Hello!
It seems to be a pretty robust consensus that roller coasters “warm up” throughout the day and that they somehow become faster still right through until night, when they run “the fastest”.
I really can’t get my head around how this works and I suspect it is mostly, or at least partially, totally bogus.
What is supposed to be ‘warming up’? By references to rides “running cold” I presume this is supposed to be a literal change in temperature. But this is not supposed to mean the track literally warms up by operation of the roller coaster, surely? I don’t see how a train passing over the track once every minute or so for a split second is going to cause any difference to the track. As for the wheels, I anticipate that some heat is going to be generated from their rotation, but surely any heat increase must max out after several trips, if that, rather than increasing and increasing all day? So I don’t see how ‘hours of operation’ is going to make a material difference.
So I presume the theory is supposed to mean “the hotter the track by virtue of THE SUN the faster the rollercoaster”. I’m still not entirely convinced by this.
First, what about a ‘hotter track’ and ‘hotter wheels’ actually makes the ride ‘faster’? Surely softer, more malleable material will move slower that harder material?
Secondly, the material used is not going to be sensitive to heat. I mean, how hot do you think it has to get to heat metal to a point which changes its properties?
Thirdly, the sun also goes away in the evening, so how can night rides be substantially faster - the material can’t retain heat indefinitely...? In fact most metal cools down very quickly.
All things considered, I anticipate the thing mostly affecting the ride speed is the weight of the trains and the application (or lack thereof) of the trim breaks. Save for minor differences causes by temperature, I hypothesise that there is no such thing as a roller coaster “warming up throughout the day to have a material affect on speed”, certainly not via heat, and I’m at a loss as to what else is supposed to be ‘warming up’. Things also appear to move quicker at night and I think there is something ‘psychologically appealing’ about a machine ‘warming up’ - it humanises the ride and makes it seem like it has a soul, so we all buy into the idea without really thinking about it.
Do you agree / disagree? If you disagree, or have a decent explanation of how this ‘warming up’ is supposed to work, then please educate me!
Cheers.
It seems to be a pretty robust consensus that roller coasters “warm up” throughout the day and that they somehow become faster still right through until night, when they run “the fastest”.
I really can’t get my head around how this works and I suspect it is mostly, or at least partially, totally bogus.
What is supposed to be ‘warming up’? By references to rides “running cold” I presume this is supposed to be a literal change in temperature. But this is not supposed to mean the track literally warms up by operation of the roller coaster, surely? I don’t see how a train passing over the track once every minute or so for a split second is going to cause any difference to the track. As for the wheels, I anticipate that some heat is going to be generated from their rotation, but surely any heat increase must max out after several trips, if that, rather than increasing and increasing all day? So I don’t see how ‘hours of operation’ is going to make a material difference.
So I presume the theory is supposed to mean “the hotter the track by virtue of THE SUN the faster the rollercoaster”. I’m still not entirely convinced by this.
First, what about a ‘hotter track’ and ‘hotter wheels’ actually makes the ride ‘faster’? Surely softer, more malleable material will move slower that harder material?
Secondly, the material used is not going to be sensitive to heat. I mean, how hot do you think it has to get to heat metal to a point which changes its properties?
Thirdly, the sun also goes away in the evening, so how can night rides be substantially faster - the material can’t retain heat indefinitely...? In fact most metal cools down very quickly.
All things considered, I anticipate the thing mostly affecting the ride speed is the weight of the trains and the application (or lack thereof) of the trim breaks. Save for minor differences causes by temperature, I hypothesise that there is no such thing as a roller coaster “warming up throughout the day to have a material affect on speed”, certainly not via heat, and I’m at a loss as to what else is supposed to be ‘warming up’. Things also appear to move quicker at night and I think there is something ‘psychologically appealing’ about a machine ‘warming up’ - it humanises the ride and makes it seem like it has a soul, so we all buy into the idea without really thinking about it.
Do you agree / disagree? If you disagree, or have a decent explanation of how this ‘warming up’ is supposed to work, then please educate me!
Cheers.
