Backyard-coaster disapproved

German officials enforce destruction of backyard wooden coaster in Germany, claiming it did not fulfill the German safety regulations for buildings, even though the coaster was built in a private back yard and was supposedly only to used privately - destruction needs to be completed by September 11th 2005.

http://www.n-tv.de/568074.html
(German news site)

Translated

For months the 14-jaehrige David built MOS man in the garden of its parents' house in open castle at its own roller coaster, now must it the plant off again tear. The construction from wood does not correspond to the legal safety regulations and besides in a landscape protection area was established, communicated the city open castle. The roller coaster must be diminished by 11 September. Otherwise threaten the pupil a penalty. Because the roller coaster was planned only for the "internal requirement", the young person had not informed the authorities about the building, which he wanted to lock up to the coming spring. The roller coaster should become 5 meters high 100 meters long and and make a speed of up to 47 kilometers possible per hour. But the city administration braked the travel of the 14-Jaehrigen now out. The plant is too dangerous, it was said. It does not play a role whether the course is used only by the designer or also by visitors.

Pretty rad looking from the pics!

Thanks,
DMC

You call that a translation? A more idiomatic version...

Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Roller coaster in garden
Student must tear down construction
For months, 14-year-old David Mossmann constructed a roller coaster in the garden of his parents' house in Offenburg, now he must tear it down. According to the City of Offenburg, the wood construction does not comply with safety and landscaping regulations. The roller coaster must be demolished by the 11th of September, or the student is subject to a fine.
Because the roller coaster was only intended for personal use, the young man did not inform the building authorities about the ride, which he planned to complete in the Spring. The roller coaster stands about 100m long and 5m high, and could reach a speed of 47 km/h. But the City authorities put a stop to the 14-year-old's progress. They claim that the ride is too dangerous, and it makes no difference whether it is intended for private or public use.

In other words, when in doubt, get your building permit *first*. That's probably the real issue...not that the structure is dangerous or ugly, but rather that he didn't grease all the right palms first.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Who is in the middle of a more mundane construction project of his own...

Who you calling an idiom?!

Anyway, that's quite a lift hill. Not much lateral stability yet, though.

"I've been born again my whole life." -SAVED

Woah that's the best looking home-built coaster I have ever seen! Too bad he didn't get to finish it, it looks awesome

-Keith "Badnitrus" McVeen

That does look quite wicked. I wonder what he was going to use for a car or train.

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground, silly monkeys give them thumbs they forge a blade and weapons by the pound to divide it, right in two - Tool

Almost looks like he was going for a smaller wooden version of GeForce. Track and the twist in the hill look similar...

Thats looks like it would have been a good ride. I agree I wish he got it done, looks cool.

He definitely has a future in building coasters. *** Edited 8/18/2005 12:39:00 PM UTC by Ajrides***

100m long = 328 feet
5m high = 16.4 Feet
47 km/h = 29.2mph

Pretty impressive stats from a 14 year old.

He should list it on a used ride site! :)

That´s the big problem with regulations in Germany. While most americans marvel at the personal responsibility that is apparent on a fun fair (everybody who saw a Breakdance in operation at a German Fair will know what I mean), there is so much regulation when it comes to building stuff on your own property. Its downright ridiculous.

This guys father is a carpenter, so I guess there is some sort of "quality control". One of the concerns of the authorities is the insufficient footers. Apperantly they don´t go deep enough to make the whole thing stable. On the other hand, the piece of land is not the parents garden. It belongs to a relative but its as well located in a "sheltered area", which means there are probably some birds breeding which nobody saw before.

I heard other stats (and from the pictures it seems more realistic) that the lifthill is actually 8 m (25 ft.) high.

Look at this picture:

http://freizeitparkweb.de/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&forum=DCForumID6&om=6705&omm=9&viewmode=threaded

(9th topic). You can see that the station was as well half finished and it looks like there is something like a car in the shed.

In some interview with this young engineer he was quoted as being a fan of the game "Rollercoaster Designer" which was the basis of designing his ride. And it looks absolutely thrilling.

According to a newspaper the half finished ride is now turned into furniture.

There you have it, a young adventurer stopped by overzealous authorities. Hopefully he is not discouraged to fulfill his dream to become a coaster designer/builder. One of the german/swiss manufacturers should get him a holiday job ASAP.

That thing is amazing!

Don't get any ideas, RoS. :)

Too bad Sergeant Schultz isn't on that City Council... I see nothing!

Gernan's rock! Even 14 year old boys can design more aesthetically pleasing coasters than their american counterparts.

I am interested in seeing his car design... anyone have a link to a picture?

The laterals on the ride would worry me since his material of choice is wood and it's not reinforced. The weight of the car and rider pushing on the track would cause it to shift a lot or even tip over! Give the kid a welder and he would probably make something even better! I would love to see his ride finished.

I am definetely making a note that I need a building permit when I get the land to build track. My dad had to get one even for the small shed he built in his backyard. Very inportant piece of paper!

http://omega.ipfw.edu/~marschand/woodcoaster.htm

dexter said:
Don't get any ideas, RoS. :)

I'm drawing up the plans as I type!

Just Kidding ;)

The contraption in my backyard was hard enough, I could never do something like that kid did unless I had tons and tons of free wood to mess around with.

It needs to be torned down by September 11th or else they'll fly a plane into it!

I didn't find that funny.

Thanks,
DMC

yea, great way to bring back / ruin this topic...

-- alan j

Kamakazi is just full of one-liners today. ;-)

At least the first one (SFDL Dude's new sig) was actually funny.

-Tina

*** Edited 9/5/2005 6:33:25 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***