KI's Racer To Run Both Trains Forward

I can just picture the trip reports now. "For the first time, I actually rode backwards Racer forward and it was much smoother than the "former" forward Racer."

^^I'm sure it will be....last year's forward side was a POS!!!

I guess if I were a Kings Island enthusiast specifically I would understand this more (maybe), but I simply dont see this as a big deal. The only personal experience I have is one back-breaking ride going backwards a couple years ago. That made me not want to ever ride that coaster again; back or forwards.

Furthermore, if they really are truly supposed to "race" like the name implies, then it actually makes a lot more sense to put them both forwards, doesnt it?

There is a podcast here:

http://www.700wlw.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=scott_sloan.xml

where a local radio station talks to KI PR Guy Don Helbig about Racer.

Mr. Helbig claims that it is being done for nostalgia reasons.

Note: The podcast file seems to be messed up after a couple minutes in.

*** Edited 4/8/2008 5:10:37 PM UTC by Pagoda Gift Shop***

LOL, if Paula weren't watching, I'd call that "Mr. Helbig doing a masterful job of spin".

It's being done for insurance and liability reasons - but I can understand how that might not be considered "improving the guest experience"....so...his reasoning is as good as any. :)

I've never been on the backward side, and never had any desire to.

I wonder how many trees had to be removed to turn the trains around. Cedar Fair bastards.

I do find it funny, however, in general how few Racing Coaster's have been built recently. Aside from Lightening Racer at Hershey (which really fits the genre well), how many other parks have built a racing coaster recently? We have Dueling Dragons at Universal, Twisted Twins in Kentucky, and Gwazi. Am I missing any others from the recent listing? SOmewhat sad when one looks at how many used to exist of this type, when nearly every park that had more than one coaster had at least a racing coaster.

Officially, I was being a little sarcastic regarding my comment on "not racing the racers". I was venting my feelings on our litigious society (as a business owner).

Granted it is a different sensation riding backwards, but it's a different experience when trying to race. I wish more parks would do some of the control modifications to allow the trains to "line up" on the lift, like DD.

It was a gimmick, but I liked the idea and found it fun. This discussion though made me think more about being pushed out of Gemini's station before on an early day ride.

Don't forget that other "racing" CCI in Spain...I forgot the name, heh.

Walt I think the lack of racers recently has to do with the parks realizing that they are not worth the extra cost. True Racers are mirror images of each other, thus give the same ride but cost twice as much. Lightning Racer is an exception because its a racing/dueling and DD is a dueler both of which are different rides then their counterpart.

So racers like Colossus, Gemini, American Eagle, and Kennywood's Racer are not "true racers? I think parks are smarter than that.

Despite having two nearly identical experiences side by side, the interactivity and natural human instinct for competition make for a fun experience you can't get on a typical coaster.

^AV Im not disagreeing with you (I love Racers) but looking at it from a ROI perpective:

-Building one coaster is cheaper then building two

-Building a racing coaster will bring in as many people as a stand alone wood coaster

Also, yes American Eagle is not a true racer, if both cars are released at the same time, the track on the inside part of the helix will win every time, it has less track to cover.

Gemini and KW's Racer have the same length of track, due to their convoluted design (as opposed to an Out and Back.)

I have not ridden Colosus so I cant comment on that one.

Kennywood's Racer is not a mirror, the train that is going up the right side of the lift has the advantage.

I'm not sure I agree with your premise, Touchdown, but your point does raise the question: what is the park's purpose in building a racing coaster?

Is it to offer two varying ride experiences on the same coaster? In that case all you have to do is flip one train around, send it backwards, and call it a day. ;)

Or is it to offer the interactivity and competition of racing, like AV suggests?

I guess I always thought racing coasters were meant to race, but perhaps not.

I never cared for riding Racer backward. It was too rough and difficult to brace yourself when you couldn't see what was coming.

Riding Racer frontwards isn't too bad in the middle seats (2nd bench) of front to middle cars. I hope they at least try to race them when demand permits.

---

Carrie M. said:I'm not sure I agree with your premise, Touchdown, but your point does raise the question: what is the park's purpose in building a racing coaster?

Is it to offer two varying ride experiences on the same coaster? In that case all you have to do is flip one train around, send it backwards, and call it a day.
Or is it to offer the interactivity and competition of racing, like AV suggests?

I guess I always thought racing coasters were meant to race, but perhaps not.

---

It does all of the above, plus it offers an even better eye-catching experience for non-rides, AND it doubles capacity (for, say Space Mountain where none of the other rules apply).

P.S. Racers and duelers and DESIGNED to race/duel. They build the rides so that riders AND "watchers" get the experience of interacting. Parks would do well to remember that.

P.P.S. BGT/BGA seems to have begun figuring that out. Kudos to them for reading the customer comment cards. ;)

---

eightdotthree said:
Kennywood's Racer is not a mirror, the train that is going up the right side of the lift has the advantage.

---

You sure about that? Ive only been to KW a few times, but with the exception of one time when a train clearly had an advantage (it won no matter what side it was on, Im guessing because it had just received a little TLC from a grease gun) they seemed pretty even to me.

The train going up the right lift has two inside turns compared to the left which only has one.

Yes, unless the ride ops release one train ahead of the other, the one on the right side of the lift technically has less track to cover and will therefore complete the circuit quicker.

I don't know what the idea behind the modern-day racing coaster happened to be, but I think that they were built for capacity and visual impact, with the racing aspect taking a back seat to those two attributes. Of course, since the coasters were designed to race, I think they should race. For some reason there's something fun about wondering which train is going to reach the end first.