CCI air hills

I have not ridden that many coasters, but I am a large fan of CCI, and I think one of the things that make CCIs great is the straight sections in most of the air hills on their coasters. After you angle up, there is a short section of strait track, then the airtime, then on the way down, there is a short section of strait track. I have even found pics to back this up on RCDB, but one of my friends denies that there is any strait track on CCI coasters. What do you all think?

http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery1659.htm?Picture=15 the hill under the lift seems strait for about 25 feet

http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery602.htm?Picture=5 this hill looks to have about 15 feet of strait track

http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery176.htm?Picture=2 this seems to be strat too

Well I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks in advance.

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Boulderdashdashdash

Well, to produce a change in force, you have to have a change in direction... the most ideal airtime hill would probably be more of a parabola than straight track. But this looks to be another way of getting airtime if indeed it's "straight."

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Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

I view CCI hills as they throw you up, hang onto you , and then throw you down.Whatever it is, it produces great air. Raven has many of these hills.

And tell your friend it's GCI without straight track , not CCI.

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I'm so friggin' sick of people who think the Crystal beach Cyclone would have been a great coaster. Woohoo ! I just rode this great ride , and Now My arm is broken and my tailbone is Bruised!

Actually the airtime is produced by the curvature at the top of a hill only. The straight sections of track along the slope of the hills have little to do with airtime, only speed produced.

The best way to describe how it's done is to think of a ball that is thrown up into the air. The path it follows would form a parabola (arc). The shape at the top where the ball loses it's energy and begins to fall would form the top of a hill except that that exact path wouldn't produce any negative gravitational forces. Now just bend that same path a little sharper at the top and you will produce a negative G force at the same speed and trajectory from which the ball is initially thrown.

The speed is crutial here in this formula though because the hills top(parabola), is shaped to provide just the right amount of uplifting forces according to the speeds of acceleration and deceleration.

You're friend is wrong about CCI's not having any straight track sections. You have enough ammo in those pictures to prove that.

Hope this helps you out though. You're a good man for recognizing CCI's qualities. Dynamically, their rides are the best!!

Wood anything else is an imitation

I think he means the slope of the track being straight, not just the forward movement. I know for a fact that Shivering Timbers has an airtime hill where the backside is a perfectly srtaight slope. It produces a noticably different feel.

I believe it is the hill on the "back" section in this photograph, http://www.coastergallery.com/GA/shiver2.jpg that also shares hill #3 with the "out" section.

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SCREAM with me... in 2003!

Aye, there's a couple of the bunny hops on ST like that. I'm not sure I necessarily like them, but I can't really argue with the designers that produced the rest of that fantastic ride... they must have had their reasons.

Timbers is a masterpiece in my opinion. Even though its concept is very simple, it delivers on every hill. Some hills have ejector air, while some hills have floaters and other variances in between. There is a variety of different types of "air" on that coaster particularly on the run back in from the turnaround. I know the hills were designed and shaped differently to produce that effect on the run in. It keeps the first time riders guessing because a hill might look mild and eject you, while the next hill may only give you a float but look more intimidating, That's the psychology of good a design. I know some people may not agree with me, but it's one of the reasons why I love wooden coasters so much.

Wood - anything else is an imitation
*** This post was edited by Thrillerman 8/15/2003 10:55:33 PM ***

Remember also that there are limits to how fast you can safely reverse from negative to positive G's. ASTM specs limit this reversal as too sudden a change can result in injuries. This may well be the reason for the section of conatant slope. It provides a second or so of 1 G conditions between the air time and the positive G's at the bottom of the hill.

Jim Fisher said what I was thinking about the reasoning behind it, and also I was thinking about when you land from the ejector air, you dont want to land under 3 Gs, you want to land under 1 g, so it doesn't hurt.

I have yet to ride timbers, but that will probably be within 2 weeks.

Thank you all for your explinations, it is of much help.

Also, I agree with thrillerman, about the effect those little things have on the ride. I remember on my beloved Boulderdash, there were so many different feelings of air. And on Cheetah, I was just blown away with the smoothness of the air, though the lapbars did het to hurtin after a long day of these g trains.

And of course, the little things are another reason wood is so much better*cough*.
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Boulderdashdashdash
*** This post was edited by nightride 8/16/2003 1:32:21 AM ***

I've only been on one CCI (Villain at SF:Woa), but i really loved it. I don't think the pictures you chose particularly showcase how CCI uses straight track. Nor do I agree that it necessarily adds to the airtime of the ride. But it does add suspense.

Using Villain as an example, I can say that CCI's choice of elements is supurb. After the first hill, instead of rising straight back up the second hill, you hit a "trick track" which throws you around and is really quite scary. Also, the 4th or 5th hill has a section of straight track before it - it fools you into thinking you have a second to catch your breath before throwing you right back into the action. Also, there are a couple of near double-ups that just throw you off - you're expecting to crest the hill and go back down, but you go up, and sort of to the side.

anyways, it seems from this post that each CCI has their own little quirky design features, and i can't wait to ride more of them (and the new GG coasters too!).

I strongly think a new GG coaster would be a great investment for my homepark, SFNE. We already have the best steel, now lets go for the best wood too!

~me

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S:ROS; SFNE. Ride it, and you'll understand.