2021 Parc Asterix new Intamin launch coaster

A video that was shown on the Intamin stand

Looks like a nice combination of elements both "new" and "old"

https://www.facebook.com/Rollercoasterfriends/videos/704751693212213/

I love some of the new elements and some of the RMC style elements (wave turns, outward banked hills, inverted stalls) but that track switch before the top hat section looks like it's a dependability nightmare waiting to happen. If it were anyone other than Intamin, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and it's the combination of two dependable existing technologies: transfer track and LSM's for braking/boosting, but also, Shoot the Rapids.

Yeah, the transfer track/launch thing seems like an accident waiting to happen, but the overall layout is quite impressive. I'd love to ride it when it opens.

The one they are opening at a Walibi park looks pretty awesome, too.

When I saw that video, I immediately thought of everything everyone else has already said. It’s like a collection of everything Intamin already sucks at doing, all tied into one, really long ride.

Are there any other coasters with a direction transfer in a high-speed section of track? The first ride that comes to mind with direction changes is Expedition Everest, but that ride has brakes that hold the ride while the track switches.

That Switchback woodie at ZDT's in Texas. It goes over its transfer track at the bottom of the first drop and then again at the end of the ride.

Raven-Phile said:

When I saw that video, I immediately thought of everything everyone else has already said. It’s like a collection of everything Intamin already sucks at doing, all tied into one, really long ride.

Disclaimer: I'm heavily biased in favor of Intamin. That being said, I might add that all of the four Intamin launched coasters I've ridden (Kingda Ka, Top Thrill Dragster, Storm Runner and Rita) are a lot more reliable than Lightning Rod.

Tommytheduck - I should have phrased my question a little differently, are there any other rides where the track switch happens in a high speed area while the train is in motion?

Bobbie1951 - Please don't take this the wrong way, but did you try to ride Dragster its first season? I say try because it was literally closed for half its first season. It probably took five years or so of one of the best maintenance teams in the world to get it to run reliably enough that you could plan that it wouln't be closed most of the day for maintenance. I can't speak for Lightning Rod, but at Cedar Point, Top Thrill and Maverick are the rides that typically have the most downtime for maintenance (excluding the first year or two of a new ride, which is not completely unexpected).

Shilke has gotta be pretty happy with himself right now seeing how he is almost single handedly changing the coaster design meta game. Between these two rides and Steel Curtain...

Bobbie1951 said:

Disclaimer: I'm heavily biased in favor of Intamin. That being said, I might add that all of the four Intamin launched coasters I've ridden (Kingda Ka, Top Thrill Dragster, Storm Runner and Rita) are a lot more reliable than Lightning Rod.

Well, now they are. But for their first few years, they were nightmares, too.

Plus, Intamin has killed people.

Josh, I'm assuming you mean "Intamin rides have killed people." However, the four Bobbie mentions have not. But they have injured a few with cable snaps.

I too love Intamins work in the late 90's - 2008. I think starting around the time of Maverick, however, the company seemed like they could do no right. These 2 new rides look incredible. But yes, that switch track certainly looks to be a source of major headaches and downtime.

Ah yes, Maverick. Forgot about that one; thanks for reminding me. I thought that I might be missing something in terms of Intamin launched coasters I've ridden. Agreed that Maverick has excessive downtime; my 1st attempt to ride it resulted in being stuck on the launch hill for 45 minutes. Don't know much about the early days of Dragster; I didn't start riding roller coasters until late 2010 and by that time they seemed to have ironed out most of the kinks. It wasn't operating by the time I got around to it in July (Steel Vengeance took priority over everything else) but that's because it can't operate safely in bad weather conditions, no fault of Intamin's, just an inherent limitation of this coaster design.

The switch track coaster in the video... One would assume that there will be brakes on the spike that would engage in the event of a failure with the switch track. Right? ...RIGHT?

:D

I'm sure the launch also serves as a brake which is all failsafe and whatever. (For Inatmin, that is)

Kingda Ka and dragster spent Most of the first three years of their life down. They absolutely were not more reliable than Lightning Rod. Then there’s the parts of the train that TTD chucked. And the ‘incodent’ on Ka that probably could have killed someone. Not to mention that La can only use one side of its station now and only a couple trains.

Tekwardo said:

..... Not to mention that La can only use one side of its station now and only a couple trains.

Who is La?  Ka's older sister?

I was under the impression that Kinga Ka running one station was strictly a staffing issue and not anything mechanical in nature.

It’s mostly because of the reduced capacity while it waits for Zumanjaro. New Jersey says can’t run both rides simultaneously. So why bother running both stations with multiple trains? Just more people sitting on the track.

Using only one side of the station was done a while before Zoomanjaro. It was done to help the rides reliability and had nothing to do with staffing. They reprogrammed the ride to only use one side and to use one less train. It had nothing to do with staffing. It was an attempt to make it more reliable.