WHAT WILL BE THE NEXT BIG ONE

Originally posted by Coasterkidmwm

It's not technology or engineering that's "limiting" height, it's money.

I'm not too sure. I have to say its 50/50 along with saftey. So lets say your typical piece of track weighs about 1000 lbs (i really have no clue how much it weighs for a ride like KK can someone tell me).A typical train weighs about 20 tons, loaded with 20 people would add on about 2 tons assuming the average person weighs about 200 pounds. So a suport supporting a track 450 feet in the air, in addition to the 1000lb weight of the track has to deal with wind and then a 22 ton train rolling over it at about 10mph. Thats ALOT of stress. Ones got to ask how much stress a support can take. And then you got stress on the pull cord on the launch being yanked at 120MPH with a 22 ton train on one end being launched every 1-2 minutes. Then add in the powerhouse behind the launch cord. So a tremendous ammount of pressure and stress is being put on the pull cord, the pieces of track in the air, the supports, and the motor behind the pull cord all for what, 20 seconds of speed and heigth. Then factor in money. Not just building but powering it all everyday. Again all for only 20 seconds of speed in heigth.
So, in conclusion, I feel its 50/50 split between saftey and money thats preventing higher building.

[gouldy]

^ Yes, what you're saying is somewhat correct, BUT don't forget that there are buildings that are well over 2,500ft tall and that will be facing up to most of the same stresses, other than the train moving around I grant you.

But the point is, if someone wanted to fork out a couple billion dollars on a ride, then it would be easily possible to make one that was 2,500ft tall as there are already man-made structures that are that high.

So, as CKMWM said, at this point in time, the only limiting factor in the height of coasters is money.

Although, couldn't you build a rollercoaster going up the side of an existing skyscraper? That might reduce the cost a bit.

Have any of you heard of the guy who wants to build a coaster that drops from the top of a San Fransisco skyscraper, and actually goes out over the Golden Gate Bridge? It's not going to happen, but someone actually planned it when the bridge was first built. Look it up!

A typical train is like 5 to 7 tons... not 22...

Top Thrill Dragster's trains are either 12.5 or 14 tons, I forget which. He may be factoring in the weight of the riders.

I don't think a full train of people would add more than 1 ton, or at most 2, but then again, I never paid attention in math so what do I know?

Although I'm sure it would look disgusting in real life, what if they made a loop that was higher than 500ft? I think that would be one big accomplishment.

^^If they are 12.5 or 14 that is very light, oblivion's are 14 and blue fire 22

[gouldy]

^ As a design engineer doing these sort of calcs every day, I can honesty say that 14t for Oblivion's trains sounds a little excesive, even if that means a full train. Where did you get this information from?

I remember a sign in the queue for TTD comparing the weight of a TTD train to a TFD car. It said that an average Top Fuel Dragster weighed one ton, and that TTD's trains weighed either 12.5 or 14. I still can't remember which.

[gouldy]

I wouldn't take a massive great deal of notice of what the parks themselves tell you, Alton Towers advertising for Rita for example was a deliberate attempt to misguide people. "Rita goes 0-100 in 2.5 seconds", knowing full well that the British public uses mph as it's standard unit of speed measurement, deliberately misguiding their fragile little minds

Gouldy, I doubt they are lieing with Dragsters signs. Some of them I even checked out on google just to make sure. Those trains cant be too light or too flimsy when being flung that fast. I think it was in the area of 12tons, not 14. Ill be checking that soon as I go take pictures for my Dragster recreation.

[gouldy]

Alton Towers weren't lying either, just deliberately misleading people. Exclaiming that a ride accelerates to "100" and putting no unit of speed KNOWING that the British public works in mph, is a deliberate attempt to fool people, no matter how you look at it.

I'm certain, too, that the signs on Dragster are correct, it was just a chance for me to poke a stick at the way parks "advertise" this kind of stuff. Incase there was any confusion, I did say that 14t for Oblivion's train sounded a bit excesive, I wasn't referring to the Dragster trains at that point.

