV of any of their coasters the vertical G transitions happen very fast, even if banking changes are usually slower. Aside from the slow transitions though, the shaping was good. The one transition I thought was a little funky was the one going up into the final turn before the brakes. It was just a little awkward the way that the banking transition happened before the airtime one. The lateral supports you did add looked good, but you really should have put them on the lift and first drop too. This was probably due to time constraints so I can understand that in a contest setting. E-stop and Tunnel Test passed.
Adrenaline: Great job here. I complained about the slow transitions already, but I did really like your layout and pacing. Little pops of air everywhere (a must for a GCI) and a layout that really squeezed a lot out of not much length (I'll bug you about that later). This is what GCIs are all about, having fun, and you did that very well. The interaction of the track with itself was done very well too. Did I mention I liked the layout?
Originality: While not made up of any really original elements, the way you fit the ride into the space you chose in the template was done well. What I didn't like as much here is that you didn't use much of the template at all, and as a result your ride is almost 500m under the maximum length, and also way under the max height. This template had so much you could do with it and you didn't really tap into any of that. What you did do you did well though, so this number probably won't be quite as harsh as those last two sentences would make it sound.
T: 8.0, A: 8.0, O: 7.5, Total: 7.83
Pair B: umop episdn vs. boneplaya
umop episdn ????????? [no name]:
Tech: Your whole ride had really weird jerks and bumps all over it. I'm assuming this came from a combination of the track tie removal process, and just the fact that because of that, you had to make tiny track sections. These bumps made for some crazy random G spikes too, mostly in your twister finale. Gs were a little intense anyway though, going well over +4 in valleys, and spiking below -1.7 on your air hills. As far as major shaping issues go, the only big one was the banking transition into the turn after the last tunnel. It would have been nice to see you make an effort to at least put tunnels on the underground sections, even if you didn't do the terraforming. E-stop and Tunnel Test passed.
Adrenaline: Well, this was good at least. There was good strong airtime on the out run, followed by a fast twister finale. The tunnels would definitely help the sense of speed for the first half of the ride too.
Originality: This is your biggest problem. This is essentially a shorter (length-wise) version of El Toro with a different turnaround and underground tunnels. Even for the twister section you didn't really do anything different that what?????????s already there.
T: 6.0, A: 8.5, O: 5.0, Total: 6.50
boneplaya - [no name]:
Tech: Very good here for the most part. The supports looked great considering the time limit. I'm not sure if arches would really work the way you built them without any reinforcing, but it was a nice touch visually. Trackwork was very smooth except for a couple awkward transitions at the far end of the turnaround and in the trench. Gs were good: floater to moderate ejector airtime in all seats, and not to crushing on the positives. One thing I liked about the lats was that they got stronger as the ride went on, which worked well with the pacing to keep the feel of speed in the finale. E-stop and Tunnel Test passed.
Adrenaline: While this wasn't really a ?????????fast????????? ride, the way you paced it made it really exciting in my opinion. Winding around slowly builds up a good amount of anticipation for the first drop. You used the tunnels really well, and I loved the Voyage-ish hill from tunnel to tunnel after the drop over the station. After that, the finale worked really well to keep the speed up, both literally since you went underground again, and just due to the quick back and forth transitions with some air thrown in.
Originality: You really used the whole template and took full advantage of the idea of building both over and under the paths, so nice job there. It was obviously styled after a GCI, but I like what you did with the first drop to make it different than theirs would be. The turn over the station was done really well, and is a great visual from both on the ride and off. I also like that you were able to make this feel more complex than your standard out and back.
T: 8.5, A: 8.5, O: 8.5, Total: 8.50
Pair C: yoshifreak vs. Jakizle
yoshifreak ????????? [Duende]:
Tech: Everything was great here, really. Trackwork was smooth and realistic for the style. Supports looked great, and again, realistic, especially on the turns. There?????????s really nothing to complain about here. I thought you handled all of your transitions very well as far as banking and everything goes. I saw one spot of -1.6 vertical in both the front and back seats, but again, this fits the style and provided a great OMFG moment. E-stop and Tunnel Test passed.
Adrenaline: Airtime, airtime, airtime. That?????????s what Intamin woodies are about and this captured that very well. Pacing was great; I loved both of the double-downs into your trench, and the low to the ground finale around the lift hill was a lot of fun. The double-up into the final brakes was a neat kind of fake out too.
