The Racer on Opening Day 2018

[Bansheelover]

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending opening day. I took my daughters and a few of their friends. After riding the Delirium, Banshee, Bat, Drop Tower, Ivertigo all twice, they then focused on The Racer. To me this is a ride I will ride once, but do not have to ride due to the roughness. Yesterday the ride was fantastic! Kings Island had made the decision to only have the red side opened, and this made each train full. A full train made it such an enjoyable ride we rode it three times before moving on. I also noticed they had replaced some of the wood. I am glad that they spent some time repairing this original ride.  My thought is although we love to "race" on The Racer would it be a better ride experience to use only one side on slower days? I know they have done both. Last year my daughters were the only one on the blue train, and I the only one on the red train.  

 

[malem]

Blue Racer was early on Saturday, though it didn't stay open all day with the very light crowds.

It did indeed receive track work over the off-season; I noticed a lot of new wood after the turn-around on Red Racer. When combined with new track it received prior to last season, it's a substantial improvement. Great to see maintenance taking care of it year after year!

[Thabto]

Riding The Racer on Saturday, I noticed it was smooth as glass. Usually I expect a fairly rough ride. Good job to the crews that did the track work. 

[BlondyRidesOn]

I can't wait to ride it this season. I rode it last summer with my aunt and uncle. I enjoyed it, they didn't (granted they sat in the back of the car). Hopefully I can convince them to ride again this season.

[McSalsa]

While I technically rode Racer not on Opening Day but on Preview Night, I will be the 4th that I thought it was running much smoother this year. I also think the ride was quite a bit quieter from off-ride, at least it seemed that way when I sat in the old Dinosaurs Alive area to wait for my friends after I rode Vortex, which would mean the train was not bouncing around as much and thus confirming it was running smoother. The red side seemed to be winning its races fairly easily, so I wonder if Blue got as much love as Red, as I noticed last year when one side is running rougher than the other it tends to lose.

Good job to the maintenance team who re-tracked Racer this year. I look forward to many rides on it in 2018, especially if its keeps running like this.

[flightoffear1996]

One of my favorite rides in the park gets some love!  Can you bring back the red white and blue paint?

[FoF96"]

3 hours ago, McSalsa said:

While I technically rode Racer not on Opening Day but on Preview Night, I will be the 4th that I thought it was running much smoother this year. I also think the ride was quite a bit quieter from off-ride, at least it seemed that way when I sat in the old Dinosaurs Alive area to wait for my friends after I rode Vortex, which would mean the train was not bouncing around as much and thus confirming it was running smoother. The red side seemed to be winning its races fairly easily, so I wonder if Blue got as much love as Red, as I noticed last year when one side is running rougher than the other it tends to lose.

Good job to the maintenance team who re-tracked Racer this year. I look forward to many rides on it in 2018, especially if its keeps running like this.

Doesn’t the Red one usually run better than Blue? At least that’s my perception.  It also is usually the winner but for whatever reason the brake setting are different on both coasters causing the Blue one to fully return to the station first.

[McSalsa]

^
True, from my memory usually the Red Racer has run better than Blue, though in August 2017 I rode both on the same day and Red was a bit rougher, and was losing to Blue quite a bit. I was on Red and we got a huge (half train length) head start, and Blue pulled away and was a full train length ahead by the brake run. On my first ride of 2018, Red got a far shorter head start but we finished well ahead of the Blue Train.

[Magenta Lizard]

Last year, I would have to say that Red was rougher overall, but Blue had one spot (the dip before the last hill before the turnaround) that was excruciating. Even on a non-wheel seat, it smacked me hard in the back there. 

I'm curious to see whether that improved. I'm betting it has, because Red definitely felt smoother. 

[super7]

I disagree. The racing aspect makes this a great ride.   When it is just one train, its a boring out and back coaster.

[YOULLBEBACK]

18 hours ago, Magenta Lizard said:

Last year, I would have to say that Red was rougher overall, but Blue had one spot (the dip before the last hill before the turnaround) that was excruciating. Even on a non-wheel seat, it smacked me hard in the back there. 

I'm curious to see whether that improved. I'm betting it has, because Red definitely felt smoother. 

THIS.  It really was bad last year at that hill...I thought it was just me, lol...

To me, this news is just a fantastic surprise to hear and I really look forward to riding it a lot this year!

[KatieF]

I will be there Saturday and am so happy to hear how much smoother the ride will be! Can't wait!

[McSalsa]

Update: I went back and rode Racer a few times 1 week after opening day, on April 21st. It felt like it had gotten rough again already, although the Red side did feel smoother in the re-tracked spots you could clearly see. I found 5-2 (middle seat of the last car) gave a nice mix of being decently smooth and lots of airtime, though.

It was obviously not too terrible though, because I ended up riding it 4 times (3 Red, 1 Blue) that day and my back felt fine the next morning. I would still give the usual "avoid wheel seats" advice, though, and Red is a bit smoother than Blue from what I noticed on my rides. (There was 1 spot on Blue, near the turn-around, that was VERY rough- be warned should you choose to ride Blue Racer!)