Sheikra angle discrepency?

On the BGT website it says that the ride is a 90 degree drop, but G5 and Oblivion are at an 87.5* angle. does anyone know if this was just looked over for advertising reasons, and if the drop will be that severe in terms of how long the drop will be straight?

Let's wait will we see the drop! Then it can be easy to tell, like on X:
http://rcdb.com/ig750.htm?picture=29

Nice sig btw, but I think FG comes back on the 1st? Maybe?

/\ Yeah, but Magic Mountain never said X had a 90 degree drop. The press release specification was 88.5 degrees.

Knowing Busch's history of exaggeration, it wouldn't surprise me if the drops are that of the other B&M dive machines, not that it really matters as it is very difficult to tell 88-degrees from 90 while riding. For instance, remember when Rhino Rally was being billed as having a "out of control river section." =:^)

I guess we will find out soon enough.

-Sean

Rhino Rally really did have an out of control river section. I'd call putting ride vehicles in the water "out of control." ;)

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kRaXLeRidAh said:
/\ Yeah, but Magic Mountain never said X had a 90 degree drop. The press release specification was 88.5 degrees.

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I stand corrected. Sorta. The release(s) said "near-vertical", not 88.5. No number was given.

I dunno, "out of control" sorta implies a lack of TRACK, doesn't it?

I know I've seen RR sans water, and the ride is very much IN control at all times...well, other than the persistent downtime of the river section...

Of course, what do I know, I love the *angle* of the mid-course drop on Windstorm models...:~P

Does anyone have any information that implies that Sheikra will open early (like late March)?

I tell you what, if it turns out to be 87.5 instead of 90 degrees, I just won't ride it. ;)

The most recent info from BGT is "Opening May '05"....given the trackwork progress reports as of late, I'd be VERY surprised if it opened *any* earlier than Tax Day, even for a soft-opening...(that's April 15 for you non-US buzzers).

Realistically, I wouldn't even COUNT on it being open until mid-late May given the way our state government...."works"...(i.e., exceedingly slowly, and without any real sense of purpose or direction, which DOES make it frustrating for those of us who like to see *progress*)....;)

Yea, no way will it be done by March. I called the PR office to see if there was even a chance of it being open for a spring break trip, and they said no.

They are just now getting around to finishing the lift, so I'm a bit concerned that it would even be done by mid-May as well.

That's unfortunate. It seems like every time I go on spring break in Florida I miss the opening of many new rides. Thanks.

What is the reason for not going all the way to 90 degrees. 88.5, what is that, any logical explanation for that?

This is just a guess, but it seems logical to me...

At 88.5 it's almost a freefall, but there's still enough forward progress that the wheels of the train are still on the track. In a full 90* drop, you're dropping straight down. There's nothing really keeping the train on the track anymore. Especially given other factors like wind, riders wiggling, etc. I understand concepts like guide wheels and upstop wheels, but that freedom of movement could cause problems/safety concerns at worst, and extra wear and tear and best.

I think dannerman is *spot on* about the wear and tear, anytime you went from FREEFALL to any angle at pull-out, the wear on the road wheels would be *extreme*...and from the riders' perspective, I'd bet the difference isn't even noticeable...

As far as safety concerns, I don't *think* that would be an issue unless your pull-out was really SEVERE...then there's be a LOAD of g-force and in a worst-case scenario, it'd valley as often as a GIB...;)

Diagramatically:
\_ is one (good) thing for trains and riders...

|_ is one (BAD) thing for trains and riders...

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dannerman said:
There's nothing really keeping the train on the track anymore.

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You mean besides the spring-loaded guide and upstop wheels? This isn't a Vekoma we're talking about here. All of the wheels are touching the rails at the same time.

I also said in my post that I understand about guide/upstops. Touching the rails isn't necessarily the same as being "on the track". If nothing else, it seems that there'd be (over the course of many many laps) much more wear on those springs, etc. Also, with the slight "jiggling" that'd be possible with the [spring-loaded] wheels, I don't think the drop would be as smooth.

A good example of why they don't go the full 90* is Hypersonic XLC. ;)

is the pullout going to be as extreme as on the over dive machines? I can tell from looking at pictures of G5 http://rcdb.com/ig1417.htm?picture=14 the pullout would seem very severe.

What do you mean by pullout?