Intimidator 305 Media Day

I too, am curious. Maybe they have a higher initial expensive or are harder to maintain. It was only 6 weeks ago at an off season event when the PR guy said the restraints being used had only been used on coasters in Europe. When I showed him my photo of Inferno, he said that was the restraint. So, it may have been a last minute decision.

At the time of the event, the test seat was there. But, the trains weren't. It had the lap bar without any shoulder part attached. So, I would agree with Demon that it is likely that the restraints can be changed after the fact.

B&M Flyers have soft restraints, but I doubt that would work for this type of coaster.

CoasterDemon said:
^Ouch!!!

Has anyone here rode a ride with the soft harness? My friend said the Vekoma harness on Noreaster was better than the old ones, but still rubbed and burned his chest (nipples ouch).

The new Vekoma harness used on Carolina Cobra is decent though somewhat odd getting use to the first few times you ride. In some ways I guess you can call it an improvement over the standard harness. For tall individuals or those with big chests I am sure there is some rubbing (especially across the shoulders/collar bone area as I recall) but nothing that you can't handle for 2 minutes. I still think the most comfortable over-the-shoulder harness is on B&M loopers, can't figure out why nobody else can get it right.

I don't understand why Intamin doesn't seem to realize that they have finally come up with what might be the best lap bar design ever, and simply eliminate the shoulder bar. Keep the safety belt, keep the drop-down lap bar, it's a great design, then the shoulder bar makes a hash of it.

(ObDisclaimer: I've ridden Storm Runner and Maverick, but not Fahrenheit or Intimidator 305)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I'm with you there, Dave. And the funny thing is, everyone knows it. I heard a 305 ride op tell one of the press folk even that the shoulder part was not an active restraint. Again I go back to a "guest of exceptional size" and wonder if the shoulder part becomes necessary, for the reasons that the woman came out of Perilous Plunge. Is it possible for body mass to move around the bar and create an unsafe situation? I guess that would surprise me since you still have the belt to establish the go/no go closure.

DaveStroem said:
Now they could have invited the first riders to media day and let them ride their brains out. (For all I know they did) Ridemcoaster was at both events.

What?!? Why am I being brought up as an example.. Im just sitting here minding my own business.. :)

I just happen to be friends with people who work at different parks.. But, I did pay for the auction ride too.. Hey.. Its a write off..

Let it be known however, short of the top bidder the other 1K bidders were corporate people (ie. corporate monies). From there it was individuals. I however didnt hear anyone complaining on the first train about not being ahead of media day. I think people were glad to just be there. Also after auction ride they kept the ride open for about 30m or so before the running of the enthusiasts from the front of the park, so the auction people got a few more rides in.

RideMan said:
I don't understand why Intamin doesn't seem to realize that they have finally come up with what might be the best lap bar design ever, and simply eliminate the shoulder bar.

I think they realize it. There are some insurance agents and lawyers with their heads up their grey out prevention muscles that are causing the problem.

Why can't they use El Toro's U bars? Because the stupid lawyers and insurance agents actually think the wood makes a difference.

I think you're incorrectly assigning blame. The issue is one of perception, starting with the people signing the orders to build the rides. You can't blame lawyers for everything.

And SRoS @ SFNE has the El Toro restraints now, don't they? And that was after they put them on Fahrenheit & Maverick & Storm Runner (Love all three, BTW).

I'm a big guy, over 6 feet and over 250lbs currently, but I don't really have a major issue with the shoulder restraints. They hit me at neck level if there is any banging going on (only had it slightly on Maverick). Carolina Cobra's restraint design actually made a Boomerang (one that I'd ridden at its former home with the old restraints/trains) enjoyable.

I don't even know if the shoulder harnesses help with larger people, because the restraint has to come down on all three of the coasters I've ridden to a certain point in order for the train to dispatch, and even with my thick thighs, I've never felt that the shoulder part was even necessary.

YMMV

I just rode Carolina Cobra Sunday. I am 6'1 and found the restraints comfortable.

Although of completely different design, I find the restraints on rides like Phantom's Revenge, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, and Powder Keg to be completely comfortable, and I'm surprised that more coaster manufacturers haven't gone with that style, or some semblance thereof.

I'm a larger guy, and I have always found the restraints on Maverick to be easier than those on Millenium Force or Dragster. While the ride experience suffers, I agree with Jeff that they are designed for people like me in mind. Loading is faster, too.

I also think those over the shoulder straps, or bands, exist on these Intamin rides partly as "assurance" that just in case someone should faint they wont topple forward and continue their ride in a potentially backbreaking position. Or bust their face. But in my opinion, if the seat is designed correctly and the riders knees are elevated enough from his butt, a lap bar is sufficient enough to keep that from happening. Especially for non-inverting rides like Intimidator 3-oh-5 ... the risk of neck or face banging would be eliminated.

The best trains of all belong to the new B&M hypers. Can any of you recent riders imagine what KD's ride would be like with Carowinds trains?

ApolloAndy said:
Faster and tallest on the East coast...except Kingda Ka. :-P

Well, KD says, "Ride of its type".

