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RMC Beast


SonODiamondback
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I know this might not be popular with a lot of people. But would it be a bad thing to RMC the high stress areas of The Beast I read on RMC site that they can use their topper track on high stress areas on a wooden along with the wooden track. I think if done right it would decrease the need for the braking areas along the track and really let The Beast shine. The only section I see that Realy needs the braking is coming down the 2nd hill into the helix.

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Topper track is apparently very expensive.

SFOG started doing, and announced it was completely doing, The Georgia Cyclone.

After about 60 percent was done, and Melinda Ashcraft retired, they stopped.

I rode it this summer. Once my favorite wooden coaster, it is now in the bottom quarter somewhere. Slow, shuffling and painful.

Sigh.

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The joy of riding The Beast, for me, is when some fellow riders, often on their first ride of said legend, vocalize the ubiquitous misunderstanding about the ride upon which they're soon to be surprisingly schooled.

 

As the train clears the top of the second lift:

 

"This coaster isn't as awesome as everybody says. It just goes straight and turns ...hey, this track is at an angle and... oh, wow! This is fast, oh my gosh that tunnel's too small for my hea- what the- aaaaaaaaaggggh! Thi-i-i-i-i-i-s-s-s-s- i-i-i-s-s-s-s a-a-a-w-w-w-e-s-s-s-o-m-m-m-m-e!"

 

Somehow, that has never lost its gratifying high degree of satisfaction!

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So the topper track would slow it down and make a rougher ride then. Wasn't sure of how the topper track worked. Just an idea I had after reading about it. Not complaining at all about The Beast just thinking of of ways to improve on it. I like to think like that it could be the perfect coaster like the Diamondback and I say that was awesome but what if they did this.

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I don't think the Topper track slowed it down or made it rough.

I think SIX cheaped out when the project went over budget (and expended all the budget for only 60 percent of the project), then quit. To keep the ride even slightly rideable, they slowed it down even more.

Most Six Flags woodies, in my opinion, are being allowed to go to pot so that ridership will decline and an RMC conversion will be well accepted by the locals. See especially Comet at The Great Escape, a member of the Six Flags Theme Park Family.

Expensive at first, cheaper over the long haul, and easily marketed as NEW! (and wood, sigh).

But see Rolling Thumder.

Or Thunder Road.

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This is as great thread. It is what makes KIC the great site that it is. I really didn't know much about RMC until the speculation for Tropical Plunge had us all guessing about, as Greg Scheid put it, "The Ruh-." ;)

 

SonODiamondback's question has made me want to further research the topper track a little more closely, so that I can understand more about the wooden coasters I enjoy.  For all that I know about coasters (which doesn't hold a candle to a lot of others on here), everyday there are ten new things that can be learned.

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That's how I feel. Like I said if it's done right. The Beast is awesome but just imagine if it ran full speed the whole way that would be over the top. But I repeat if done right not like SF has done to their woodies. New isn't always a bad way of thinking about things. I have no idea how a coaster is designed or builded there is a lot of math mumbo jumbo that goes into. I just know if people never took chances we wouldn't even have The Beast.

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Actually The Beast was designed in an era when few chances were being taken. Airtime was considered a huge potential liability. Enthusiasts at the time, and some since, criticized the coaster for being rampy and having no steep drops other than the first, which was braked. Brakes on a first drop. Oh, the horror!

The Beast was almost totally different than any coaster before it. Remarkably, it remains the longest wooden coaster to this day.

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I guess, aesthetically, Son of Beast wasn't such an eyesore (at least back when there was hope for it.) After its stigmatization, though, it became a sad, sad monument to what it could have been, and seeing it in pictures and old videos kinda reminds us to breathe in a sigh of relief (especially given the supremely superior replacement in its fading footprint).

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The biggest mistakes there were direct results of corporate mandated cost cutting. From not using the specified SunCor wood, to not using the specified polyurethane wheels, to taking over as the general contractor and doing so late in the project, to OSHA violations, to what the state called a "Band-Aid approach" to repairs...

Again, Cedar Fair made the right decision.

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Please do not give me that mental image, I simply cannot Bear it. The Beast is good as is, it is a record breaking coaster that still (to a lesser degree) holds true to what it is and what it will be for future generations to enjoy true, classic, 70s style coasters that still pack a punch. The wood makes The Beast, a Beast. Wet wood allows for a totally different experience than dry wood, making it a different kind of coaster on different days. RMC should never touch this magnificent being unless if they were to just touch up on the preexisting structure I e add new wood as needed.

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Again I'm not talking about a complete retracking of The Beast I'm only talking about the high stress areas. I love The Beast. The layout and how it goes off into the woods and rumbles through the covered helix. But if there was a way to engineer it to go faster without destroying the legend that it is I say do it.

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Actually The Beast was designed in an era when few chances were being taken. Airtime was considered a huge potential liability. Enthusiasts at the time, and some since, criticized the coaster for being rampy and having no steep drops other than the first, which was braked. Brakes on a first drop. Oh, the horror!

The Beast was almost totally different than any coaster before it. Remarkably, it remains the longest wooden coaster to this day.

Your Six Flags theory of letting their woodies go to pot theory is interesting. I never considered that possibility, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

Was airtime a big liability mainly because of the less restrictive buzz bars? They seem pretty safe on Cornball Express and Hoosier Hurricane which both have good airtime.

One thing that would be interesting with The Beast is changing to Millennium Flyer trains. I would believe that they would deliver a better overall ride, but obviously I can't say for sure. Brakes could also be lessened up as I would imagine that the GCI trains world be less harsh on the track.

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When The Beast was built (but before opening) wasnt there a story about how one the creators/engineers/park execs said this thing needs brakes?  As in the ride was built, and could handle the stress, but it was just too much so some more brakes were added (old school skid brakes)....

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It's truly amazing that no one has undermined PTC. I know the market is extremely limited, but those things are rolling dinosaurs on modern twisters. In the original configuration with buzz bars, and without seat dividers and head rests, they're pretty comfortable, if not pleasing to the lawyers and regulators. With all the safety add-ons they are quite uncomfortable to many.

Edited by KI Guy
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