Racer's second lift.

For any of those who don't know Racer has a second lift. Well not exactly. The tall hill after the main drop, not the turn around, has a chain so it'll make it. I've felt it kick in sometimes and my friend on the other train felt it too. For some reason that where his train (front wards) picked up speed and moved ahead. Is this supposed to happen on purpose? Or am my friend and I mistaken?

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It's his turn to feast, when you ride the Son of Beast.

You and your friend are definitely mistaken.

What you're hearing is NOT a chain, it is the sound of the chain dog hitting the anti-rollback device. An anti-rollback device is a strip of metal in the center of the track with grooves on it for the chain dog to catch on and prevent the train from rolling back down the hill should the train not have enough momentum to make it over the hill.

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NUTS - National Union of Thrill Seekers! [Brought to you by the maker of 'LoCoSuMo!']

Mamoosh,

Racer does indeed have chains on the large hills with the curving drops. They do kick in if needed. Actually I have only seen it operating on the backwards side to help the train make it over the crest.

Shaggy

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Shaggy
A.K.A. John K.

Shaggy beat me to it.

Indeed, there is a chain lift on the top of that tall hill, though the chain is usually removed from the channel by about June. It runs very slowly, just enough to keep the trains from stalling out up there. Most of the time the trains are going faster than the chain, so it has no effect.

I noticed a few weeks ago as I crested that hill on the North Racer, I looked over and saw that the chain was moving on the recaR htuoS as well. I thought this interesting, as the recaR htuoS was shut down at the time, its main lift hill not operating. This suggests to me that the two 'booster lifts' might be run from a common drive motor.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

....arrrrgggghhhh, Dave's somehow made a mirror image on my computer screen, and now my eyes are blurring.....;).

BTW, that is pretty cool about the "booster lifts", although I have to admit I'd never want to NEED to use them - the train SHOULD be running too fast at that point for them to kick in!

I stand corrected, thanks Shaggy and Rideman and my apologies to PKIFanatic. I was certain this was another case of anti-rollback mistaken identity. Normally they are mistaken for brakes but I thought it was possible to mistake them for a chain lift, especially with the sound of the chain dog.

Moosh - man, that was some mightly tasty crow!

PS - you're still hot, Shaggy! LOL!

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NUTS - National Union of Thrill Seekers! [Brought to you by the maker of 'LoCoSuMo!']

*** This post was edited by Mamoosh on 5/29/2002. ***

Rideman,

You said they may run from a common drive motor. But then how come everytime I feel it kick in the frontwards always has a faster pace to it? Alteast it always seems this way to me.

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It's his turn to feast, when you ride the Son of Beast.