Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013
People make this mistake all the time. There is nothing in any of the international standards to which amusement rides are designed, which says that a looping coaster should have over-the-shoulder-restraints. Restraints are categorised in classes ranging from communal lapbars, manually operated, all the way up to individual, redundant and diverse locking restraints, interlocked with ride dispatch (i.e. ride can not be dispatched with restraint open). The latter is the kind of restraint that SW7 will need. The shape of the restraint (over-the-shoulder or otherwise) is pretty much unregulated.
In fact if you're wondering why Intamin always employ OTSR's on their loopers and airtime machines, I reckon Joey has pretty much nailed it with his comment earlier...
I don't think Intamin will ever put a lapbar on a ride like this again and rightly so to be honest. It can't be nice to hear about bodies flying out of your rides every couple of years.
Regarding the duelling aspect, I think that is a very real possibility. I'm not sure John Wardley has that much of a say these days but they probably wheel him in for a few ideas at the planning stage and he could well have touted the rebirth of the Schwarzkopf idea. I'm sure if each car was loaded with a decent "average time", there's no reason why they couldn't have one waiting in a staging area to ensure dispatch is regular. They could also slow the vertical lift if needed to aid the duelling.
nealbie said:Could this really have lapbars though? ... Surely that couldn't happen in H&S mad Britain? :lol:
People make this mistake all the time. There is nothing in any of the international standards to which amusement rides are designed, which says that a looping coaster should have over-the-shoulder-restraints. Restraints are categorised in classes ranging from communal lapbars, manually operated, all the way up to individual, redundant and diverse locking restraints, interlocked with ride dispatch (i.e. ride can not be dispatched with restraint open). The latter is the kind of restraint that SW7 will need. The shape of the restraint (over-the-shoulder or otherwise) is pretty much unregulated.
In fact if you're wondering why Intamin always employ OTSR's on their loopers and airtime machines, I reckon Joey has pretty much nailed it with his comment earlier...
Joey said:Lapbars would be better, but these are the best Intamin have done to combat the throwing people out problem they have.
I don't think Intamin will ever put a lapbar on a ride like this again and rightly so to be honest. It can't be nice to hear about bodies flying out of your rides every couple of years.
Regarding the duelling aspect, I think that is a very real possibility. I'm not sure John Wardley has that much of a say these days but they probably wheel him in for a few ideas at the planning stage and he could well have touted the rebirth of the Schwarzkopf idea. I'm sure if each car was loaded with a decent "average time", there's no reason why they couldn't have one waiting in a staging area to ensure dispatch is regular. They could also slow the vertical lift if needed to aid the duelling.