I-305 major change?

I need some clarification or a better understanding of the road wheel issue. Since MF operates at or near the same speed as I305, why doesn't it have the same road wheel issue? Is it the intensity/duration of the 270 degree turn that causes that issue?

Also, didn't MF operate with different wheels the first year or two it was open?

more here

http://www.coaster-net.com/newsandreleases.php

^ Wow. After reading that "article", I feel so much more educated about what's going on with I-305. ;)

^haha yea, I kind of feel like deleting that post especially now that John Pagel has made it official. From on the loop: The good part starts a little after the 14 minute mark: http://www.coastercrew.net/intheloop.php?page=play&file=386

He even stated that there is a chance that ALL of the trims could be removed permanetly. In other words the trims might not be coming back to the back part of the ride as they were originally.

I find it a little hard to believe that simply extending the radius of a single turn slows the train down as much as all those trims did, but I guess crazier things have happened.

The issue isn't the raw speed; the issue is angular acceleration...meaning the vertical force that the train and the riders experience going around the curve. There are two ways to reduce that force: either reduce the speed of the train, or increase the radius of the curve. Reducing the speed requires only adding some brakes, but increasing the curve radius would allow the train to run faster through the curve (but at reduced force).

The equation in question is F = V^2/R. The objective is to reduce the F.

The result also means the coaster will be able to take the rest of the course faster, because the train will come out of the curve at a higher speed.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yeah, but the trims were originally after the first turn.

I don't think that is what matters. What matters is that it seems as though the trims that were originally on the second half of the ride were only put there as a measure to try and prevent what was happening with the wheels and the forces exerted on them without affecting the first half of the ride. That attempt failed and resulted in all of this. Its an extreme measure to correct everything to how it should run. At it's price tag... I'd want it right too.

It seems to me like the second half of the course (starting right after the original trims) was designed to run starting at x mph. By removing the trims and extending the first turn, the first turns will of course be a lot less forceful, but the train will enter the second half of the course going some amount faster than x which it wasn't designed for.

I thought the problem with the first turn was created because of the lack of space? Maybe that was just speculation on someone's part. But if space was truly an issue how is there suddenly more room to allow a bigger curve?

By looking at Google Maps, it looks like they have plenty of room to expand the radius.

RideMan said:
The equation in question is F = V^2/R. The objective is to reduce the F.

With V being squared, the increase in R necessary to achive a truly significant decrease in F would be pretty large....they're going to need some significant trackage and land (as Clint noted, there IS some space to work with). The "increase" in V when going back to the original operating speed means that radius will probably end up more like an RoS-style turn, with a HUGE radius and some significant banking (banking = yummy, IMO).

Unless the turn is higher (reducing V) and/or overbanked putting gravity in opposition to F.

Edit: Hm. Gator beat me to my own punch with his edit.

^LOL, sorry Andy - most of my posts have at least one edit - apparently I think in fits and starts...and post that way too! ;)

Does anyone know what the park staff or ride ops had to put up with this past year in regards to the intensity of the ride?

Makes me wonder if there was a lot of complaining and unhappy ridders. Cant help but wonder.

Will this be basically a new credit for those of you that rode version 1. Or, how about 3rd credit for those that rode version 1 and then the neutered version.

Someone help Corkscrew clean up all of those worms that fell out of the can!!!

No.

I don't think this is significant enough of a change to recount.

I don't recount unless its on the scale of something like Phantom or Texas Giant (neither of which I rode in their original configurations), but that's just me :).

I hope to get to try this as soon as it opens (which may or may not be when the park opens, so I'll play it by ear).