Cedar Point | Top Thrill 2 | Triple Launch Renovation | 2024
- Thread starter Wazzupnerds
- Start date
Wazzupnerds
Mega Poster
99% of the community thought that everything would return to normal and nothing would happen besides cosmetic changes and when people disagreed, people thought they were crazy.
Ill be happily taking this victory lap.
Rollercoaster David
Mega Poster
I wonder if they could modify the top hat further to add another 40ft or so to break Ka's record.
Wazzupnerds
Mega Poster
No, it's not as fast and forceful. My guess is the tower is lowered to help clear it with LSMs.
Snoo
The Legend
Honestly.. they could just make it shorter and it could work.
oriolat2
Giga Poster
Or trains will be shortened much like on Red Force.
I am sad that such an icon is closing as it is, because the sheer power of a hydraulic is unmatched but I am all for it so long as it can keep operating. Hopefully it wil be reborn as a swing launch coaster with LSM.
Top Swing Dragster, here it comes.
TPoseOnTantrum
Giga Poster
A few people I've spoken to have brought this up and my thoughts have immediately gone to the Spitfire coaster that Intamin's developed for Six Flags Qiddiya;
Just for the sake of engineering pedantry - there's absolutely no reason why they couldn't achieve the same acceleration with LSMs as they can with Hydraulics. It's perfectly possible. It is, however, very expensive. You'd need very large cables, and significant battery/capacitor storage, but it could be done.
After all, a hydraulic launch works under basically the same principle (store up a ton of energy over the span of a few minutes, which you can dump in a few seconds).
After all, a hydraulic launch works under basically the same principle (store up a ton of energy over the span of a few minutes, which you can dump in a few seconds).
Yes and no.
As of now, there is no LSM available which could replace a hydraulic launch. Especially with higher speeds, LSMs loose a lot of efficiency when it comes to higher speeds. Using current technology, there is no way to just replace the launch system.
BUT:
Intamin is Intamin. I can imagine that they might use 2 LSMs instead of just one, which would allow it to nearly double its potential launch speed. Combine that with other optimisations to the system and you might just have enough power to replace the hydraulics.
There a challenges to this. As far as I know, Intamin does not use energy storage, so the enormous energy required for the launch would cause severe peaks in the parks power usage. Magic mountain had power outages with Superman’s power consumption and TTD would be at least as high. Luckily, Indrivetec also offers energy storage.
With the size of the building for the hydraulics, TTD might actually be able to be retrofitted. It will require new tracks for the launch (and maybe the beginning of the tower), but it is possible.
The launch portion of the straight track can be easily extended, which helps with the LSMs. If necessary, the pull up could also be fitted with LSMs. Keep in mind that the old launch has a significant portion of it designated as a brake for the catchcar, which wouldn’t be required for LSM launches.
So would it be possible? Yes, but this would require new trains, modified from the current ones to accommodate for the doubling in LSMs. In addition, the whole launch track will need to be retracked, so LSM modules can be mounted.
Soooo, a swing launch would definitely be a "reimagination", which would boost real-estate efficiency to allow three passes at the LSMs to clear 420 ft.
I asked this in a different chat - does anyone have a general rule of thumb for "how tall" back spikes are on swing launches? Recognize it can be a variety of factors, but would be curious if this is the angle an LSM launch could be used to clear the top hat.
I asked this in a different chat - does anyone have a general rule of thumb for "how tall" back spikes are on swing launches? Recognize it can be a variety of factors, but would be curious if this is the angle an LSM launch could be used to clear the top hat.
Oh yeah, I should add a caveat before everyone misunderstands me - it wouldn't be easy or cheap, and may be out of the realms of what Intamin would be willing to do, but it is possible from a straight engineering perspective.
To this point - Cedar Point actually has it's own dedicated peaker plant on the grid; when Maverick was built for instance, new high voltage wiring and conduit was installed along the entirety of Perimeter Road to increase power capacity.
Having battery storage as a buffer would make sense, but it could also very well be Cedar Point would just continue increasing power capacity connection. (And yes, definitely not the most efficient solution!)
I mean, it isn't like compressed air has been a safer, more reliable option.
EDjanaika
Mega Poster
Genuinely gutted that the current Dragster is closing cause ever since I did stealth I've always hoped that one day I'd get a front row ride on Dragster! It was not to be! Maybe they'll keep the tower structure and add a droptower like zumanjaro to it?! Maybe they may as a lot of people have been saying give it a different launch system?! Or maybe it'll be knocked down entirely and will be replaced with Mind Eraser! 
You can interpret Tony Clarks post in many ways!
You can interpret Tony Clarks post in many ways!
AidanCKY
Mega Poster
I am wondering if they could use LSMs, including going up the spike, to make it over the top?
It would still use a cable to pull the train though, which is the reason TTD closed in the first place
It would still use a cable to pull the train though, which is the reason TTD closed in the first place
