Kemah Boardwalk Bullet - New Gravity Group Woodie

More testing today, this time with G-force readings. Seems one section of track is pulling about 4 times the G's they want it to(!) If it were me, I'd have said WOO HOO and left it alone. Seems they want to adjust the forces, though. Quick fix expected and more testing scheduled tomorrow.

Here's a Google Earth shot with the position of the coaster shown. The red line is a (crappy) estimation of where the track is, the gray area is support structure and queue line area.



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OMG... went back today to catch some more test runs. Jason from www.coasterphotos.com was there and had gotten some pics from inside the structure, invisible from the main areas.

When riders drop off the first drop, they know there's a turn to the right. It's very visible from the street. As it navigates the turn, however, it disappears into the structure and doesn't show up again until it hits that seriously fast turn around by the bay.

What won't be known until you actually RIDE, however, is what happens between the first drop turn and the bay turn.

Keep your eyes on www.coasterphotos.com in the next day or so. Your eyes will bug out when you see that track in there. It will probably rank near the top of the most intense section of coaster track anywhere.

Jason has upped his photos and there is a pic of the crazy s hill thing after the drop here:

http://www.coasterphotos.com/maingaller ... 7.jpg.html

That'll be supplying some killer forces.

I don't think anyone is going to label it a "family coaster" even though it's not that tall...

If you could see it hall azz around that bayside turn (BOTH the upper and lower turns) with all those little humps in there... OMG, this thing is gonna rock.

http://www.coasterphotos.com/maingaller ... 5.jpg.html

Possible un-stapled heaven

Gotta love those lap bars and giving seat belts...

I was actually sorta bummed to see the seatbelts on there...

but I can't imagine any new coaster NOT having them with the way people sue over every little thing now.

Originally posted by minicoopertx

More testing today, this time with G-force readings. Seems one section of track is pulling about 4 times the G's they want it to(!) If it were me, I'd have said WOO HOO and left it alone. Seems they want to adjust the forces, though. Quick fix expected and more testing scheduled tomorrow.

Me thinks someone exagerated.

Positive - it would have needed to pull no more than 1.25 cause 4 times that is 5G's.
Lateral - again, under 1.25 cause 4 times that would be 5 lats - OUCH
Negative - HA! Do I even need to explain that?


And whoever started the rumour that a TGG ride wouldnt have seatbelts is completely ignorant. Youd have to be downright...slow...to assume that. Think about the other 2 GG's then think about it...do I want a seat belt? YES. I value my life.

[hyyyper]

IMO seatbelts have no added value, ever tried to climp out a PTC with the lapbar closed?

Originally posted by Real


Me thinks someone exagerated.

Positive - it would have needed to pull no more than 1.25 cause 4 times that is 5G's.
Lateral - again, under 1.25 cause 4 times that would be 5 lats - OUCH
Negative - HA! Do I even need to explain that?


And whoever started the rumour that a TGG ride wouldnt have seatbelts is completely ignorant. Youd have to be downright...slow...to assume that. Think about the other 2 GG's then think about it...do I want a seat belt? YES. I value my life.

Firstly, I never heard a rumor that there wouldn't be seatbelts, I just said that I hoped there wouldn't be any. The lapbars do a good enough job and seatbelts slow the loading/unloading process down too much. With a short ride like this, a quick dispatch is needed. Did I <expect> seatbelts? Yes. Did I <want> seatbelts? No.

Secondly, there was no exaggeration on the 4X expected Gs remark.

There is a spot where a specific section of the train has a quick spike of G-forces around 4X what they want. It's a minor issue to fix, since it's not the whole train doing it, and it's just a spike, not a long-term event. However, the G-spike is LATERAL Gs, so they can't just leave it alone.

I doubt that tweaking that part will delay things much at all. They were running test trains fairly regularly yesterday.

As for a G-spike, I go back to looking at that wicked turn at the bottom of the first drop and I'm just in disbelief that anyone could engineer that part to fall within safe G-limits... but they did. I can't believe that a standard PTC train would navigate it at that speed... but it does. There is a lot in this ride that pushes the envelope of what a wood coaster is expected to do, and it seems to be doing it quite well.

Now, do understand I never said YOU started that rumour. I saw it elsewhere on another forum so Im sure it migrated. I think though for you to not want seatbelts is nothing short of a deathwish. Its a two train operation and theres going to be enough time to dispatch trains if the ride attendants do their job properly.

But youve been on Voyage. Do you really think riding without a seat belt is safe enough? Ive had PTC lap bars come unlatched mid-ride.

Im interested to hear how they fix that one small part to get it where they need it. 4x is a huge difference.

Perhaps there is a kink in the track which is creating a big jolt. It is obvious that there were many flaws in the track, so it doesn't sound that exagerated.

You could in theory have .2 lats, and then it would only jump to .8.

Yea, I noted that Jimmy. But having a goal of .2 and a jump to .8 IMO isnt much to redesign for or even fix. It would have to actually be significant.

hyyyper-

Ive had my bar completely disengage after a rides in motion. They are not failsafe - thats why you need seat belts. Infact, I think most all feature some belt/hook device to latch like a belt, or, like S&S and B&M, from restraint to chair.


If youve ridden a GG - especially Voyage, you know you WANT a seat belt. It does NOTHING to hamper your ride experience.

That section is going to be ridiculous, along with the whole ride I guess. I can't wait to see videos of this thing once it opens, especially a POV if the park makes a nice one. And yeah, seat belts don't do anything to take away from the ride on PTC's like this, and it probably wouldn't be safe without them.

http://www.coasterphotos.com/Videos/mov ... 081807.wmv
Another testing vid.

Maybe it is just the video or the footage is from when it first tested, but some of those hills are very slow. :/

[hyyyper]

Real - i know seatbelts are barely noticable during the ride. Troy has them too. But it happens more and more that people loosen or even open up their own belt as soon as they've exited the station...

Originally posted by Canadmos

http://www.coasterphotos.com/Videos/movies/BB_Test_081807.wmv
Another testing vid.

Maybe it is just the video or the footage is from when it first tested, but some of those hills are very slow. :/

That video came from tests of train #2. It was the first runs of that train and it was considerably slower than the previous tests on train #1. While it did seem to gain speed a bit as the day went on, it still wasn't as fast as the #1 train from a few days before.

Yup, train number 2 has considerably less runs than train numero uno, and is thus slower.

I do not want to sound stupid, but, why does testing the ride so many times make it faster? Does it break the train into the layout or something?

Yes, the train needs to break in as much as the track does. The wheels are packed solid with grease, which loosens up over time. The chassis flexes more (creating less resistance on turns and twists, which this layout is full of), the whole thing just needs some time to get a move on.

Expect rides on this coaster to continually speed up for the first several weeks, if not months.

By Christmastime, this thing will put Santa's sleigh to shame.

Think we'll be able to touch that headchopper board if we have our hands up going into the first drop?

That looks REALLY close....



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I doubt you could touch it. Those hand railings are what, 3 feet high? You will be sitting down pretty low in the PTC trains, so there should be quite a bit of room. But it does look close.

Weeeeeeeeeee, can't wait to hear the initial reports of this monstrosity.

Needs more lube.