El Toro date?

Of course it's intamin and their motive to make anything they build more difficult.

B&M has it right... Get something to work and stick with it. Intamin on the other hand will build a new type of technology with every ride and everytime it goes wrong.

Oh well. Im awaiting a rider "problem" with El Toro within the first two months. That is MY estimation however!

From what I've heard it has something to do with the lift motor, and that it is not supposed to stop on th elift at all, which is why they have workers on the lift when it tests to see where it stops at and such. I've also heard that the track gauge is/was too tight on the lift, so they have/had to adjust that as well. Who knows, just as long as i get on this beast by the middle of June, I will be happy!

Has anyone seen a video of this thing testing? Its lookin quite nice :) http://www.gainsider.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1317

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Mamoosh said:
That's what I meant. I don't know anyone other company that uses a cable lift system such as theirs.

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Cable lift systems have been around for decades there called Elevators and intamin does not design them they are done by Otis Elevator. ET is having problems at the top because the catch car has to change from vertical pull to Horizontal unlike MF which pulls it up and then down until the train disengages from it. This same disscusion is going on at Gradv source.

Here is the best video yet.http://www.gainsider.com/video/060506-ettest.wmv *** Edited 6/6/2006 4:35:26 PM UTC by Ajrides***

And there's no way to make that transition (from vertical to horizontal) any smoother or easier to handle? Isn't there some sort of good fix? I really want to ride this beast...

Wow, seriously looks awesome. It appears to really keep its speed. I seriously can't wait to get pulled over the first hill.

According the great adventure insider, the train has been seen stuttering and stopping at the base of the lift. I dont know the mechanics of this particular lift system, but is it suppose to do that? Is the train waiting for some sort of catch car to come down and engage with it or is the train having difficulty moving past this particular section of track due to a tight track gauge? This may be what is causing or delay.

From what AJRides says above,

ET is having problems at the top because the catch car has to change from vertical pull to Horizontal unlike MF which pulls it up and then down until the train disengages from it

Surely this was anticipated. Any freshman physics major could figure that one out. Not to put you down AJ, but this scenario seems pretty obvious. I was entirely weak in physics, and I could have seen this coming.

Then DorneyDate says ...

the train has been seen stuttering and stopping at the base of the lift.

What does that have to do with stopping at the top of the lift hill?

Unless there's some concept I'm missing, it seems like our guesses aren't close.

What we do know (as in eye witness acounts):

1. the train has been stuttering at the base of the lift.
2. the train has been completely stopped at the top

I think the problem is track gauge at the base of the lift (or in general some sort of problem at the base of the lift.) Then when it does finally make it past this area of track it E-stops at the top. *** Edited 6/6/2006 7:38:21 PM UTC by DorneyDante***

First off why do people keep comparing the lift to MF it is not the same. MFs hill is right there so the catchcar comes down and hooks right up. Of course ET is going to stop at the bottom to wait for the catchcar to come down and hook up to it. Did you think it was going to be like a chain liftand roll up the hill until it engages the catchcar? If you watch the videos of it testing each time it stops at the top it takes 6 seconds before the change of direction of the catchcar pulls it Horizontally. The times it stops for longer periods thats when its having problems.

Everytime it stops at th etop, they also sound the warning horn meaning that they had to restart the lift, which IMO means that it is not designed to stop at th etop...then again, they could also want it to be similar to Kingda Ka and give a warning before they send the train through the course. Word on the street is that the state inspectors are to be at the park by the end of the week, so who knows what will happen! I just can wait to ride this thing!

Doesn't MF's catch car go all the way over the peak of the hill? Why the heck couldn't they do something like that for ET?

^They couldn't do exactly the same thing as MF because of the turn at the top of the lift. They needed to have it straighten out so that the train slowly approaches the first drop. That first drop looks pretty deadly as it is, so any more speed would not be good.

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ET is having problems at the top because the catch car has to change from vertical pull to Horizontal unlike MF which pulls it up and then down until the train disengages from it

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No. I don't think that's it at all. I mean MF's station is flat and it has to curve up to 45º. The catch car is segmented so it can negotiate vertical curves.

I don't really think there are any "problems" necessarily. I'm sure they ran into track guaging problems as people suggested, but that can be fixed quickly. I'm sure they also ran into some problems with the cable itself or the motor or the guide for the catchcar. But I think mostly they've just been checking and double checking everything (and then checking it again).

ETs first riders so apparently thats the way the lift works. http://amusementpics.com/2006%20Expansion.htm

They could have easily controlled the speed over the first drop with a swoop turn which would likely be more interesting than the slow, flat turn. Now if the turn is not slow, then that's great, but then so much for keeping the train from going too fast over the top of the first drop. *** Edited 6/7/2006 2:01:07 PM UTC by Acoustic Viscosity***

The train is pretty slow around that turn.

I understand what you are saying. They could've pulled a Balder (which is pretty much what I think you're describing). Balder's drop looks amazingly fun, but IMO it seems like it wouldn't give you that intimidating feeling of straight drop like Toro or MF. With Toro you just creep towards certain doom. I like that.

I honestly think El Toro's drop will be a Top 5 (Top 3?) all time drop so no complaints here.

No, I am talking something like Screamin' Eagle, Rampgae, Boss, etc... the turn swoops down and then back up, allowing the train to creep over the top. It would still be a "straight" drop.

I don't know Matt...all that swooping and turning after the lift...sounds kinda gay to me ;)

mOOSH - not adding anything worthy to the topic because I'm excited to be leaving for WoF & Branson today!

Oh I see what you mean Acoustic.

I still don't think that would fit for El Toro. Just my opinion though. To me that kind of drop is soooo RCCA . :P *** Edited 6/7/2006 2:11:11 PM UTC by MrX***

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Acoustic Viscosity said:
They could have easily controlled the speed over the first drop with a swoop turn which would likely be more interesting than the slow, flat turn.

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Note to designers everywhere: *Swooping turns, Ghostrider, Silver Comet, Excalibur, and the ones Matt mentioned above, are >>> flat turns. Just for future reference. ;)

edit: Enjoy the "western midwestern trip", Moosh... LOL! *** Edited 6/7/2006 2:18:11 PM UTC by rollergator***