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The Nail in the Coffin for Mystic Timbers Inversion Theory


WillH118
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Was this actually that big of a rumor? Oh well--at any rate:

I agree that an inversion wasn't likely. GCI has stated before that they'll do inversions if a park wants them, but based on what has been shown and/or leaked, there just wasn't any room in the layout for one. The biggest portion of the shed is basically confirmed at this point to contain

 

the transfer/storage track for any trains the park isn't running. And the rest of the shed doesn't appear long enough for something like an inversion, especially at the low speeds the train will have through the shed.

That being said, there are several wooden AND steel coasters that do inversions with just lap bars--no overhead harnesses at all. Examples include Mind Bender and Dare Devil Dive at Six Flags Over Georgia, Iron Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Hades 360 at Mt. Olympus, and many others.

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The fact that the shed is right after a set of brakes with only enough downward track to let gravity gradually roll trains into the shed, not to mention right before a sharp curve into the station should have been evidence enough to rule out an inversion.  

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Heart lining techniques are a big part of why you can do lap bars on looping coasters.  Heart lining uses track transitions which center the lateral rotations (such as entering a banked curve or a heart line roll) around the rider at the point of the rider's heart.  This decreases head movement, which, allows for more open restraints.  Decreasing head movement is pretty important, its why a lot of early looping coasters have restricting head movement in utilizing OTSR's. 

10 inversion Roller Coaster corkscrew.jpg

Notice how the seats all nearly line up together with the cars creating a circle around them.  Every modern manufacture of inverting coasters (sans Vekoma) and even GCI and Gravity Group use this technique.  Its also why you can now use lap bars on looping coasters.  In SOB's and Schwarzkopf's cases (almost all of Schwarzkopf's looping coasters use lap bars and those were built as early as the 70's), vertical loops don't create lateral forces.   

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Well with the right seats, the body would still be safe even with lapbars.. but heartline would still be used today because its way more comfortable for the riders
You can have total laterals, hangtime even, with just lapbars.. given the right seats that hold your knees above your waist and seats that hold a potentially limp body vertical

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