Knott's Berry Farm announces HangTime roller coaster
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From the announcement:
Knott’s Berry Farm will welcome HangTime, a brand new steel rollercoaster - and the only dive coaster on the West Coast - to the theme park during the 2018 summer season. HangTime will tower 150 feet over the Boardwalk area, showcasing gravity-defying inversions, mid-air suspensions and twisting dive tracks.
HangTime will send riders up a vertical lift hill into a raised 96-degree drop - the steepest drop in California. The coaster’s train will come to a halt once the highest peak is reached, and will leave riders suspended at the crest for several seconds at a 60-degree angle, giving the illusion of a disappearing track. Then the train will suddenly descend in a beyond-vertical drop, through 2,198 feet of steel track and five gravity-defying inversions. HangTime will be only the second rollercoaster in the Western Hemisphere to feature a negative-g stall loop, which gives riders the sensation of floating.
Read more from Knott's Berry Farm.
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Kind of interesting they're calling this a dive coaster. It's as much of a dive coaster as Takabisha or Mystery Mine.
Hey, let's ride (random Intamin coaster). What? It's broken down? I totally didn't expect that.
There's a 2-second holding brake on the 60 degree slope before it heads into the dive, which makes is similar to the B&M dive machines.
I'm not sure if Takibisha's counts as a holding brake, but I would say it's going to be like that.
Who's building this coaster? Mention of Takabisha and Mystery Mine would suggest Gerstlauer and it certainly looks like something that Gerstlauer would build.
As to a holding brake, I wonder. I had described Oblivion at Alton Towers as using a holding brake, assuming that all dive coasters did, but someone who's very knowledgeable about physics and had taken a behind the scenes tour of BGW corrected me, saying that dive coasters do not actually use a holding brake. At least not B&M dive machines. Here is the very interesting explanation he provided:
"There isn't actually a "holding brake" at the top of Oblivion. Just like other B&M Dive Machines in the US, the top of the first drop is actually a chain drive. Once the train reaches the top of the lift hill, it turns and passes through a set of block brakes (both magnetic and pneumatic on newer B&Ms like Griffon and Valraven) to control the speed of the train as it approaches the crest of the first drop. After the train slows, it locks into a chain drive that slowly pushes the train over the edge. The speed of the chain drive is deliberately slow to make it feel like you're being hung over the edge of the drop, but the train never actually comes to a complete stop. Then, once the train gets completely over the edge, the "chain dogs" let go and the train drops down the vertical track. Depending upon weight distribution and spring strength in the chain dogs, trains may actually drop at different spots on the track (give or take 3-5 feet of track length). Dive Machine trains actually have 2 sets of chain dogs, one for the lift chain (to prevent the coaster from slipping back down the lift hill) and the second set that is deployed after passing through the block brakes to lock into the drop chain drive."
upsdownsandupsidedown
Bobbie
Right, it's a reverse lift chain, but for the purposes of what it does, it's a holding brake. I've always been curious about those rides, though - I wonder if those chain dogs have ever missed that chain, causing the ride to skip the pause and just dive. Honestly, that would make it more exciting, IMO.
Edit: Also, yes - it's a Gerstlauer. I'm hoping it has the chasing lights like Monster.
Raven-Phile said:
Edit: Also, yes - it's a Gerstlauer. I'm hoping it has the chasing lights like Monster.
Good News! (H/T/ Prof. Hubert Farnsworth)
KCL, the company responsible for the awesome lighting on Monster, has been contracted for HangTime... :~)
You still have Zoidberg.... You ALL have Zoidberg! (V) (;,,;) (V)
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