curtis summers-mastermind or bad designer

curtis summers-what a mastermind right? he designed so many brilliant coasters w the dinn corp up until the late eighties. collosus, mean streak, texas giant, and the timberwolf just to name a few. i think he was one of the greatest designers ever. he made all his coasters by hand. on the flip side of things, the man was involved in so many lawsuits for designing faulty coasters. so many of his rides were involved in accidents over the years and deamed faulty. i know so many complain about how bad some of his rides are-in particular mean streak .that coaster gets the brunt of so many jokes. however, when the coaster first debuted , was it not a great ride. so is it really curtis's fault that the coaster is so bad now. one can say yes because he designed it poorly and the ride therefore needs trim brakes to patch things up. or one can blame it on cedar point for hindering the coaster and not allowing it to perform up to its potential by adding so many trims. so are so many of his coasters trimmed because the were designed poorly or because the are simply just to intense of a rides?? i think he was a terrific designer. but on the flip side he did design some coasters that were faulty and involved in accidents, so its such a debatable topic?? what do u all think?

Curtis Summers rocks, eventhough I don't care for his layouts. Did he design those trains? If he didn't, its not his fault, but if he did, then I wouldn't think so highly of him. I am talking about the Mean Streak trains. The Wolverine Wildcat, is small, but a good ride for a small coaster, and the ride isn't terribly rough.

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CDNSN

i believe he designed Predator too at SFDL. its a good layout but the hills r too big after the first drop and it loses speed awfully fast. there is not much airtime on Predator as their could be. but curtis summers has his good point and bad points.

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Webmaster - G-Screams
http://gscreams.cjb.net

Did he build the Grizzly @ PKD?

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"Bathroom 1 looks too intense for me"-Ed Markey

Mean Streak and Texas Giant are works of art. Mean Streak is a great ride, yeah it's a little rough but coasters are designed to give you a physical rush and you can't get that rush from a
ride that feels like your sitting in a rocking chair.

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I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to keep riding roller coasters

Personally, I don't care for any of his coasters.

I agree with KI, I cant think of ONE of his coasters that I actually like. The ONLY one that looks decent is the Texas Giant. Hopefully, I'll have the chance to ride that next year. But the "triple out and back" coasters of his I've ridden: Hurler (squared), Thunder Run, Mean Streak all sucked like Monica L. :)
lata,
jeremy

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"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men" - Willy Wonka: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Thunder Run at SFKK was really good this year. Not too rough and not overbraked like most Summers-Dinn rides. Unfortunately it's only designed to run one train, what's up with that?

The Texas Giant is tempermental, some days it'll give you an amazing ride, and some days it'll torture you. Like Mean Streak, brakes on the first drop wastes much of its potential.

My favorite Summers/Dinn ride has got to be the Georgia Cyclone though.

Definate mastermind. dinn/summers = gods

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The day that I spend more time analyzing the rides than screaming my head off like a moron is the day that I hope someone will kick my in the love sausage and tell me not to be a moron. - Jeff

Mean Streak was NEVER good. When it was unbraked, it was unbearably rough. The layout itself is terrible. It simply meanders through its course, with minimal size drops for how high it is above the ground. The layout reminds me more of a mine train (while i love mine trains, this coaster is not supposed to be one), than a major wooden coater. It is pretty however.

Thunder Run is a good coaster, for its size. Short, but lots of nice little hills and low banked curves. Not a top 10, but probably the best ride at KK.

What were the specific accidents/lawsuits?


*** This post was edited by super7 on 7/12/2001. *** *** This post was edited by super7 on 7/12/2001. ***

Seems to me the Summers and/or Summers/Dinn coasters are on the rough side. Rough as in "chattery teeth" rough, gives you a headache, etc. Hercules at Dorney is/was one of those...it still runs somewhat rough, yet it has been tamed (trimmed) beyond belief. Used to be one ride was enough (too rough) now it's one ride is enough (it does nothing for ya).
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I know you rider Gonna miss me when I'm gone

i know timber wolf, was involved in an awful accident in the early eighties. i dont know if anyone died, but many broken bones, knocked out teeth, stuff like that. hercules at dp was also involved in a similar accident in 94, without as many injuries.

ill research more and get back to u

When i was on Mean Streak last time i was @ CP, i rode it 3x, having a relatively smooth ride each time... in regards to a woodie that is.

I lean more towards bad designer. Case in point
mean streak . I still love this wooden behemoth
but does lack a punch it once had. trim breaks added to slow it down to relive the stress on the track. From other posts I have read NOT many of his coasters have held up very well. Atheistically these coasters are works of art.
Ride wise ( at least the mean streak ) the ride is a bit of a dud. IMO

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Roller coaster of Love ~ ooi ~ ooi ~ ooi

I do give summers credit for trying to be creative and do something different. Parks want the highest/faster wood coaster and he tried to give it to them in a design that was more then just a simple out a back. I think he was trying to design his coasters with big turns and moderate hills (after the first drop) so they would be fun to ride at fast speeds. Unfortunately nobody has figured out how to make wood coasters smooth enough at high speeds to be fun (maybe Intamin has, but I haven’t ridden their woody’s yet). And his coasters do look good.
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Bob M.

i just think his rides are designed very oddly. they just dont follow logically. ud think big drop, then nice sized medium hill, then smaller hill, then curve, hops , whatever, they just dont follow any pattern.

Well without these guys there would be no CCI. So I owe them a BIG thanks.

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The trolls shall remain under the bridge, hidden, and without food to grow.