Texas Tornado at SFAW

Could someone tell me what happened to this coaster? I hear they added new trains in 2001 and then never opened back up. What is wrong with the trains or coaster? I can tell by the layout that the coaster has extreme G's, does that have something to do with it? For me, who's never been to SFAW, the Texas Tornado would be a big reason I would try to get there, along with their other selection of not so good yet unique rides.

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Raging Bull= 107

*** This post was edited by coasterzach1 on 8/27/2002. ***

What's wrong with it? Here, have a look at a couple of photos:
One view

Another view

Now of course, I don't know for certain. But my guess is that those seats were beating the living crap out of riders. The padding on those shoulder bars is about the consistency of concrete.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I'm not saying anything's wrong with it; I haven't ridden it. I was asking why it's SBNO. I know this because on RCDB it says so and the Tornado doesn't exist on the Six Flags website.

Sorry for the confusion.

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Raging Bull= 107

*** This post was edited by coasterzach1 on 8/27/2002. ***

Has anyone ridden Texas Tornando?

I'am also interested in this ride was it good, bad, so-so, fast, slow, anyone?

*** This post was edited by darienlakefan on 8/27/2002. ***

Rideman - umm...aren't those pics the same view? Anyway, thanks for the pics. That train doesn't look comfy at all!

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"I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean S-M-A-R-T!" - Homer Simpson

I would like to know the official reason it has not been fixed. It's the star attraction. If it was my park, I'd be hauling *** to get is working.

How sad to see such an amazing coaster SBNO when it doesn't have to be.

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- Peabody

It was quite fun, has one heck of a first drop, and general Schwarzkopfian goodness. The only problem was that the original half shoulder harness (along with a standard, comfortable lap bar) was rather painful, and this was for a then 14 year old in '99.

what i dont understand is that it ran through a traveling fair with lapbars its entire life, then once it comes to the states it gets OTSR.

Well, it is a long story....

Operations on the German Fair circuit were a little different than Six Flags. The trains ran with a lap bar AND OTSR's that were like accordians that came down on the shoulders. On the side of the trains were pull tabs that would release the restraints and a german dude would stand outside the station and pull these tabs as the train entered the station.

Fast Foward to Houston. Now Six Flags could not use pull tabs but wanted automatic restraint release. There were many problems with this as lap bars and OSTR's would not release. They had to manually release the seats a lot with a very heavy tool. Also the OSTR's would REALLY compress coming out of the second loop causing discomfort.

SFAW contracted to get the OSTR's replaced and they did. Unfortunatly as Dave pointed out, they hurt. They were brutal. So SFAW is working with a different company to come up with restraints.

Now, I do know for a fact that SFAW want's Tornado open, but they KNOW it has to be perfect in light of the fact Texas Tornado is on the top of Markeys list.

The ride opened with lap bars, then the jack-in-the-box style shoulder bars were added on. Apparently those shoulder bars had a nasty habit of ratcheting down during the ride and injuring people. Many people I talked to who have ridden the ride were wishing Six Flags would equip it with more conventional shoulder bars which wouldn't pinch their shoulders so much.

Well, Six Flags did exactly that. The ride ran for part of opening day 2001, and hasn't run since.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I think all coaster restraints should lock completely, not just from going up. It really sucks when you're on a rough wood coaster and you didn't get stapled but the bar slams into your thighs and tears the crap out of you during the ride.

It may just be me with the wood coaster thing but I know it's everybody on Beemer speed coasters. You might not be stapled but get to the bottom of that first hill and you're stuck.

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Tuesday's Gone With The Wind.
Elijah Rock.
Is it written in the stars?
La Vie Boheme!!!

So are the trains being worked on or being replaced right now??

Zach, who can't wait to take a spin on another Schwarzkopf masterpiece.

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Raging Bull= 107

I don't know what's taking so long to fix it, but I know I miss it! This is one of the best coasters that SFAW has! The speed going down the first drop in the back seat is amazing. I never felt that the G's were unusually high though, so finding out that it pulls the highest G's of any coaster ever made was a bit of a surprise. Anyway, I'd like to know why they don't just get new trains for it. There's not enough room between the seats for the average American. It's easy to see that this coaster was built with German people in mind from the beginning. It probably should've been moved to Japan if they wanted to move it somewhere, because you really have to be very small to ride it comfortably. BTW, I'm 6'4" & 160lbs.

RideMan said:
The ride opened with lap bars

Why parks feel this bizarre need to try and tinker with Anton perfection is way beyond me.....If/when Taz re-opens, I'll start looking up flights to TX...one of my "must-hit" areas left...

Rideman,

I was curious if you knew when and why the OSTR's were added to Thriller in Germany. I rode it as Texas Tornado here in Houston as always assumed that they were there because of clearance issues. Now that I think about it, and put a lot more faith in Anton's engineering, I really wonder why they were added. Any Ideas?

*** This post was edited by Mike R on 8/28/2002. ***

I honestly don't know. I do know that the shoulder bars were added in Germany, and I suspect that it had some connection, logical or otherwise, to the Mindbender incident in Canada. But that's only a suspicion; I don't know how the story really went.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I'm pretty sure it (the reason for OTSR) has alot to do with the same reason they are on the Revolution at Magic Mountain. The loops are too "round" and the G's entering and exiting the loop (the vertical accellerations) are great enough to throw people heads forward (particulary little kids who are not against the headrest and reaching out to hold on the the mounted hand bar). I've seen pictures of little kids hunched over, in loops.

That first Anton loop on Revolution is pretty darned round. This was fixed on Sooperdooperlooper and I think even more so on the box beam loops.

I guess when he designed Thriller and those other new ones, it was meant to be a ballz to the wall, all out kick butt, high G ride.

But what happend to Revolution is really a travesty. And all those brakes! (or the 2 that nearly halt the train, and throw you forward.) I hope someone does something about that ride soon...

*** This post was edited by zombie73 on 8/28/2002. ***