Racer Track Work

[tuxedoman52]

30 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

I thought the other reason it was removed was to extend the brake run when they replaced the trains around that time.  

If you notice, the brakes don't actually occur until you're inside of the tunnel, which I believe is past where the last bunny hill concluded.

[Klabergian Empire]

The last drop that was removed on Racer is pictured here below. It seems there would have been enough clearance already there before FoF was built. Come to think of it, was the last drop still on Racer around the time X-Base (now Area 72) opened?

[KIghostguy]

29 minutes ago, Klabergian Empire said:

The last drop that was removed on Racer is pictured here below. It seems there would have been enough clearance already there before FoF was built. Come to think of it, was the last drop still on Racer around the time X-Base (now Area 72) opened?

The forwards side’s hill was removed prior to the 1996 season. The hill on the backwards side was removed after the 1996 season. The modification was done in-house, so they had limited staff and time to work with, so they were removed at different times.

[Klabergian Empire]

1 hour ago, KIghostguy said:

The forwards side’s hill was removed prior to the 1996 season. The hill on the backwards side was removed after the 1996 season. The modification was done in-house, so they had limited staff and time to work with, so they were removed at different times.

Do you know if the removal was because of clearance or something else (if you know)?

[KIghostguy]

10 hours ago, Klabergian Empire said:

Do you know if the removal was because of clearance or something else (if you know)?

It was removed to increase the height clearance.

[teenageninja]

1 hour ago, KIghostguy said:

It was removed to increase the height clearance.

But why?

[KIghostguy]

56 minutes ago, teenageninja said:

But why?

“Height clearance needed to be increased through that pathway for future expansion opportunities,” according to one of the main people behind the change. That’s all the info I have.

[jensenracing77]

The red Racer put the hurts on me this year. Only rode it one time. I wanted to try the blue Racer but every time I was close to it, the blue one was not running. 

[IceePirate]

15 hours ago, teenageninja said:

But why?

A lot of trucks drive under racer nowadays since before Orion started construction, there used to be a large warehouse behind there. I believe it was for games, but maybe merch as well.

[super7]

Racer never had the tunnel in the final drop, but the tunnel in the final drop on Racer 75 and Thunder Road is/was an Awesome finale.  The elimination of the final hill of Racer ruined that possibility. 

[SonofBaconator]

Could the removed drops ever return with the existing A72 enterance?

[Oldschool75]

Why does everyone keep saying the missing final hill? The Racer still has all its original hills. It did have a final “dip” that popped you back into the brake run. Also the removal of that dip was found not to be needed after it was done. A big miscalculation.


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[Joshua]

I've always heard those dips referred to as "bunny hills." 

[YOULLBEBACK]

I'd be shocked if Racer didn't have new paint and a lot of new track for KI's 50th anniversary season.  It makes too much sense. 

[FUN&ONLY!]

Does anyone know if GCI is doing any more work on Racer for the 2020 season? I heard someone say that GCI was retracking the red side’s turnaround, but I don’t know if that has been confirmed. I know they were finished retracking the blue side’s turnaround early January last year, but I have not heard anything about it this year.

[SnakePlissken]

1 hour ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

Does anyone know if GCI is doing any more work on Racer for the 2020 season? I heard someone say that GCI was retracking the red side’s turnaround, but I don’t know if that has been confirmed. I know they were finished retracking the blue side’s turnaround early January last year, but I have not heard anything about it this year.

Some of us were told during Coasterstock last summer that this winter was the red sides turn but seeing as its already Feb I'm not sure that is still happening.

[Oldschool75]

1 hour ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

Does anyone know if GCI is doing any more work on Racer for the 2020 season? I heard someone say that GCI was retracking the red side’s turnaround, but I don’t know if that has been confirmed. I know they were finished retracking the blue side’s turnaround early January last year, but I have not heard anything about it this year.

The Racer gets track work done every off season as does with the other wood coasters. 

[TheBEASTunchained]

^ That doesn't really answer the question that was asked. Obviously almost all wood coasters get some form of work done in the off-season. 

 

To answer your question @FUN&ONLY! , don't quote me on this but I believe that GCI was listed on one of the work commencement documents, which could potentially mean that they're being contracted for some of that work. There have also been plastic tunnels over sections of Racer lately for crews to stay warm during some of their jobs, however I'm not sure whether those are KI crews or GCI crews. 

[Benjamin22]

4 minutes ago, TheBEASTunchained said:

To answer your question @FUN&ONLY! , don't quote me on this but I believe that GCI was listed on one of the work commencement documents, which could potentially mean that they're being contracted for some of that work. There have also been plastic tunnels over sections of Racer lately for crews to stay warm during some of their jobs, however I'm not sure whether those are KI crews or GCI crews. 

GCI Was indeed on the 2020 & 2021 Notice of commencement.

[MrSourNinja]

Maybe they decided to cut it to save for something else for next year. 

[KIghostguy]

The plan, as of December, was to redo Red's turnaround. I don't know if that has changed or not--you can't see the turnaround on the webcams.

[Shaggy]

In regards to the final bunny hills being removed on Racer for "height clearance" or such.  Yes, the park has always officially stated that as the reason.  The Kings Island Blog (fairly recently) addressed the question with that same response.

