Beast and Racer Retracking

[gforce1994]

I haven’t seen this mentioned yet but KI did a wonderful job with retracking Racer and Beast this past offseason. On The Racer, the retracked the red side going from the split to the beginning of the final set of airtime hills. On The Beast, the retracked from the valley to the brake run. 

[amapan]

I really enjoyed the Red Racer this year after the off season track work. It was the only thing I rode during my visit other than Orion. I had just enough time to kill before getting in line at my assigned time, remembered reading about the Red Racer getting track work for this year, and walked right onto the front seat so I got a good look at things. The ride was noticeably smoother. I didn’t know The Beast got track work as well.  Dang!  I thought I experienced all the 2020 coaster improvements. You‘ve tempted me to the park again lol. Hopefully we will get some open days at the park this fall.

[IceePirate]

I rode a non wheel seat (currently only rows 5 and 14) last week, and I've put Beast much higher in my favorites since I've done that. Beast has now returned to my #4 Kings Island spot, and I've been marathoning it recently. So long as I sit in non wheel seats, and brace a little bit for the start of the helix, the ride is great fun! Now I do wish GCI would come in or RMC with their topper track and do a redo of it while keeping the essence of it the same. I feel that they could do a great job not going too crazy, but also providing a much better ride experience. Or heck, maybe just get the park to reprofile some stuff themselves to take the trims out.

[raggedman07]

Last year, the worst spot on The Beast was at the end of the turnaround before the first lift hill...this year the horrible jolt is just gone from that spot...well done team!

[Shawn Meyer]

^^ I'd hate for them to reprofile The Beast because then it would lose its ACE landmark status. I'm all for them getting rid of the trims in certain spots. I really wish they'd get rid of the trims on the first hill, that ruins the intensity from the start. 

[MiniGIGAKI2020]

I feel The Beast is better because of the trims. I feel The Beast is like a good horror movie, it plays with you leaving you more and more comfortable until the end when half the cast dies aka the helix. Such a great ride!!

[tigellinus]

On 7/25/2020 at 12:33 AM, gforce1994 said:

I haven’t seen this mentioned yet but KI did a wonderful job with retracking Racer and Beast this past offseason. On The Racer, the retracked the red side going from the split to the beginning of the final set of airtime hills. On The Beast, the retracked from the valley to the brake run. 

The funny thing is, as others have mentioned and I’m sure as many other people have done, I also rode red (randomly) Racer this weekend while killing Orion ticket time and it was the first time I rode it in probably 10 years and it seemed a little more enjoyable than what I remembered before and now I know why! haha

I’m also bummed I skipped The Beast this weekend :\

[Ki Man]

Since my request to wait for the front seat of The Beast was denied, I was forced to ride on a wheel seat and it was definitely the most rough ride I've had on it in recent years. I am sure the PTCs run better when they are fully loaded, the lift hills were my favorite part of the ride.

 

[NightlyBeast]

Yea, I can't do beast anymore till they allow front preference again. It was a real shock to the back after doing exclusively front seat for 5+ seasons now.  

[TombraiderTy]

15 hours ago, Shawn Meyer said:

^^ I'd hate for them to reprofile The Beast because then it would lose its ACE landmark status. I'm all for them getting rid of the trims in certain spots. I really wish they'd get rid of the trims on the first hill, that ruins the intensity from the start. 

I don't believe that the ACE Landmark status works that way... perhaps you're thinking of the ACE Coaster Classic, which can be rescinded (as happened to Kings Island's own Woodstock Express)?

[Shawn Meyer]

I'm sure that could happen, but I don't think it would. Kings Island promoted The Beast very well last year after 40 years, why would they turn back now? Even one of the designers said they wouldn't touch The Beast last year. 

[IceePirate]

1 hour ago, Shawn Meyer said:

I'm sure that could happen, but I don't think it would. Kings Island promoted The Beast very well last year after 40 years, why would they turn back now? Even one of the designers said they wouldn't touch The Beast last year. 

In that case, I could see them retracking and reprofiling enough to remove at least a few trims. Maybe add a dip in the straight track section to give that part a bit more character. I feel like they're going to do SOMETHING for it's 50th anniversary, that could be what I mentioned earlier, or a refurbishment with some reprofiling to reduce stress on the track and make it cheaper to maintain. They've reprofiled it quite a bit in the past already, so it's not out of the question to see some more work done to it.