Jeff: I don't get it either. I really like the Intamin lap bar design on their newer rides. You have the safety belt, which gives you your correct/incorrect indication. When the bar comes down, the end of the bar is behind the forward edge of the seat pan, which means that the only way you can come out of the thing is if you can somehow straighten your legs out and get your knees out from under the bar. If the bar didn't come down as far, or if the seat pan didn't extend forward as far, it might be an issue. But it isn't like that. Even better, because of the way that the bar is hinged, if you push forward on the bar, you push it *closed*. It is as close to failsafe as anything I have ever seen. Then they took that design and put the shoulder bar on it, providing something to clobber your jaw and ears, and offering almost no safety benefit. For a rider of larger upper body dimensions, the shoulder bar can actually prevent the bar from coming down as snugly as it might without the shoulder bar; in fact that was my observation when I compared Storm Runner to Roller Soaker. About the only benefit I can think of is that it will more adequately secure a rider who hasn't got any lower body mass. That, and yes, it can help keep the upper body in an upright position, which might be a benefit on the high +Gz curve at the bottom of Intimidator's first drop, or for Maverick's mid-ride launch. But that could have been done as well with a high pad on the lap bar, similar to what Premier has been doing with its lap bar since 2000 (or as I described in 1994).

RavenTTD: They could use their older lap bar design, as on Millennium Force, or better yet, as on Top Thrill Dragster. In fact, whether the lap bar support is in the center or on the edges makes little difference. But Intamin has had some bad luck with their lap bar restraints (Perilous Plunge, Hydro, Superman: Ride of Steel, Superman: Ride of Steel). I think it can be demonstrated that the ones that failed exhibited a geometric failure which was fixed for Millennium Force and refined for Top Thrill Dragster (actually for Goliath and Expedition GeForce, but I haven't ridden those...). But because there is a potential failure mechanism with that bar design, a flaw which has basically made safety belts mandatory, wouldn't they be better off to use a demonstrably more secure and more reliable design, particularly a design which does not require a separate safety belt to insure that the rider won't come out?

I'd like to see someone conduct a proper passenger restraint and containment analysis on these coasters and conclusively demonstrate that the shoulder bar is not only unnecessary, but potentially hazardous.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Late to the party, as usual, but in response to the people upset over the intensity of the first turnaround, is it that much worse than Goliath MM or Titan? I routinely gray out on both (all three) of those helices, and I know the GP does too (they won't let you ride Titan without getting off, ever). Is Intimidator really that much more intense?

That said, I make it a point to not ride Titan more than once of twice a trip because of the intensity of that helix.

It's definitely intense, but I didn't grey out nearly as much as I did on Titan, and that was after the MCBR completely stopped the train. Granted, it was near 100 degrees that day and I was really dehydrated, so it may not be a fair comparison.

I don't think I305's turn is too intense, if that means anything. Plus, you can avoid greying out by doing what Jeff mentioned early in this thread.

I took 5 rides on this beast today, and I must say, it lives up to the hype. The first ride I sat in the last row and completely lost my vision. I tried the fighter pilot thing once or twice and that kept my vision from tunneling at all. My last ride was in the front row and I found there to be a very noticeable difference in the smoothness of the transitions in the turns. In the middle and back of the train my head would get banged around just a little bit.. but in the front row I was able to ride with my hands up the whole way without any headbanging.

I didn't find the trim to be too annoying. It definitely takes the ejector air out of that hill, but imagine if the rest of the course was done at an even higher speed. Ouch. Also, one of the ride-ops was telling me he rode it after they had just greased the rails and it was running at 97 mph.. is there any truth to this statement or was he just bs'ing?

Sounds like bs to me.

So far as I know, there is no reason to grease the rails on this kind of a steel coaster...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I just got back from a nearly 4 hr. drive each way to KD today and got 2.1 rides on I-305 (.1 is sitting in the train & train being emptied for malfunction, after 10 min. I bolted). 25 min. wait at 11:30 am with one train running, 10 min. wait at 2:30 pm with two trains.

As noted the lift is freaky fast, the drop is MF like (to me anyway but not as good of a view) and that first curve is a bit more than I care for. Reading some of the previous posts I don't want to have to resort to certain body contortions to keep focus on a coaster.

I stand 6'4" and I'm not likin' those restraints over the shoulder on those quick transitions banging my neck from side to side. My second ride was next to a young man about 5'9" and asked what he thought and he also felt banged about. I'm a fan of the MF style lap bar although I wonder how much lateral thrashing about I would do during the previously mentioned transitions.

I don't do much rating or ranking, I like what I like and if a ride isn't something that's my cup of tea so be it. However I will declare that I would take MF over I-305 without question. Just my opinion.

Greasing the rails wouldn't really have any effect on the coaster since there is never a sliding motion between the wheels and the rails. Greasing the axles of the wheel assemblies, on the other hand, could have somewhat of an effect.

Similarly, I wonder what percentage of energy loss the wheels contribute vs. air resistance on a coaster like this. 10%? 1%? Less?