Texas Giant testing video on Facebook

And probably take down the entire wood structure at that top speed, though.

Raven-Phile said:
Steeper does not mean faster, per se. 214 feet is 214 feet. You could take 214 feet at 90 degrees, and 214 at 3 degrees, and while the steeper drop might achieve top speed first, they both will be going the same top speed at the bottom of their respective drops.

Actually Josh, you're forgetting a little thing called friction. The gentle slope would have more length of track than the steep drop and thus more frictional loss (and more normal force on the wheels as well, so even more friction). Not only that, the train would go slower with poly wheels on steel track as that combination has even more frictional loss than the conventional woodie setup of steel wheels on the steel strip atop the wooden track.

There's a reason why Texas Giant's lift hill had to be raised and the helix removed. Notice the train doesn't go any faster into the midcourse brake than it did before and it's not exactly hauling ass onto the final brakes either. The increased friction had to be compensated by increasing the potential energy (raising the lift) and lessening the frictional loss (removing the helix to shorten the layout).

Have to admit, while I had considered friction, I hadn't thought of it as having a noticeable magnitude (to some degree maybe The Beast had me thinking that)... ;)

But now that I think of it, you've got a point with TG...and that wheel on I-305 was basically melted/destroyed by the time we hit the station on that last lap of ERT. So - for now - I'm gonna stick with the idea that steel-on-steel, whether on a wooden or steel coaster, suffers significantly less friction loss than poly wheels on steel.

Im pretty sure SOB's loop structure was sold for scrap

They can build another one. ;)

I already heard that the loop is no more. Doesn't mean that it can't be rebuilt. They have to have the plans for it laying around somewhere, unless the plans were scrapped too.

It really would be an excellent element to add for it's reopening, as far as marketing the new and improved SOB is concerned.

I feel pretty confident in saying that campaigning for the return of SOB's loop is a lost kause.

:) AWESOME! :)

I suspect Travis has been waiting for someone to use that for two or three years. ;)

Acoustic Viscosity said:

Actually Josh, you're forgetting a little thing called friction. The gentle slope would have more length of track than the steep drop and thus more frictional loss (and more normal force on the wheels as well, so even more friction).

True, and while I didn't mention it, I certainly didn't forget it.:) Point being, there won't be that much of a noticeable difference. For the sake of argument, there shouldn't be a 10MPH difference.

Yes, once the drop reaches a certain angle, making it any steeper has little effect on achievable speed. The fastest drop would be a completely vertical drop, because then the wheels would be able to skim the rails and the train would be in a free fall with virtually no wheel friction. But there's still not gonna be much difference speed-wise between that and say a 60 degree drop.

That's pretty much exactly what I said. :)

I'm pretty sure that even if CFEC did "Texas Giant-ise" SoB, they'd have to build a whole new loop structure anywho, if they were to add that back in...

Yeah, they should just make a zero-G roll and cobra roll instead. ;)

Can this be considered a new credit? New, track, and a reprofile of about 75% of it's original structure, kinda tells me, Yes it can.

Sounds like a 3/4 credit to me. :)

If PR is a distinct credit from SP, then surely this must qualify as well. Significant layout alterations and reprofilings...and a completely different track medium. Works for me.

I'm not sure which one is more novel: Discussing whether it's a new credit or whether Son of Beast and Mean Streak should get this treatment.

It just HAS to be a new credit. It has totally changed, similar to Steel Phantom and Phantom's Revenge.

And if this treatment works out for TG, another coaster getting the treatment is a big possibility. Let's imagine which coasters would be next to do this to; I'm sure those two would be listed.

They should totally do this for Gemini. Oh, wait...