But...

while I'm sure that expanding the opening & pathway to the OLFOF plaza played a significant role, there were probably (behind the scenes) a handful of reasons of which those not affiliated with KI wood coaster maintenance will never be told.  A major structural change to an existing coaster - that had successfully operated for 24ish years - was without out a doubt a major decision based on more than one factor.  

I've personally long suspected it also had something to do with reducing stress on the trains and structure leading into the original, shorter hard stop.  Perhaps it also allowed a better ability to stack trains or avoiding any potential "bumps" if ever the incoming train overshot the final brakes.  (The actual brake run was indeed lengthened - not just the track flattened. I rode many times in the 1990s - and distinctly recall recognizing the change when I rode in 1996 when FOF was added.  Trains stop much farther back than the pre-1996 reprofile.)

However, its worth noting I took note (at the time of the reprofile) that there was a trim brake added to the turn-arounds.  That signified to me that there might have been concern that any reduced speed in the return could cause the train to valley in the final dip. 

FYI - The final bunny hill on Beastie (its name at the time - now Woodstock's Express) was removed as well - and that had no "height clearance" needs or issues.  Of note - Beastie had a trim added to its final turn at that time as well.  The Scooby Doo (its name at the time - now also called Woodstock's Express) located at Kings Dominion was an exact copy of Beastie... it never got the trim, and retains its final bunny hop (or did as of 2016.)  That tells me there was more to the story...

But we'll never know for certain.

[flightoffear1996]

I wish they would remove the end tunnel on The Racers. It's gross 

[TombraiderTy]

2 hours ago, Shaggy said:

FYI - The final bunny hill on Beastie (its name at the time - now Woodstock's Express) was removed as well - and that had no "height clearance" needs or issues.  Of note - Beastie had a trim added to its final turn at that time as well.  The Scooby Doo (its name at the time - now also called Woodstock's Express) located at Kings Dominion was an exact copy of Beastie... it never got the trim, and retains its final bunny hop (or did as of 2016.)  That tells me there was more to the story...

Do you know what off-season Beastie's last hill was removed? I've always assumed it was 1990s and maybe the same off-season as either of Racer's (so 95-96 or 96-97), but never found a definitive answer. Not surprisingly, not as many people took as many photos of the children's roller coaster as they did of The Racer at the time 

[Joshua]

2 hours ago, flightoffear1996 said:

I wish they would remove the end tunnel on The Racers. It's gross 

Racer looked so much better without them. I feel like I've asked this before, but why were they added? 

[foze.bear]

On 2/5/2020 at 3:51 PM, flightoffear1996 said:

I wish they would remove the end tunnel on The Racers. It's gross 

Yes, someone should make protest t-shirts.  Free The Racer!  Remove the tunnels!!!

[GigaG]

On 12/9/2019 at 5:43 PM, tuxedoman52 said:

If you notice, the brakes don't actually occur until you're inside of the tunnel, which I believe is past where the last bunny hill concluded.

At some point, there were brakes on the section outside of the tunnel.

 

The ride already has a really long brake run, not sure why they felt the need for extra brakes (especially with it now having more powerful fin brakes, not the skids it opened with.)

 

On 2/5/2020 at 2:21 PM, Shaggy said:

In regards to the final bunny hills being removed on Racer for "height clearance" or such.  Yes, the park has always officially stated that as the reason.  The Kings Island Blog (fairly recently) addressed the question with that same response.

But...

while I'm sure that expanding the opening & pathway to the OLFOF plaza played a significant role, there were probably (behind the scenes) a handful of reasons of which those not affiliated with KI wood coaster maintenance will never be told.  A major structural change to an existing coaster - that had successfully operated for 24ish years - was without out a doubt a major decision based on more than one factor.  

I've personally long suspected it also had something to do with reducing stress on the trains and structure leading into the original, shorter hard stop.  Perhaps it also allowed a better ability to stack trains or avoiding any potential "bumps" if ever the incoming train overshot the final brakes.  (The actual brake run was indeed lengthened - not just the track flattened. I rode many times in the 1990s - and distinctly recall recognizing the change when I rode in 1996 when FOF was added.  Trains stop much farther back than the pre-1996 reprofile.)

However, its worth noting I took note (at the time of the reprofile) that there was a trim brake added to the turn-arounds.  That signified to me that there might have been concern that any reduced speed in the return could cause the train to valley in the final dip. 

FYI - The final bunny hill on Beastie (its name at the time - now Woodstock's Express) was removed as well - and that had no "height clearance" needs or issues.  Of note - Beastie had a trim added to its final turn at that time as well.  The Scooby Doo (its name at the time - now also called Woodstock's Express) located at Kings Dominion was an exact copy of Beastie... it never got the trim, and retains its final bunny hop (or did as of 2016.)  That tells me there was more to the story...

But we'll never know for certain.

The other Beastie clones (specifically Carowinds', which is the closest related to KI's and KD's) also have the missing final hop. However, KI's is the only one with the trim brake.

[Klabergian Empire]

Looking at some drone footage that Kings Island linked in their recent blog about Orion, it looks like maybe they re-tracked Racer's red turn around.

[FUN&ONLY!]

Does anyone know if Kings Island is going to continue replacing segments of The Racer’s track this offseason? I know Timberwolf at Worlds of Fun is going through a 7 year GCI re-tracking, and I thought Kings Island may be doing something similar with The Racer based on the track work completed the past two seasons.