Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point "Closing"

[REGIE]

It’s gotta be one of the most hyped coaster refurbs of all time.

[Dean Barnett]

34 minutes ago, Stevie said:

My god! That is crazy and I am all for it

It will massively reduce the chance of a natural rollback but it'll massively increase the chance of the ride completing the whole circuit

Heck they could even have LSM's at the top to aide in a slow crest experience.  

[Gazza]

Or LSMs to speed it over the top to give ejector air.

[Dean Barnett]

Randomise it.

[Tricoart]

Every cycle of Top Thrill Dragster is personalised.

[REGIE]

While their at it add LSM’s on the spike to launch you down it.

[Whombex]

Just a metric conversion here, the spike @Slick you mention is 500ft, 152m, which is just over 30m higher than the Dreamworld Tower. TTD is only 128m / 420 ft - are they raising the height of the hump?
😲

Edited May 3, 2023 by Whombex

[Dean Barnett]

The speculation is the spike will be taller than the top hat (which probably means only the back row will reach 500ft)

[REGIE]

I haven’t fully be following but I think the general thing that’s been going around is it won’t need 3 launches. Just 1 forward 1 back and then because the spike goes so much higher then the top hat it should Coast up without an extra boost.

Edited May 3, 2023 by REGIE

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

it'll absolutely need the third boost. While the spike is apparently higher, there is losses to speed and momentum across the entire launch track, which is straight, or slightly inclined (and of course friction losses too) which is why drops usually lead into hills, not long straight sections.

how much power will be needed - maybe not much. but the launch isn't just going to switch off after going backwards. 

[Tricoart]

33 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

it'll absolutely need the third boost. While the spike is apparently higher, there is losses to speed and momentum across the entire launch track, which is straight, or slightly inclined (and of course friction losses too) which is why drops usually lead into hills, not long straight sections.

how much power will be needed - maybe not much. but the launch isn't just going to switch off after going backwards. 

I believe the two-launch theory was that the station’d be placed at the opposite end of the launch track, it’d launch backwards from 0 into the spike at the beginning, then carry the momentum from the spike into the 2nd, forwards launch to clear the tophat. But that sounds super uncomfortable, among other things.

Edited May 4, 2023 by Tricoart

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The spike wouldn't need to be higher than the top hat either - though I don't think they've demolished that far towards the top hat to do that have they?

Plus, if the station is so far down the launch track, how are they handling multiple trains?

[Dean Barnett]

21 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Plus, if the station is so far down the launch track, how are they handling multiple trains?

Really quick switching track that will load a train once the previous train clears the top hat (maybe the same sideways style like mr freeze?) - then commence the launch once the previous train passes the final brake run .. should be about 50 secs - whereas the hydraulic launch took about 40 secs to reset. So instead of just sitting there waiting for that, you're doing a swing launch.

Station position doesn't really matter if you're launching both directions. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

2 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

Station position doesn't really matter if you're launching both directions. 

But one is far more economical than the other.

Firstly - don't overanalyse the drawing. It's not scaled, and i've not drawn space for the switch tracks very well, but you get the idea. 

Green - existing track
Red - Station 'zone'
Black - Launch area
Blue - Final brake run
Yellow - additional track for spike and switch track

 

If you put the station close to the top hat, You're going to need to duplicate the track so you can return the previous train to the station (you need a lot more yellow track, which costs more). The final turn before the station will also need to be reprofiled to a high speed banked turn rather than a slow upright turn post-brakes, unless they leave the brake run where it is, and then install a bunch of tyre drives after the turnaround to get you back to the station... 

I'm not a coaster designer, but this option doesn't make sense to me - it makes more sense the station will remain near where it originally was, which is why I asked the question.

 

If anyone is actually more familiar with these concepts - maybe like - does it for a living? - they could explain to me how this could work? or maybe it doesn't?

[REGIE]

Can’t answer your question but that makes sense to me. 
 

I find it funny the spike is not a little closer to the hot hat honestly. A swing launch would surely not need so much room.  Apparently (the source seems legit but take it with a bowl of slat) a LSM launch if given enough power could launch the train up the top hat in the same amount of room as the hydraulic launch could.  And a swing wouldn’t need so much power.

Edited May 4, 2023 by REGIE

[red dragin]

14 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

It's not scaled

Great scott! (sorry, reminded me of Doc Brown 😂) 

[Gazza]

9 hours ago, REGIE said:

 

I find it funny the spike is not a little closer to the hot hat honestly. A swing launch would surely not need so much room.

If I had to guess it's because there's not as much land for the big vertical spike structure if you build it any closer.

Out the back there is more space.

 

[Dean Barnett]

A lil something like this

[REGIE]

I kinda like the idea of it being a straight spike. 

[Dean Barnett]

Maybe headed to Knotts?

 

 

[REGIE]

The main structure has many supports and footers so the weight and forces would be distributed wider. So the individual footers wouldn’t need to be as big since there is quite a few of them. The spike is most likely going to have a lot less footers and supports but will need the Same If not more height, so the footers have to be larger to accommodate.  So the huge footers don’t necessarily mean it’s gonna be 500-600 ft. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by REGIE

[Dean Barnett]

For something that isn’t speculation 

 

[Dean Barnett]

 

[Dean Barnett]

Apparently not tall enough to reach the top of the top hat 

 

[REGIE]

What’s not tall enough?  The crane?