Originally posted by sapporo93

The thing about Strata's is that they are one-hit wonders. They leave their mark in history, and because of the extreme...uhh...bland-ness(I can't find the word I'm looking for) they get boring pretty quickly.Now by quickly I don't mean 1 or 2 times, because I don't the average person get's to go to amusement parks more than 1 or 2 times a year. But compared to most other coasters they loose that edge quicker than others.
I say the launch is the most looked for part, but even those get boring. And because they go so fast, there's not much you can do, at least not that we know of.

Now what I would really like to see is something with that height but with with a little more than just a up, down, spin you around and then freeze.

Agree..they are just one trick ponies.

If there was a roller coaster faster and taller than KK, then it would be the best roller coatser ever, until someone makes a new roller coaster taller and faster than that one.

Originally posted by tiepilot35

A typical train is like 5 to 7 tons... not 22...

I saw a history channel documentary that states KK's train is about 20 tons. If there are 20 people on the train that average 200 lbs then its two more tons

200X20=4000
A ton is equal to 2000 pounds

4000 divided by 2000 equals 2
Total 22 tons. Thats where my logic came from.

Originally posted by lingling287

If there was a roller coaster faster and taller than KK, then it would be the best roller coatser ever, until someone makes a new roller coaster taller and faster than that one.

okay, here's the part where i get confused


If I could only ride one roller coaster for the rest of my life, I'd much rather ride a coaster like Montu or Kumba, which don't even reach 150 feet, but are incredible just because of the comfort and adrenaline rush they give you, than a coaster that goes forwared, up, turn, spin, down, forward, turn, stop.

Even if it's over 400 feet tall and goes twice the speed of Montu.

Originally posted by Randomman4

Or use S&S's Air powered launches, the military has been doing Air launches ( Aircraft cariers ) For 60+ years now.

Uh, actually, that would be steam, not air. Think a 21-inch cylinder pressurized with 450 psi steam. Total force on the piston is about 78 tons, which accelerates a 60,000 lb jet to over 160 mph in about 300 feet (the jet's engines help some, too). That's an acceleration of about 3gs. Even without strapping a jet engine to your roller coaster [:D], that would still accelerate a 14-ton train at over 5.5 gs. The good news it that your roller coaster would be launched to a speed of around 220 mph in 300 feet. The bad news is that the braking system for the piston-shuttle thingy on the catapult might not handle that high a speed. More bad news is that nobody would permit riders to be subjected to 5.5 gs for the 1.8 seconds that it would take them to go 300 feet.

Ok, so dial the accelleration back to 4 gs, permissible in the state of New Jersey (the only state I know of that regulates g forces on roller coasters). At 4 gs, your launch now takes about 2.2 seconds, and the train would exit the launch area at just shy of 190 mph. I think you'd need a windscreen on that, since running into a bug at that speed would put somebody's eye out. If we stuck with 450 psi steam, you could do it with an 18" diameter pipe for the piston.

The nuclear steam generator that the aircraft carrier uses might be a little harder to come by. [8D]

If anything, it would be a similar design to Kingda Ka but sightly taller and faster if anyone could pull it off.

Originally posted by pali_gap

I remember a sign in the queue for TTD comparing the weight of a TTD train to a TFD car. It said that an average Top Fuel Dragster weighed one ton, and that TTD's trains weighed either 12.5 or 14. I still can't remember which.

LOL thats SUCH an exageration. Its more like the sign says something closer to 6.7 tons, thought thats unloaded, so with people
Factoring 18x170Lbs (Rough average of human weight)= 1.53 tons

so a fully loaded TTD car would be 8.2 tons.

They're building a roller coaster at nurburgring which will be the new worlds fastest roller coaster but I don't know about tallest.

RingRacer is the current fastest, i think, its built, and was open to public, but not launching at full speed, it had a problem and its broken atm [ i think...?] and sometime in august?, opened properly fulllaunching.

Isnt the one being built in germany surpossed tt be faster than KK but not as high?

Originally posted by robbiesmiffy

Isnt the one being built in germany surpossed tt be faster than KK but not as high?

LOL, I love how Noobs are completely clueless on these things.
Ring Racer, doesn't even go higher then maybe 100 feet.