Arrow Corkscrew: Positive Gs or not?

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superman said:

So... is it fair to say that with a similar heartline path, inverted coasters are cheaper? (less steel required)

?

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It may be true, but negligibly so. I don't think the actual steel material plays a significant part of the cost (vs. design and fabrication).

GAdv. was just about stopping GASM on the MCBR (how's that for acronyms) at different parts of the season this year. Definite hangtime on all four of the later inversions.

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Olsor said:
"Heartline twist" is also another term used for the inverted zero-G roll.

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I think this is more of a misappropriation of the term. Whereas the Togo Ultratwisters and Viper actually spin about an axis through the riders' heartlines, B&M's spin around an axis pretty close to the track (in both the inverts and sitdowns) and pretty far from the riders' hearts.

Agreed, Andy. There's way too many terms for inversions floating around the industry, many of which aren't very descriptive. I'd propose a standard Coasterbuzz nomenclature, but I'm sure it would stumble on B&M's "cobra roll" vs. Vekoma's "boomerang."

To paraphrase the noble Homer Simpson, I like element names that sound like the things they look like (cobra rolls, corkscrews).

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Tom Servo said:
I get a very distinct floating sensation going through the corkscrews at the end of SFMM's Viper, but they are admittedly taken rather slowly after all the brakes that are along that ride. I wouldn't be surprised if someone could come out if they didn't have any restraints.

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I second that...it always makes me wonder if that section of brakes right before the corkscrews were put there intentionally as that is one of the more thrilling parts of the ride. You can actually hear the upstops hitting the track and all your body weight rests on the restraints. You ever notice how much crap is on the ground under those corkscrews. Park maps, hats, sunglasses, I bet a load of change too. Maybe its a way for SFMM to get even more money from the GP? *** Edited 12/7/2003 5:04:07 PM UTC by haiderodes***

If anyone cares to look (I personally am not that stressed) RCDB has an element glossary that breaks down the names of all the elements by manufacturer and coaster style, complete with hyperlinks to all the coasters with a specefic element. Very cool, very useful.

Viper's corkscrew is the most perfect corkscrew I've ever been through. It's at just a right speed so that you don't slam into your restraint and you don't slam into your seat. It feels like doing a very slow cartwheel.

Of course, that's not how it was designed to feel...

-Nate

Great American Scream Machine is horrible at SFGAdV. The corkscrews were complete headslammers, if there was only a lap bar you would definitely fall out of them. Same with Knoebel's Whirlwind. You would hit track underneath if you fell out of that coaster.

By the way, was there ever an accident on a corkscrew looping coaster where the rider fell out because of failing restraints?

ApolloAndy- As far as the "heartline roll" debate (Togo vs B&M) check out some of Intamin's heartline rolls. They look like Togo's, they actually roll around the riders heartline. Kinda like a VERY tight radius, stretched in length corkscrew...

Prabe- Also RCDB has a cross reference that shows a B&M flatspin is the same as an Arrow corkscrew, or a Vekoma boomerang is the same as a B&M cobra roll. Although I do agree that the "visual" descriptions are best. When I saw a description of HP's Storm Runner with its "flying snake high dive with a twist and no splash" I had no idea what they were talking about.

I was under the impression that flatspins are B&M corks only on their inverted coasters.

No. "Flatspin" is the term B&M uses for all of their corkscrews *except* on inverted coasters, which are "wingovers".

-Nate