Are Those Trim Breaks on Verrückt?

Hello Coaster Fans Who Are Frantically Buying Stock In Aloe Vera,

I just recently watched the P.O.V on Verrückt.

A few thoughts:

I don't think people should be worried about "the people flying off the raft on the hill" thing....The stair climb up will kill them first. Seriously! That's a lot of steps in bare feet.

Is it just me, or do you see A LOT of "track" modifications on this? I was hoping for a legit, send the raft down the slide (I would really like a body slide, but hey...) type thing. Now with the point of view, it looks like there is "trim breaks" on the slide for the raft, as well as some type of rubber speed reduce mat thing towards the bottom before it hits the jets to get over the next hill. Hmmmm

Her's the video link (just in case for some unbeknown reason one hasn't seen it a million times, and bought a plane ticket in advance, then had to cancel it, order a new one, cancel it, and then order a new one waiting for this to happen) ;-)

Thoughts?

PS...they just canceled the opening again.

-RollerCoasterGod

It really does look like trims, which leads me to ask the question (please don't laugh, I'm physics stupid): "why put trims on it when you are then putting water propulsion jets to send you (barely) up the next hill"? Why not modify the lift hill and airtime hill accordingly so no trims are needed? Just too much speed no matter what for the hill unless you sacrifice height? I know they really wanted the tallest slide record.

RollerCoasterGod said:

(I would really like a body slide, but hey...)

Egad. I suppose I would, too, if, along with riding a thrill ride I simultaneously wanted a high-powered enema. Or would that be considered part of the thrill?

I didn't know Intamin was in the business of building water slides.

I was wondering if those were trims, or just guides/upstops to keep the raft down on the slide during the steepest part of the drop. I know on the body slides like that, you tend to float/hover over the slice at that particular point.

Either way, this thing looks so different from when it was first built. Looks like they raised the bottom of the drop, and made the hump a lot more drawn out.

bunky666 said:

It really does look like trims, which leads me to ask the question (please don't laugh, I'm physics stupid): "why put trims on it when you are then putting water propulsion jets to send you (barely) up the next hill"? Why not modify the lift hill and airtime hill accordingly so no trims are needed? Just too much speed no matter what for the hill unless you sacrifice height? I know they really wanted the tallest slide record.

Same reason Formula Rossa launches right into a set of brakes. If you want the record, you have to figure out what to do with all that speed and on a slide, the answer is definitely not "just let it ride."

When watching it in slow motion, it appears that there are guides to put the raft in the right place for the "trims" to do their job. The trims actually look more like long strips of rubber underneath some type of over hang (as mentioned to possibly stop the raft from coming up) used to create friction on the sides of the raft. 1/3 of the way down is where it leaves those things. It appears to pick up speed 2/3 of the way down, and then slows back down hitting the black mat type thing (while still going down). Has anyone seen any pics of what the raft looks like yet?

While I understand the need to sometimes do drastic things to rides...this just kind of makes me still give want to give the record to the ride in Brazil for tallest waterslide....or put a giant * next to waterslide. Or like having the World's tallest roller coaster...but trimming you all the way down.

I'm also confused on the netting. The video is only showing part of the slide with it, but news channels show it all the way from start to I think finish now.What the heck is netting going to do? If I'm unfortunate enough to hit the netting, all I see it do is keeping me in the direction of the slide, but I'm sure I'll be banged up on the slide after bouncing off the netting (I guess the insurance company figures banged up is better than hitting the ground?)

Go for broke or Tear it down! ;-)

I did a freeze frame on the video, and it looks like it's directed in to those "guides" by 2 pieces of wood. This is confusing to me, and almost looks like there is some potential for the raft to slam into one of those, head on, and potentially hurt a bit.

I'm sure they know what they are doing, but it's still a bit frightening.

http://imgur.com/u6qe3YO

Sorry, image linking on my ipad is being a bit wonky.

Just please, everybody, keep your fingers in the boat!

The netting...is it there to catch loose articles, or ejected riders? :-P

Severed fingers/toes?

The model on the Xtreme Waterparks preview video looked absolutely frightening. The real thing seems to be neutered to the point of actually looking very lame and unexciting.

Raven-Phile said:

I'm sure they know what they are doing...

Really? If they knew what they were doing, why all the modifications and delays to the opening? ;)

RollerCoasterGod said:

I'm also confused on the netting. The video is only showing part of the slide with it, but news channels show it all the way from start to I think finish now.What the heck is netting going to do? If I'm unfortunate enough to hit the netting, all I see it do is keeping me in the direction of the slide, but I'm sure I'll be banged up on the slide after bouncing off the netting (I guess the insurance company figures banged up is better than hitting the ground?)

Go for broke or Tear it down! ;-)

I think it was Six Flags Magic Mountain where an inebriated young man took a run at the beginning of their drop slide to get a faster ride, and fell to his death. Since then, bars going across the entrance and/or tunnels at the beginning of the slides of this kind are added in the design phase for safety. It's probably something insurance companies ask for.

I learned this on CoasterBuzz. :D

However, this ride uses a raft and a controlled dispatch with the roller wheels, so maybe it's just a redundant safety feature.

They look like they really don't know what is going to happen until they test it in real life, so I am glad they added the nets.

Isn't the Master Blaster slide at Schlitterbahn in TX covered in nets like this?

That POV makes the slide look less interesting to me now. I imagined getting some air, safely of course, at the top of the hump. They might as well just take the hump out and install a long slowdown now.

http://www.thehits.co.nz/video/first-launch-the-worlds-tallest-waterslide/

Sorry, video would not imbed

New video showing testing with people. You're right, it basically stalls out at the top of the hill and has to get a "push" from a jet of water. Lame.

That being said, I'd love to ride it during what I predict to be a Kingda-Ka-esque first year, followed by a complete dismantling over the winter.

On an unrelated note, when you buy a GoPro, is it part of the User Agreement that you are required to use the song "Sail" in every video?

Although I'll normally call out people that judge without riding... it just doesn't look that fun. With the near stop at the top of the hill (which I realize is necessary to keep the rafts from flying out and exploding) it's basically just 2 speed slides put together.

Also, that song SUUUUUUCKS.

Like I said, they should just take out the hump and install some straight track, or maybe a very gradual and shallow hump. This just goes to show that some things just can't be done.

Wait, I have another idea. Add shoulder harness to the rafts, and build some kind of upstops on the slide. You'll get hypercoaster style airtime without flying to your death. It kind of sounds like fun.

kpjb said:

Also, that song SUUUUUUCKS.

You might appreciate it more after watching this.

LostKause said:

Like I said, they should just take out the hump and install some straight track, or maybe a very gradual and shallow hump. This just goes to show that some things just can't be done.

Wait, I have another idea. Add shoulder harness to the rafts, and build some kind of upstops on the slide. You'll get hypercoaster style airtime without flying to your death. It kind of sounds like fun.

Then they could take out the water and it would just be a coaster. ;)

You might appreciate it more after watching this.

Or this:

Kpjb, you're right. I'd normally call myself out for the same thing. Yes, the hill in the middle looks completely stupid now, but I'm sure the drop down is still an amazing ride. I'd ride it in a heartbeat.