Originality: As with everyone else so far, you really used the whole template well. Your layout was a neat tweak on the El Toro/Colossus out-and-back form. The cable lift was a nice touch, along with the station roof.
T: 9.0, A: 9.5, O: 9.0, Total: 9.17
Jakizle ????????? [Destroya]:
Tech: Track shaping was great for this style of CCI. The really quick pops of air and lats were a lot of fun and very true to the style. What hurt you here was the Tunnel Test, with basically every head chopper coming well into the tunnel. The worst one was the track going over the first drop. Most of these seemed pretty avoidable too, which makes the supports look kind of rushed. The places you did add lateral supports looked great though, so nice job there. E-stop passed.
Adrenaline: Your best category for sure. This thing never let up. The front and middle seats had a great mix of floater and medium ejector air, but the quick transitions made everything really feel out of control. The OMFG ejector (I'll try not to say this again in the rest of the reviews, but we'll see) over a few of hills from the back seat was great, and like I said in tech, very true to the style. Pacing-wise, I loved the straight section just before the return run. It was just long enough to make you think you can catch your breath, but then it dives back down before you?????????re really ready. This effect was best in the back seat.
Originality: Great job using the template. Your interaction with the paths was really well done. Obviously the Raven was your biggest inspiration here, but you did a good job of working some other ?????????signature????????? CCI elements in there in your own way.
T: 8.0, A: 9.75, O: 9.0, Total: 8.92
Pair D: Vid_w vs. tracksix
Vid_w ????????? [Tripper]:
Tech: Gs and quick transitions are your biggest problems here. The trackwork itself was all smooth without any real jerks or pumps, but the combination of huge G forces and transitions just made the ride too intense in my opinion. The place this was the most noticeable to me was your double-down before the straight section, where you went from -1G, to +4G, to -1G again all with maybe a second and a half. No lateral supports besides auto supports, which don't work very well when dealing with terrain like this. E-stop passed. There were two minor hits in the corners of tunnels that probably wouldn't be a huge issue, but could have been easily fixed by tweaking the supports a little bit.
Adrenaline: Aside from the possible discomfort that comes with the technical problems, adrenaline was great. The first two ?????????El Toro????????? air hills were a great way to start the ride, and the double-up/double-down section provided some good pops of air, even if they were a little too intense. The straight section I didn't quite understand though just because of the height it's at; if you?????????d put it at ground level it would have been a nice way for the riders to feel the speed for a second, and if it had been higher it would have felt more like a real pause, if only for a moment. Making it lower than the hills on either side of it just felt kind of awkward to me. The finale was fun though, and going through the support structure there was a good way to make the ride feel fast even as it's slowing down.
Originality: I don't know how to put this without it sounding too bad, but the layout just doesn't feel very well thought out. From the top view, you just kind of meandered your way around the template just staying above the paths when you needed to avoid them (with the exception of the one tunnel). It just didn't really feel like a cohesive design. You did use the whole template though, so that was nice to see. Terraforming to avoid the ground hit on the first drop would have been good to see too, but as I've said before, I understand this is a contest and time is a restriction for stuff like that.
T: 7.25, A: 9.0, O: 6.5, Total: 7.58
tracksix ????????? [Skyrocket]:
Tech: Aside from a few jerks (mostly in the middle of turns) everything was very smooth. I loved the way you shaped the first drop and the first high turnaround so that they gave a nice pop of air on the way down. Positive Gs got a little high in places for a wooden coaster (I saw +4.0 at least once) but everything else was good; a nice mix of floater and ejector air, and some good lats. Supports looked good, but some of your custom bracing got a little sloppy in places, especially under the second turnaround. E-stop and Tunnel Test passed.
Adrenaline: You started and ended really well here, but I felt the middle got a little repetitive to some extent. I loved first drop into low hills going in and out of the tunnels, and up into the first turnaround. The figure-8 section that followed this just didn't seem that interesting. After coming going back through the structure and into the last tunnel though, I thought the last turn and couple hills under the lift were a good strong finish.
Originality: So this is essentially a straight forward out-and-back with a figure-8 in the middle of it, which is an idea I like. I guess my problem with the pacing then is that it was really distinctly broken into those three sections and each felt like its own separate thing. You really made it your own in terms of shaping and stayed consistent with it though. Like I said above, the way you put a pop of airtime in your curving drops was really well done. You also did a great job of integrating the paths into the ride, and I loved the hills diving in and out of tunnels under them.
T: 7.5, A: 8.0, O: 8.0, Total: 7.83