Coaster Myths and Misconceptions

So then it's the same basic idea as the overbanks on MF. IMO, an overbanked turn which does not go completely upside down is not an inversion. I think that the "1/2" comment is meant as a joke. Most people who hear this while in line would know that you cannot have a "half inversion". Most of the times that I go there the people in line laugh when they hear that comment. If overbanks were being counted as inversions, I suspect that there are a lot of coasters out there which need to have their inversion count adjusted.

I said 4 because most people can't tell that the banked turn on the island isn't overbanked and therefore not "inverted." But I hear plenty while queuing for the ride that it goes upside down...

Is there where we cue the "what is an inversion?" discussion?
Then we can debate whether S:TE is a coaster.
Then we can talk about whether racing coasters are one or two credits.

I revisit my argument from 2000...

If the three overbanked turns on Millennium Force (the steepest of which puts the track roll at 120 degrees, 30 degrees past vertical) do not count as inversions, then why does the inclined loop on Mantis:TCFKAB, a loop tilted at 45 degrees so that its maximum roll is 135 degrees, count as an inversion?

The way I see it, if Mantis:TCFKAB has four inversions, then Millennium Force has three.

And if you want to get really confused about "what is an inversion", start considering the flying coasters!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

^That's how Batwing got....8 was it? :)

The most confusing for me is Vertical Velocity SFDK.

On the first and third shots up the front spike, the train has all varieties of angles from clearly all the way over to clearly not all the way over...

And what if they had made the spike at a 60 degree angle...or and 80 degree angle...would the inline still count as an inversion?

Also, is Sheikra's first drop an inversion? Is Maverick's? Mystery Mine's? Farenheit's? Hollywood RRR's? How about Steel Hawg's? Screamin' squirrel's?

Skeikra's first drop is not completely vertical...89*, I think.

Reminds me of that running gag from the Muppet Movie:

"O, myth! Myth!"

LostKause said:
Well, it sort of goes up-side-down 3.

Shhh, quiet you, before the insurance company catches on and forces the park to get OTSR.

How about X2? It is listed as having 2 inversions, which I believe applies to the track. But the riders themselves go upside down more than 2 times. IMO, what physically happens to the riders would make a more accurate count than what the track does.

So, if I'm riding Millennium Force, and it banks at 122 degrees, and I lean my body over the other 78, does that count??

If you can figure out a way to lean that far, go for it. The difference is that the seats on X2 invert more times than the track does.

I wouldn't know, I can't remember anything from the rides I took on it, my head was beaten in too hard. :)

I read an argument a few years ago that was basically if a banking is more than halfway between sideways and upside down, it's an inversion. I guess that means any curve banked at 135 degrees or more is an inversion by that argument.