4D track

Do any of you have a clue as to why the the track on X has 4 rails instead of only 2? I noticed this, and have been wondering about it since I first got a look at the car and track section on the day SFMM announced it; I just didn't think of asking you-all until now. Please enlighten me.
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ATTENTION!!...This is the Alter Ego of Goliath Rocks; If he said something stupid, we're sorry, it's the "G"s talking... *** This post was edited by Goliath rocks on 2/2/2001. ***

The two extra rails are to control how the car flips.

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Peace, Love, and Rollercoasters.........we need more of all three.

That's a relief! My only reservation about this ride had been wondering what the flips would be like if they were just wild and/or random.

But how do they do it? Are the wheels that ride the extra rails attached to some kind of lever mechanism or what?
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ATTENTION!!...This is the Alter Ego of Goliath Rocks; If he said something stupid, we're sorry, it's the "G"s talking...

How an Arrow Rep explained it (at ACE's No Coaster Con) was that based on the position of the extra rails a lever would move some sort wishbone like mechanism to move the position of the seats. To bad Arrow's webpage is down. *** This post was edited by beast7369 on 2/2/2001. ***

You're on the right track (no pun intended). As a train moves along the track, the second set of rails will change in vertical position - vertical meaning relative position from main rails, they are permanently mounted. A second set of wheels rides on the secondary rails. These wheels are attached to mechanism that rotates the seats. It's the relative vertical motion of the secondary rails that makes the whole thing work.

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Scott W. Short
scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

That's pretty much what I was thinking (hoping!!), but you put it into words better than I could. Thanks for all the info, guys; now I really can't wait to ride X!

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ATTENTION!!...This is the Alter Ego of Goliath Rocks; If he said something stupid, we're sorry, it's the "G"s talking...

Couldn't this same technique be applied to control the angle of swing of a suspended coaster? This could allow a suspended coaster to invert.

I think that's ingenious!! Arrow should definitely do that. I heard they wanted to make a suspended looping coaster, but couldn't because of the swinging; you came up with the solution! And that other guy calls himself "coastergenious" (only kidding!).

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ATTENTION!!...This is the Alter Ego of Goliath Rocks; If he said something stupid, we're sorry, it's the "G"s talking...

It would put a lot of stress on the mechanism as the cars would be heavy.

Yup, the extra rails control the 4D seat spinning. However, I'm not sure if the mechanism restricts the movement 180 degrees in either direction or loops like a piston crank.

Don't forget one rail controls one side and vice versa for the other rail. So at one point, one side could be inverted and the other upright!

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Wonderland Sydney, Australia.