Dragster shut down after riders injured by debris

You have to wonder how many Beemers Cedar Fair is gonna build now. I mean, we have all of these problems with Intamin; Cedar Fair has never worked very closely with Vekoma and I don't think they will in the future either; Cedar Fair and S&S seem to be on the outs after the Vertigo incident.

So what is left? Well, for big park additions (not counting spinning mice, small family coasters, etc.) not much but B&M. Maybe they will actually consider a wood coaster to two when they run out of B&M designs :)

Would it be possible to enclose the cable in a tube of some sorts? I know that wouldn't actually solve the problem of the cable fraying, but it would be an extra safety precaution to prevent such an event as yesterday's from happening again.

Cedar Point ordered a 420ft 120 mph coaster. They knew they were gonna get their share of problems. They knew it was new technology. They knew nothing was guaranteed.

It's unfortunate that this ride has injured riders, but add one more to the list... X, Deja Vu, TTD.

Huh? Deja Vus are mostly up these days and X is still hobbling along.

Add it to the list of the world's tallest, fastest paperweights with S:TE and Steel Dragon 2000.

-'Playa

#1 LIMs will not work the way TTD is set up now. You need more launch track.

#2 The cables are enclosed.

When you get a cable that large moving that fast and under that much stress, there is a lot that can happen.

I wonder, Is Xcelerator and Storm Runner shut down as a result of this accident?

SFGAdv lover, did they know it was going to injure riders?

Maybe they could house the cable in some sort of protective cage like Jordan suggested, but how would that affect the sled? I dont really know the way the ride works well enough to say. I am actually surprised no one thought of this when designing the launch system.

I am also wondering if the capacity of the ride is what is causing the problems. I dont know of any issues Xcellerator has had.

*** This post was edited by eightdotthree 7/13/2004 12:40:34 PM ***

Yea, I'm sure Intamin warned CP of all the problems they might encounter. Prototypes always have their problems. Look at SR, The 2nd Generation rocket coaster. It runs amazingly, It seems to be as reliable as any B&M.

I can say, that when a cable snaps, nothing can stop the recoil. I'm thinking they might want to add LSMs to help the train with the cable, you know, put less stress on it and such.

Dang I'm glad I didn't ride it yesterday morning before I left. But the bad thing is that TTD has acctually been running consistantly as of late and now it has to be closed down, I guess CP just can't get a break when it comes to TTD.

Good idea, let's add LSMs! *Points and clicks*
And a steam engine, too! *Points and clicks again*
And how 'bout a really great big ol' rubber band?

I mean, seriously.

-CO

Naw, just put up a sign that reads "Not responsible for lacerations due to metal fatigue." Then open 'er back up.

JK, I do hope they can solve whatever problem is happening.

I thought they already had signs that they were not responsible for anything lost or damaged while riding? That should cover most situations I would think :)

Sounds like another quality product from the people who still havent decided what "an acceptable loss ratio" is. Junt one more reason not to hop on anything with a nameplate that reads "Intamin".

Have Fun!

Paul Drabek

The mole is right. There is nothing they can do about the recoil caused by a cable snap. I mean you can't put a cover on the launch because the sled still has to run.

Another thing, It is really annoying that people keep saying they should replace the launch with LIMS or LSM's or anything. First off, The train CANNOT, I repeat...CANNOT be retrofitted with 2 types of launch technologies. ESPECIALLY when it uses magnetic brakes, Its like a paradox. 2nd, The train would be too heavy. And finally, LIMS and ESPECIALLY LSM's could not produce enough energy to get the train over the tophat.

I think the most logical alternative presented so far is retrofitting with air launch technology. Even that is probably a really tough stretch, not to mention that S&S wouldn't exactly want to work with CF after the lawsuits, but if it's between that and a 420' paperweight, I think biting the bullet and taking the money to see about a retrofit could be a possibility.

Just turn the first half into a chain lift. ;)

anyone know if they ever explored using a woven titanium cable rather than a steel cable?

my snowboard boots from a few years ago have a titanium cable in it. Rather than the cable breaking or fraying, everything else on the boot broke since the cable was so strong.

The S&S launch system uses cables, too. Wasn't Dodonpa breaking launch cables when it first opened? I don't think retrofitting TTD with an air-launch system will work all that well, the ride is already designed around the Intamin system and it would still have to use launch cables. They'll probably just have the people at Intamin modify the cable system.

Oh well, as park officials said at the ACE Convention in June, every day is different at CP. This is certainly a new one. Interesting that an earlier article on TTD said there were "2,500" coaster enthusiasts (read ACErs) at CP for the Con. Actually there were about one-third that number, but then we know reporters never check their facts.

TTD is fun, but enough is enough. It's just not worth the wait and the aggravation of trying to get on it. Frankly, I wish I had never ridden it, because all other rides seem SLOW compared to it. I rode StormRunner about a week after TTD and it seemed to be in slow motion compared to TTD. StormRunner seems to be working okay, maybe they need to revamp TTD to include the modifications made for SR.

Hope no one was hurt too bad, although I'm sure the lawyers will argue that their clients are emotionally scarred for life and cannot be within 200 miles of a roller coaster or their fears will cause their heads to explode.