KI's Racer To Run Both Trains Forward

I can't speak for all of the racing coasters, but I know Gemini's issue is that you can't run the trains staggered empty in fear of a roll-back, and for the first few hours, I think they choose shorter wait times over longer times waiting to fill trains. I just assume wait and race, but I'm not everyone else.

Yeah, would the rollback, if it occurred, usually be right on the first drop? It always looks super slow to me trying to get up to the first high turn, so that makes sense, but of course there's a lot of coasters that shouldn't have that issue at all. I suspect a lot of the time it's just an issue of rideops not caring, and nobody mandating that they race so they don't do it. Then again I wouldn't expect your typical 19 year old rideop to care one way or the other so it doesn't seem that hard for a sup or manager to say "Hey guys, could we try to get these racing 9 times out of 10?" Just speculating, I've never ran a racing coaster so maybe someone with more knowledge knows what the deal is.

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RideMan said:
Okay, how about a deal...

KI can run all the trains forward. In exchange, throw us coaster nuts a bone, huh? Now that nobody is going backward, can we PLEASE lose the headrests and the upper portion of the seat divider?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

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(raises hand)

I second the motion.

Pretty dumb idea if you ask me. Its something that was unique for a while now and now they just go and change that.

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PREMiERdrum said:

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RideMan said:
Okay, how about a deal...

KI can run all the trains forward. In exchange, throw us coaster nuts a bone, huh? Now that nobody is going backward, can we PLEASE lose the headrests and the upper portion of the seat divider?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

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(raises hand)

I second the motion.

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I third it, but does the park??!

I've seen people say on some sites "Saddest day of my life," or "Worst decision ever." Some people must have sheltered and/or excellent lives, or not been going to KI for very long. I'll miss the backward operation some, but not enough to lose my cool.

Honestly, if I were owner of KI, I would have made this same decision, simply out of nostalgia's sake. And of course, removed the god-awful headrests. I just think Kings Island has some of the worst PTC trains around.

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Carrie M. said:
What makes you say that, Rob?

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Just a hunch, and one supported by the fact that very few- if any- theme parks race the trains on their racing coasters.

Honestly, if liability is a concern, I could see CF say NO TO RACING...out of concern that rider behavior might encourage people to 'touch hands' as the race occurs, and do other things that might put them in "liability".

I agree that our litigious society sucks....

I hear you, Rob. I guess I've learned in this thread that there are many that do not race. I just tend to think of Hershey and Kennywood and they both have racing coasters that actually race.

True... Hershey because of their attention to detail, and Kennywood because it's necessary. I wish that theme parks would race their racing coasters, I just don't see it happening any time soon.

Isnt it physically impossible to touch hands with the other cars on Racer, ie isnt it too far apart? For one thing you have the handrail between the tracks, and they are pretty far separated.

Ive only been on two racers where you could actually slap hands: Gemini and the KW Racer.

Not to mention, the Racer does not have a good "hand slapping moment" ie a slow turn where the cars change position. You're pretty stupid if you want to slap hands when the rides are speeding in tandem up and down the hills.

I remember eagle racing, it was rather cool especially at night with the white structure lighted by the spot lights.
Do the dueling coasters count as racing or are they their own group? Gwazi at BG-Tampa is cool when they ran them against each other and Dueling Dragons slows the lift if one is dispatched before the other to allow the second to sync up with first train so that they are always dueling.To bad the other racers don't have that programing.

Here's hoping for racing in 2008!

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Touchdown said:

Isnt it physically impossible to touch hands with the other cars on Racer, ie isnt it too far apart? For one thing you have the handrail between the tracks, and they are pretty far separated.

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Not to mention there is a handrail between the tracks, which means you'll be slapping lumber before you're slapping hands with another rider.

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Touchdown said:
Ive only been on two racers where you could actually slap hands: Gemini and the KW Racer.

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And Cedar Point races Gemini when the crowds support it.

If they are running both sides of Gemini it always races. The only time it doesn't race is when only one side is running.

^ Not always. I have ridden many times with both sides going and they were not racing.

Not only do they race, but the ops generally do a great job of pumping the crowd up.

Unless there are sparse crowds or a problem with a train, I have never, in 31 years, been on Gemini when they havent "raced" that I can remember.

"Props to the ops".

Ha.

Well, there was that one year when Gemini ran *five* trains for much of the season (three on one side, two on the other) and that kind of messed things up for racing. Sometimes they would race, other times they just ran the one side on a 2-train interval.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

You should seen the crew shirts that managment banned in the '05 season they said "Our WOOD is ribbed with steel!"

Let's say, they were verboten for wear inside the park.

And how is that relevant to anything?

Why were they ribbed with steel? Erectile Dysfunction?

:)

-Tambo