Making A Coaster Run Faster

[Vortex]

You could reverse the magnetic trim breaks. Not sure how safe that would be.

[TombRaiderFTW]

(Terp reminds himself of why he's spent entire careers working with engineers and scientists, rather than being one..and other careers interpreting what those experts say and said...for laypeople, public relations types and...observers)

I'm always kind of afraid I'm going to come across as pretentious or like a know-it-all when I post stuff like that, as I don't mean to. I just enjoy explaining math to people (or trying to, anyway... Definitely doesn't always happen.) I've had jobs doing that sort of thing, and they were fun.

Speed is calculated by dividing distance by time. A distance between any two points. Which two should be used?

Without turning this into a full-blown Calculus lesson, I'll say that distance over time gives you average speed. If it's 240 miles to Holiday World from my house and takes me 4 hours to get there, distance over time says I'm going 60 miles per hour. Thing is, I've got to go 55 (or less) for the first eighth of the trip, then 65 for an hour, then 35 for about 15 minutes when I inevitably and consistently hit traffic trying to leave Cincinnati, and so on.

I guess my best answer to your question is that you would let the train travel for a specific amount of time (e.g. 1 second.) Every second, you measure how far the train traveled in that second. The distance the train traveled divided by 1 second would approximately be the speed of the train at that point in the track. Calculate that throughout the course, and you'll roughly know the speed of the train at any given time. If you start measuring how far the train travels every 0.5 seconds, then your calculations become more accurate. Make it every 0.25 seconds, and they become even more accurate. (The idea behind derivatives in Calc is that your chosen amount of time becomes infinitely small, so you know exactly how fast something is changing or moving at any given time.)

So, are you saying that there's a certain point at which a speed measurement is not an average?

Yeah, more or less. You can narrow down your averages so much that they come really darn close to being the real thing.

[KIfan73]

...and all of that averaging must be why we have....trim brakes.

KIfan73 not trying to be obtuse...and probably too ugly to be acute!

[TheCrypt]

You could reverse the magnetic trim breaks. Not sure how safe that would be.

Just don't do that on Drop Tower.

[jcgoble3]

You could reverse the magnetic trim breaks. Not sure how safe that would be.

I believe those already exist. FOF and BLSC have them.

[Vortex]

You could reverse the magnetic trim breaks. Not sure how safe that would be.

I believe those already exist. FOF and BLSC have them.

The only coaster at Kings Island that has them is BLSC when you come out the tunnel. I was not talking about a launched coaster just the trims.

[jcgoble3]

You could reverse the magnetic trim breaks. Not sure how safe that would be.

I believe those already exist. FOF and BLSC have them.

The only coaster at Kings Island that has them is BLSC when you come out the tunnel. I was not talking about a launched coaster just the trims.

They're still effectively the same thing. And I think BLSC's launch out of the tunnel uses the exact same equipment and technology as the two main launches do.

[TheCrypt]

Vortex is referring to the trims used after the splashdown.

[jcgoble3]

Then you have me confused. Are we talking about regular trim brakes that slow you down, or "reversed magnetic trims" that speed you up? After the splashdown I thought was actual brakes.

[Creed Bratton]

Yeah....there are no trim brakes after the billboard and "splashdown." Those are the regular braking system for bringing the train to a complete stop for the unload platform.

[dare-to-fly]

Yeah....there are no trim brakes after the billboard and "splashdown." Those are the regular braking system for bringing the train to a complete stop for the unload platform

Try again, Chris. There is indeed one trim brake to slow it down for the benefit of the main braking system. Look down next time you're in line and crossing the bridge to the loading area.

...and all of that averaging must be why we have....trim brakes.

No, we have trim brakes to drive me insane. It's all a conspiracy I tell ya. Actually, though...that's why some coasters have them - B&M for example can't seem to build a coaster without them. Others - mainly wooden coasters - have them because the parks want to save on maintenance costs...which is why I rant about them constantly.

I can't pass up a trim rant.

[Creed Bratton]

I stand corrected! I didn't see it originally on the POV I watched from Coaster Force.

But Nick, you know you love Trim Brakes!

[dare-to-fly]

I stand corrected! I didn't see it originally on the POV I watched from Coaster Force.

But Nick, you know you love Trim Brakes!

Sure I do. About as much as I love waiting an hour in line and being the next person to get on when the coaster goes down for the day. No...I'd rather do that. About as much as I like waiting in a 2-hour line because of single train operation - no I don't go to Six Flags Over Georgia opening weekend anymore. About as much as...well there IS no worse example.

[BB1]

Easy, just grease it up, and make the track go straight down instead of doing the usual loop around, or you could just do what RCT3 does, drop the friction numbers manually, that works.

[dare-to-fly]

Give it extra grease and that might work against you. Just ask maintenance how well trains work on the first trip around the track for the year with brand new grease.