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Six Flags Great America | Maxx Force | S&S Air Launch

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Maybe the video was compressed to heck and back so it could be uploaded fast on an unreliable mobile Internet connection?
 

Snoo

The Legend
Does it actually matter? I’d rather have lower quality footage than no footage at all. What sensation of the ride could a higher resolution capture?
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Chris Brown

Mr CoasterForce 2016
Saw this testing in person the other day and it looks pretty damn good. Witnessed it do its first full test circuit and the launch is gonna be awesome, couldn't get over the noise it makes (not sure if deliberate because S&S) but it makes an almighty boom / bang.
 

Fluorineer

Mega Poster
I know this is a very odd thing to say considering the ride's length is the reason for most of the criticism, but I feel like it doesn't really use the 20 seconds that it has to the fullest potential. The airtime-hop and the roll are perfect for this type of "kick in the butt"-ride, but that whole wobbling around at the top of the inversions, just to turn 3 inversions into half-assed 5? Idk man, I think I would have preferred a nice ass-kicking top-hat and then the rest staying low to the ground if we can't have more than 20 seconds ride-time anyway.
 

Furiustobaco

Mega Poster
Saw it test the other day too and agreed on the launch sound- so damn cool, it made me jump in the Whizzer queue! You could hear it from Raging Bull too!
 

Kw6sTheater

Hyper Poster
Idk man, I think I would have preferred a nice ass-kicking top-hat and then the rest staying low to the ground if we can't have more than 20 seconds ride-time anyway.

In that case, wouldn't you more enjoy Xcellerator at Knott's Berry Farm? You just about summed up its entire layout in this single sentence alone. ? ;)
 

Fluorineer

Mega Poster
In that case, wouldn't you more enjoy Xcellerator at Knott's Berry Farm? You just about summed up its entire layout in this single sentence alone. ? ;)

To be fair, Xcellerator has a lot more of an oldschool layout, since it's additional turns somewhat resemble a "the launch is the entire point of this ride" idea, with Rita and Desert Race being the worst offenders of that concept.

I guess you could say I would love Xcelerator more if it had a more mature finale (more aggressive, refined overbanks like Taron), while Maxx Force feels almost a little overengineered, with the double-double-inversions sounding much better on paper than they actually appear to be in the POV.

However, since the POV doesn't appear to resemble the final max speed at all, I might be totally talking out of my ass here.
 

Jcoasters

Mega Poster
To be fair, Xcellerator has a lot more of an oldschool layout, since it's additional turns somewhat resemble a "the launch is the entire point of this ride" idea, with Rita and Desert Race being the worst offenders of that concept.

I guess you could say I would love Xcelerator more if it had a more mature finale (more aggressive, refined overbanks like Taron), while Maxx Force feels almost a little overengineered, with the double-double-inversions sounding much better on paper than they actually appear to be in the POV.

However, since the POV doesn't appear to resemble the final max speed at all, I might be totally talking out of my ass here.

Xcelerator's top hat is also amazing, keep in mind the use of lap bars for airtime. I find the airtime to be great, especially since the train is long. Stealth is also 5 cars, but has lap bars and is 2 mph slower. Also, keep in mind, Xcelerator's drop goes all the way to the bottom pretty much compared to Stealth. About the overbanks, there's not really much to do layout wise after that top hat with so much speed.

Red: Train shed. I don't know, but my guess is that and the train been there longer than Xcelerator.
Pink: The one support on the other side of the train tracks.
Green: Looks to be like some time of utility building.
Orange: I think Xcelerator utility related.
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Anyway, so, what to design? It looks like they were trying to avoid that stuff. With all that speed, there's no real room for air hills, unless you were to either lift it up, high above the ground in between the two overbanks to make the drop much shorter, both of which are lame options. I guess, maybe with more budget, they could of made an airtime hill next to where Supreme Scream is, into an overbank over Mexican to or whatever, next to the Jaguar drop, and then whatever else happens after that.

Anyway, point is, I think, given the space, it's a good layout, and much better than an immediate stop. I think they are indeed, solid overbanks. Remember, thiis is Intamin here!
 

Furiustobaco

Mega Poster
I recently visited and if i'm being honest i think its crazy they fit in what they did.
That plot of land isn't too big and Maxx Force comes awfully close to other rides, it would of been hard to add in certain elements such as a large airtime hill or so.

If they had a larger and more fun plot of land to play with i would agree but Great America really don't have all that much space in the first place, its cool they fit in what they could with Maxx Force.
The launch also looks and sounds like it will be a highlight in itself anyway.
 

Kw6sTheater

Hyper Poster
I recently visited and if i'm being honest i think its crazy they fit in what they did.
That plot of land isn't too big and Maxx Force comes awfully close to other rides, it would of been hard to add in certain elements such as a large airtime hill or so.

If they had a larger and more fun plot of land to play with i would agree but Great America really don't have all that much space in the first place, its cool they fit in what they could with Maxx Force.
The launch also looks and sounds like it will be a highlight in itself anyway.
I agree! To those who were wishing for an extra element or two, keep in mind that Maxx Force is going at around 60mph at the end - that's a faster speed than most coasters achieve from their first drops, which means the element would need to be more spread out to counter the high G force and structural load. A turn at the end would require an extremely large radius (which this long and narrow plot isn't exactly accommodating of) and would either have to rise over Whizzer or cut into Hurricane Harbor.
 

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
The coaster has now tested with people due to the advertising photoshoot, and it seems to be going at a good speed!
I don't know why but from looking at testing videos, the red train seems to go faster than the black train, at least over the double inversion. Maybe it's because the red train was the first one on the track and therefore has been testing longer so it as loosened up a bit?
 
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SilverArrow

Certified Ride Geek
It was testing with both trains running at once, so it will likely run both at once.
I know, but it night not necessarily work like that. People have been saying that they have been working them in/up to top speed so both can be used but that might just be a maintenance mode rather than how they'll run it normally.

Tldr: as in they're testing both trains so that both can be used, but they might not use them at the same time in normal use.
 

jodon1981

Roller Poster
They had better run both trains. SFGAm gets packed and this ride is right at the front of the park. The queue is likely going to be awful with 2 trains, I can't imagine how painful it would be if they only ran one train. To be fair, this park usually does a pretty good job of running their coasters with all available trains and typically does not add or remove trains based on daily attendance.
 

GuyWithAStick

Captain Basic
I know, but it night not necessarily work like that. People have been saying that they have been working them in/up to top speed so both can be used but that might just be a maintenance mode rather than how they'll run it normally.

Tldr: as in they're testing both trains so that both can be used, but they might not use them at the same time in normal use.
Great America is a pretty large park, who typically runs as many trains as they physically can. They'll most definitely be running them both during normal operation.
 
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