10 Years Since the First I-Box - Does RMC Still *Got It*?

[Hyde]

A fun, bright spot of Kings Island visits this year has been a far-smoother Racer experience (well... first half at least ), which I was pleasantly surprised to learn was Gravity Group's new pre-cut process, rather than simple off-season TLC retracking. (post below)

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Gravity Group Post: Have you heard about ENGINEERED PRECUT TRACK by The Gravity Group? It just won the INNOVATION OF THE YEAR at the Golden Ticket Awards hosted by Amusement Today!!

The Gravity Group, LLC has a passion for wooden roller coasters, whether breathing new life into existing, historic rides or developing the next generation of modern wooden coasters.

Most wooden roller coaster track is hand-cut onsite, sometimes at great heights and in difficult positions. This traditional construction method can introduce small imperfections to the shape and requires highly skilled carpenters to implement the ride design information into the final product.

The Gravity Group has created an alternative track system that is both economical and more exact. Best of all, the new track system from The Gravity Group is made of wood – preserving the integrity of a wooden roller coaster. The new engineered precut track is by design up to thirty times stronger than the traditional wooden roller coaster track. The track is precut at The Gravity Group facility by precision CNC equipment to the exact shape determined by the ride design. The additional strength and precise shape ensure that the track will deliver smooth rides and indefinitely be maintenance friendly. Additionally, this engineered precut track is economical and easy to install in prefabricated pieces with predictable, excellent results.

Six hundred feet of this track has been installed on Kings Island’s Racer in 2021. The park’s staff and guests have been vocally exuberant about the new ride experience from the engineered precut track. This new track is now patent pending and will allow The Gravity Group to refurbish classic rides and produce new ones in a way that preserves the experience and integrity of the beloved wooden roller coaster. The Gravity Group is confident that this will be the new standard for wooden roller coaster track in the not-so-distant future.
#woodencoasters #ThouShaltNotSteel #innovation #engineeredprecuttrack

Further more, a recent ride on Ghostrider has recently had me thinking; we are just over a year since New Texas Giant opened as the first I-Box treatment. RMC has seen what could arguably be one of the most successful, disruptive decade of roller coaster history, taking so many Dinn/CCI/Other wooden coasters from zero to hero. But, one decade later, the list of Dinn Corp. coasters grows thin, putting ever more pressure for RMC to continue diversifying beyond wooden conversions (see an earlier discussion this year), and entry of other, specific wooden coaster treatment/upkeep solutions from competitors (again, see below from GCI):

So, I posit a two-fold question:

• Is the incentive still there for the RMC I-Box?
• If not, what direction does the market take? Diversification of more steel conversions? Keeping TLC still in original wooden form?

 

[RcTmix]

I think it ultimately depends whether clients are more interested in preserving their traditional wooden coasters, or converting them into completely reimagined, more thrilling and aggressive attractions. The Gravity Group and GCI innovations have thus far been used simply to restore aging wood track, although it wouldn't be a surprise if they have more ambitious uses in mind. A park could theoretically replace old wood track with ibox in the exact same layout, but that's not generally how ibox has been used up to this point (with the possible exception of Lighting Rod becoming the first RMC to be RMC'd... RMC^2?... anyway).

With GCI and Gravity Group making strides in the woodie restoration game, ibox probably doesn't make much sense as a purely maintenance oriented product, but is that going to change anything for RMC? I don't think this means we'll stop seeing new ibox coasters. With recent large scale ground-up ibox coasters like Hakugei and Zadra, and the large scale conversion of Iron Gwazi set to open in March, there still seems to be an appetite for RMC ibox in the industry.

 

[Pokemaniac]

With recent large scale ground-up ibox coasters like Hakugei and Zadra, and the large scale conversion of Iron Gwazi set to open in March, there still seems to be an appetite for RMC ibox in the industry.

Hakugei is a conversion of White Cyclone, not a ground-up coaster.

Despite their great reception from coaster enthusiasts, there aren't really that many ground-up coasters built by RMC: Outlaw Run, Wildfire, Goliath, Lightning Rod, Zadra, and the Raptors. The latter group is rapidly outnumbering the former, despite having only been around for three years. Building a big wooden or hybrid coaster from the ground up appears not to be as attractive as building a steel coaster, even from RMC.

Then again, worldwide, only 11 wooden coasters have been built since 2018, and 5 of those were hybrid. There's not a big market for RMC to compete in.

And that, I think, might be the answer to the thread question. There are too few woodies of the appropriate size - whether it's old ones to convert, or new ones built - to be able to make trends. We will see the occasional project popping up, but I don't think wooden or hybrid coasters will be RMC's biggest source of income in the years to come.