Who came up with the figure-8 loop for hypers? (RCT3)

Is it just me, or is that figure-8 loop for hypercoasters a little too silly? I think I saw a diagram for a coaster that Schwarzkopf dreamed up (for fun) with a similar loop, but it was obvious that it would have hit you with huge laterals in the twists between the loops. Are there any plans for a future coaster with one of these, or were some of the developers getting a little 'creative'?

-djansi

Yeah, I saw that diagram too. Very interesting, for a looping Schwarzkopf, but not for an out and back Magnum. :)

The model you saw resembles a Schwarzkopf coaster because it was built and designed by Werner Stengel. Schwarzkopf had nothing to do with it. It was done at a time when Anton was long out of business.

The idea of the vertical-8 was dreamt up by a german showman who got a patent on the element (plus a pretzel-double inversion, which was incorporated in the original design as well).

He went to Stengel to evaluate a design. While calculating the inversions it appeared that the positive forces would be extremely high in the entrance to the vertical-8 and the pretzel inversion was no holiday either.

Laterals would be no problem (look at EGF and TTD) but the g-forces would have been in the 7+ range for milli-seconds.

Alledgedly some american park chains were very interested in the design, but they shied away as well. Apart from the ridiculously high forces, the patent-holder asked for a license fee which was far too expensive.

When it became apparent that the design was a no-seller, Stengel changed the vertical-8 to a giant vertical loop (circular) and he re-designed the pretzel inversion, but still no buyer.

I thought it was very telling of the RCT3 product that they DID include the version, but on the wrong coaster. It looks hideous with the Arrow-track.

What coaster in RCT3 are you guys talking about?

The Hyper.