Lasso Loop - WTF?

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MagnumForce said:
So what makes this a coaster and a Ring of Fire not a coaster? ;)

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A Katapult is a closed circuit, uses regular Schwarzkopf trains and relies on gravity to coast through the upper half of the loop. (There are no accelerator wheels past the 90° mark). After the train is pushed past the last set of wheels it actually coasts down the loop on its own. (It can go backwards also). This should classify it as a coaster.

The Ring of Fire "cars" are fixed to a circular wheel which controls the movement. There is no free coasting. Its more like a Ranger or even an Enterprise .

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i was a teenage rollercoaster designer

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tricktrack: I won't argue your reasoning, but for some reason, I wouldn't count the Katapult as a coaster. Despite the fact that it could easily fall in the category of "launched" coaster, I classify it as an extended Ring Of Fire of sorts, which is definitely not a coaster. Actually, I would consider it to be an extension of Schwarzkopf's Bayern-Curve family of rides, which can be seen here. The Katapult seems more like a Bayern Curve with a vertical loop, rather than an actual coaster.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

^ Rob, comparing the Katapult and the Bayern Kurve is an interesting thought which never crossed my mind. But I think you are right.

If I am not mistaken even Schwarzkopf refers to the Katapult (and the Bayern K.) as a "Schienengebundenes Rudfahrgeschäft" (roughly translated: "Merry-go-round on rails") which would seperate it from a rollercoaster. The fact that the operator can control the ride going backwards, forwards and slowly up the loop in both directions is as well not typical for a coaster.

I stand corrected, but I never cared too much about the "is it a coaster"-question anyway.

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Bayern Kurve - sadly missed

I'd love to get on one of those. I don't necissarily think I'd count it in my coaster count(though I usually go by RCDB), but either way, it looks pretty cool, esp. if you can control the speed during the loop forwards and backwards. That would rock.

Oh, and mOOSH, shut up;)

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I'm Baaaack...

tricktrack: It didn't occur to me either until I started looking around the Schwarzkopf.net site and starting making comparisons between the two rides.

Coaster or not, it looks like a lot of fun (I can imagine the g-forces in that loop being incredible) and would love the chance to ride one!

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

^ Actually the g-forces in the loop are close to zero. You get a good dose of hangtime since the speed is much lower than on a regular Schwarzy looper.

My rides in the early eighties mostly follwed this pattern: the train would move slowly up the loop to 90°, then it would move backwards through the station and do the same backwards. This would be repeated about three times and could get quite boring for thrillseekers, but for first-time riders it would be unnerving.

Then the train would accelerate without further warning, race through the station and would go through the full cycle three times. Then it would do the same backwards three more times.

Sometimes the train would accelerate from the station, which would come as a complete surprise. Especially in the first car you would get the feeling that the speed would never be enough to make it through the loop.

A nice thrill of the ride was the quick curve which started halfway down the loop and provided good laterals and nice headchoppers. Even with hard OTSR you would not get any headbanging, but they were certainly needed.

Those tires use to accelerate the heavy train surprisingly fast and powerful. They are even capable of stopping and holding the train halfway up the loop.

A negative aspect of the tire drive is the low lifetime of the tires. They have to be replaced very often and I think thats the reason why Lasso Loop (what a fitting name) reduced the weight while keeping the lenghts of the train.

In the early eighties a german showman caused a horrible accident in Hamburg: He wanted to exchange a tire drive of the Katapult with a crane. He thought that the neighboring Skylab (the big Huss Enterprise found in PKI) was already closed for the night and moved the crane over the edge of Skylabs flight circle. While doing this, the Skylab started its final, tragic flight. Soon the gondolas reached the crane and were literally cut open by it. Numreous people were either thrown out of the gondolas or crushed in the mangled cars. It was one of the most tragic incidents I can imagine. There were numerous deaths and heavily wounded.

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i was a teenage rollercoaster designer