With the Heide Park thing, I've been following it on TPR and the general consensus does seem to be that it's too narrow for a Dive Machine... But that's not the end of it, notice the new brakes in that picture! Could mean a new style of train, and hence narrower track... One to keep an eye on

There was a press release confirming that it was going to be a Dive Machine.

Yes it is B&M's first ever "Junior Dive Machine" - They confirmed this on the press release and John Wardley is doing part of the theming.If this is B&M's new prototype, then does this mean that Thorpe may be getting one of these in 2012, or is that another prototype?

Thorpe won't get any kind of dive machine as Saw kind of covers that angle. I'd imagine Thorpes 2012 coaster will be similar to Gardalands wingrider. Still, very exciting, it's been a long 6 years since a 'new'* B&M has been added in Europe, so to get three in the space of two years is very exciting. *Yes Monster opened in France this year but it isn't new, just relocated.

What park is monster at?

Linkage to Park

Tower of Terror at Dreamland in Australia has reopened as Tower of Terror 2 with a new backwards train. These were the only 2 videos I could find with ride footage.Launch:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr0AC9jjJN8&feature=relatedMedia coverage, starting at 35 seconds:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALtpSt4WypY&feature=player_embedded#!The rumour going around at the moment as that when Superman at Magic Mountain reopens at it will be running backwards as well, presumably with the same car type.Also, Wet 'N' Wild is opening the world's first dueling Aqualoop waterslide!

I was wondering is anyone knows anything about the replacement of the sombero's ride at Drayton Manor?There was an interview were the manager confirmed its going and that it woud be replaced with something for 2011 but not a flat ride?any thoughts or ayone know/heard anything? sounds quite interesting to me, considering its a small ammount of space.

In some quite important news, Maurer Sohne have released a technical bulletin explaining that they believe the coupling bar between the two trains on their X - Car coasters (G-Force, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit) is not fatigue endurable enough.This caused a shut down of all X - Car coasters while they fix the problem.This is especially bad news for HRRR which has not been working properly, even after opening six months late last August. I would imagine that this was another headache for Universal. Strangely, HRRR is closed at the moment "indefinitely", however Universal have said that the bulletin would have been dealt with months ago and this is unrelated. The current downtime must be quite serious as they have decided they might as well do the annual maintenance for Rockit now while it is down anyway.http://www.ltci.co.uk/LTC_Technical_Bulletins/Maurer_Sohne_Conection_Bar_Action.pdf

Just to add to Daniel's report, the closure of X-Cars is only to those that have two cars on each trains. Any coaster with one car are unaffected as, as Daniel stated, the coupling bar is the problem here.

Rockit's problems are indeed very serious, and ruled it out of HHN some time ago...

Maurer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyCbp5N2qJsYes please Busch Gardens, Tampa

It looks good... but am I the only one who thinks there are far too many straight sections and some really dodgy turns in there? It just seems that the launch is a little wasted.

Well two of the straight sections are launches and so kinda unavoidable... Also, the fact they changed the name just because the original one was leaked is annoying me

That ride looks well good them rocket coasters seem to be hot atm! it seems quiet long for a coster like that tho dont you think!?

That ride looks well good them rocket coasters seem to be hot atm! it seems quiet long for a coster like that tho dont you think!?

Well, compared to Rocket coasters like Stealth it is pretty long but it seems that the newer rocket coasters are longer than some of the older ones (eg. Blue Fire)

Well according to this Screamscape article and this forum thread, Rip Ride Rockit is back in operation. This is great news seeing as many had anticipated a longer downtime than this, unfortunately, it still isn't open in the evening for HHN.On a more African note, I agree that Cheetaka was a much better name than Cheetah Hunt - seems to not really carry the right message in my opinion.

Worlds Fastest Rollercoaster 'Formula Rossa' POV :http://www.ameinfo.com/247118.html

The new B&M Dive Machines at Heide Park is named..KrakeKrake firework displayAccording to a member on Towers Times, the ride will consist of three rowed trains with six people per row. The first drop will go into the mouth of Kraken and you will come out of a pirate ship on the other side. A water splash effect will also be on the ride following the suit of the Dive Machines in America and China.So there we have it, two new B&M's in Europe, both themed around some kind of animal and the theme of the rides being at the forefront of advertising.

Kraken is probably closer to Nemesis rather than that of an animal, since it's a mythical creature :(But I get what you mean.

Kraken is probably closer to Nemesis rather than that of an animal, since it's a mythical creature

Tsch.. so pedantic

Youtube version of the POV.

In a rather drastic move, King's Dominion appear to be re-profiling part of Intimidator 305's track layout. This is presumably to reduce the enormous positive G force around the first flat turn and into the first air hill, which caused so many grey outs and complaints from the GP. Track is currently in the process of being removed, as shown in this photo from yesterday:Credit to Clint Novak for the photo.

Intamin