Carnival ride comes apart at Calgary Stampede, 10 injured

Here is a picture of the ride...

http://www.flatrides.com/Ride%20Index%20Pages/scorpion.html

It looks like the troika ride at cedarpoint.

Hmm, a Tivoli built ride, seems to me this kind of thing happened a few years back at the Ohio State Fair on one of their rides.

http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Thread/51194.aspx

Scorpion is a surprisingly fun ride, (not so much at the Stampede, granted), but think Troika and Orbiter rolled into one. It's very fast and at full speed the cars swing quite a bit. At the top of each sweep the car is inverted somewhat, then at the bottom they swing toward the outside due to the fast rotation of the central column.

The 2002 accident at the Ohio State Fair involved a Tivoli Re-Mix where, similarly, one of the rotating modules separated entirely from the ride. There were several fortunate things there - one is that the ride was coming in for a landing and had slowed considerably. Two, is that there were only 2 guys on the ride at the time and their injuries weren't life threatening, in fact they got up and walked. (they were transported to the hospital but released) Three, is that rather than skidding across a crowded midway, it separated toward the back of the ride and smashed thru the backdrop, which luckily served to slow it down. The guys wound up face to the pavement, still locked in their seats, just behind the ride.

It was owned by Wood Entertainment (who had booked this and other pieces at the fair for that and the previous two years) and the investigation concluded that there was a manufacturing / design flaw that led to a faulty weld. In spite of his spotless reputation, Mr. Wood never came back to the OSF, which is a shame -not so much for the Re-Mix, but with him went his Magnum ride (Mondial Shake) as well, never to appear at the Ohio show again, darn it.

Now Tivoli makes a similar/identical ride called Re-Mix II, two of which travel in the US as Techno Power, one owned by Wood Entertainment (seriously?) and the other one, (who's owner escapes me now) was, oddly enough, booked on as the "new" spectacular at Ohio last year. (Yes, I rode it, but nervously) A Re-Mix II owned by Fiesta Shows was involved in another accident in 2009 where a young lady in New Hampshire slipped out between the shoulder restraint and the side arm and went flying. Since, Tivoli has re-designed and replaced the chair's side arms on all rides to prevent this from happening again.

I know it's the season and all, but it seems like the rides are really experiencing some mishaps these days, doesn't it? And I don't know, but I may be avoiding Tivoli products entirely from here on out.

^ I rode that Remix II Last year (Extreme)... I could NOT walk after it... tons of pressure on my legs and walking felt like walking on needles. Glad I saved it for my last ride. I can't believe we are nearly a week away from the OSF.. I better go get my tickets!

You're right, john peck, our Re-Mix II was named Extreme, (or Xtreme?) I think I saw one of those Techno Powers at the Indiana State Fair. At any rate, the website says there's something like a total of 6 in operation today. I drove through the grounds this evening to see if they had the lot marked out and I recognized that ride- still trailered up, but I believe in it's spot ready to be erected. If so, it's moved from last year's space down to about the center of the front midway.

Still no sign of any new spectaculars that might be on the way.

A couple of corrections...

First, the failure on the ReMix was not the entire rotating assembly, but rather one of the seating units. Each pair of seats was attached with a tube butt welded to another tube and then pinned to the rotating assembly. That weld in the middle of the tube is what failed.

Second, did Wood actually not return to the Ohio State Fair? Your data is probably better than mine, but I thought I saw Wood Entertainment tags somewhere on that midway...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I was working around the corner when the accident happened and I guess in my hazy memory I see the whole thing laying back there, but you're right - it may have been one of the seats. I remember looking at the broken weld, which was clearly visible - it looked like the arm snapped. Anyway, it sure was horrific and anyone's nightmare.

As for Wood, no, he never came back to my knowledge. He books only a few big pieces and he always brought the Re-Mix, Magnum, and a Mardis Gras glasshouse. Maybe some kiddies too. We have a Mardis Gras, but a different one, (those years there were two on the lot, that one and his). He only owns a few rides as an independent operator, and I've seen him at Florida and Minnesota, but I believe after the accident he was never invited back to Ohio. Shame, cause it clearly wasn't the operators fault. But Ohio acts re-actively... the other good example was the elimination of the Thrill Zone after riders were stranded without injury on the spring-propelled Sling Shot ride. (reverse bungee). After that they put a halt to any and all thrill related, upcharge kinds of attractions. We do see the small Euro-Bungee, that annoying as hell helicopter, and sometimes a maze, but thats it. So once again operators and patrons are punished for something that may have been entirely out of anyone's control. Ah well.

We're going to Minnesota over Labor Day weekend with some pals so we'll get a couple spins on Magnum, thank goodness, as I consider it one of the best rides ever. It looks great now, too, with new lights and a recently re-painted backdrop design. (buh-bye Tom Sellick with your late hair and ill-fitting ballcap!) The Ray-Ban wearing Coke can centerpiece lives on, though!

Thanks, Dave, for the correction and the memory jog.

Ohio is definitely not on WECo calendar for this year.http://www.woodentco.com/events/events.asp

I had initially thought that he was also affiliated with the Space Roller, but that's Baxter...

And yes, I wish they would eliminate that annoying helicopter at the Ohio fair. Personally I don't object so much to the loss of the Thrill Zone stuff because it always seemed to be a very large footprint for a very few low-capacity attractions that were certainly making plenty of money, but they turned that corner of the fairgrounds into a bit of a dead zone. Of course the helipad is even worse in that regard.

I remember that it was two seats that came off of the Re-Weld, they crashed through a scenery panel and I thought they either landed on a nearby joint, or they bounced off a nearby joint and landed on the midway. Either way, the amazing thing was that neither the riders nor anybody on the midway was seriously hurt.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.