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NL Competition 2 2013 - Screw Me Results!

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
My apologies for the wait and thank you very much for being patient. It was a crazy week regarding school. Anywho, here's how you guys screwed me:


6th place, with a total score of 18.67 points, is Kraken's Revenge by BBH!




I'm assuming this was one of your first tracks. It'll take some time to hone your hand building and develop certain methods, but kudos on entering.


5th place, with a total score of 38.17 points, is Coral by TomahawKSU!




I noticed you made some changes after reading my critiques and as a result, your track was that much better than your last! I personally found the terrain and layout interaction to be really unique. My only beeves with your track are that the supports are strange, your segment lengths still vary, and a lot of transitions are messy (although I won't give too much flack for transitions since they're extremely difficult to master). Keep up the good work!


4th place, with a total score of 45.5 points, is Ignite by Treeis!




Ignite was the most unique track as well as the only launcher. I found the layout a good fit for a launcher, although I felt that some of the turns were a bit too tight. I was very impressed with the transitions, especially in the helices.



3rd place, with a total score of 46.25 points, is Swamp Beast by Jer!




Jer captured the Arrow feel the best. Everything seemed very Arrow - the layout, the aesthetics, the level of fun, etc. Props to him because Arrows are so unconventional now, it's hard to recreate their style in NL.


2nd place, with a total score of 49.3 points...




















is Moccasin Bend by SFOGRICH!




Both the 1st and 2nd place rides were neck and neck and this was my personal favorite by a smidge. The trackwork only lacked in the transitions, but the creativity and uniqueness surely made up for it. The supports and choice of inversions are key strengths for this ride and set it apart from the rest.














And the winner, with 50.6 points is Inverted Mayhem by Xpress!




Once again, Xpress' hand building skills refute any of the crap anybody gives him. This ride reminded me of a small, more aesthetically pleasing and much smoother Goudurix. The elements flowed seamlessly together, save the roll after the second loop (it just felt out of place). The supports were also great and the landscaping was nice. Congrats on the win!


Two down, hopefully many more to go! Thank you all for entering. Don't forget about contest number 3, Size Wise, going on right now. I look forward to your submissions for Size Wise.
 

Xpress

Strata Poster
Well well well, I am rather surprised by the results :D

I did not expect to win, I thought there was a couple of better tracks than mine. Congrats everyone else :D
 

SFOGRICH

Roller Poster
Xpress said:
Well well well, I am rather surprised by the results :D
Not me! When I sent in my Riders' Choice ratings, I remember telling Marc that if anyone else had a track I'd be tempted to steal, it would be that one! I thought at the time that it would be an honor to even come in a distant second behind it, so to be neck and neck with it like he says, I'll definitely take that and run with it! Super job on everybody else's entries as well!

For mine, I thought since Arrow was beginning to use gigantic loops when they did Tennessee Tornado, it stood to reason that they'd be using larger versions of other elements by now, if they were still around. On the other hand, I was once told that not even B & M use corks the size I do, so I expected to lose more points for realism in that respect than for anything else! With the supports, I tried to show a nice side-by-side mix of "old school" and "new school." Even before the next comp was announced, something in the cosmos told me I should get in a little refresher on the kinds B & M and Intamin use!

I'm sure people would say nobody in his right mind would try to hand-smooth segments 200 or even 300 feet long - or if they do, they should be committed to that psychiatric hospital for which my ride is partly named! And yet, I think the best bits of hand-smoothing I've ever done were the helix after the MCBR and maybe the first drop, and they've got segments of those lengths. I've always thought smoothing really long segments could be done, at least theoretically, but I guess it's still not the preferred method for most folks.

Marc, thanks again for putting together such great comps. It was a lot of fun making my entries for the first two, and I'll try like the Dickens to come up with something to follow them in the next one! Good luck on all your exams and assignments. I'm not familiar with which engineering courses are for which fields, but it sounds like someday we may be riding coasters you've designed for real, yes? :--D
 

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
^Thanks for the praise once again. Regarding coursework, it depends on what the job calls for and what major you choose. Obviously a chemical engineer won't be working on roller coasters, but civil and mechanical engineers are essential. With the rise of the biomedical industry, I would not be surprised to see companies hiring some biomedical engineers for seat and restraint ergonomics (Intamin; if you're reading this, hire a biomed engineer and have them fix Skyrush!). As for whether or not you'll be riding my future designs, it's a possibility. I do have a plan to attempt to get in the industry, but it'll require a lot of luck.

Tom, had you spaced your supports out more and made the columns thicker, you would have pulled off that look.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Well and don't forget the material engineers who put together rubber compounds for the wheels, alloy compounds for the chassis, polymer compounds for the trains. And electrical/systems engineers who work on the control systems and sensors.

There's no such thing (any more at least), as a project that's the job of one type of engineer - this is true across the board, not just coasters. Sure, coasters are mostly mechanical, but without the others you couldn't build a coaster. And even within mechanical engineering you'll have experts in aerodynamics (for the train), solid mechanics (for the train bending), everything.

NOTE: However important all the others are, mechanical is the best... ;)

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Well done to Xpress! His coaster was (in my opinion) clearly the best, so congratulations are in order (again). Keep up the good work.
 

Xpress

Strata Poster
Thanks!.

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I concur, the roller coaster field is FILLED with engineers with differentiating levels of qualifications. My initial assumption is there is dozens behind the design of each ride, from the construction of the footers, all the way up to train materials, to the steel types and thicknesses used throughout the track, even the grade of the bolt and the torque they are tightened to- there is always someone behind the design and construction of each and every individual component.

My personal interests lie within the rides wiring harness. There's just something about electrical communications that fascinate me...
 

SFOGRICH

Roller Poster
Antinos said:
With the rise of the biomedical industry, I would not be surprised to see companies hiring some biomedical engineers for seat and restraint ergonomics (Intamin; if you're reading this, hire a biomed engineer and have them fix Skyrush!).

Sounds like you almost have to add MD to the list of qualifications for a coaster designer, or at least have one on the design team!

Hixee said:
And even within mechanical engineering you'll have experts in aerodynamics (for the train), solid mechanics (for the train bending), everything.

Funny you mention the train bending, because there's a problem of a similar nature we'll have to watch for in the next comp. It's been a long time since I've worked with 4-across-seating trains in NL, but there's a part - a wheel covering or something, I'm not sure - on the back of each car that can stick into the front of the car behind it on a really tight turn. The places where that's most likely to happen are probably the segment from the final brake run to the station and from the station to the lift. The tendency is often to make those turns tighter than the rest of the ride, since the train's not going very fast in those areas, but the chance for car collisions is still there. I'm sure the problem is even worse with the wing coasters, not to mention the 10-across vertical drop coasters!
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
^When I wrote train bending I didn't actually mean that, but you're right that's another consideration. Each train type will have a 'minimum turn radius' in each plane to stop that happening. I was talking more about the chassis deforming under the strong loading. Solid mechanics (the study of how solid materials behave under loading) is concerned with how much energy is absorbed in the chassis, how/if cracks will form/propagate, how the train will suffer differently after one cycle and 10,000 cycles, etc. Not meaning to patronise, just clarify. :D
 
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