Posted June 17, 20169 yr comment_236868 So you all know of my love for Vampy, but these unfortunately pretty much died out with Arrow. The reason I'm making this topic is that designing rollercoasters is my dream job, and I think I may have come up with a way inversions could work on these (however, I'm probably wrong, so correct me if I am). Basically, I think a long inline twist could work on a swinging coaster, as the swinging would probably work in your favour (if I got the physics right) at the right speed (not too fast, not too slow). There wouldn't be too much swinging during the inversion, however a bit after. Could this work? Please let me know. We don't do Arrow Suspended Coasters in physics lol.
June 17, 20169 yr comment_236869 It would be horrid, bear in mind how Vampire swings even now when approaching a turn... It judders along now and even the older version with the heavier trains would've been dreadful... It'd be down to the constant motion and moments acting on not just the train, but the swinging components as well... The train won't stop swinging in the inline due to how the Arrow suspendeds work (since they still swing when they hit brake runs due to momentum)... You have two separate sections of movement going on and then when you add in the inverted element and I really cannot see a way you could make it an enjoyable experience... Some rides weren't meant to include inversions...
June 17, 20169 yr comment_236872 Arrows latest prototype of the suspended coaster did however feature a corkscrew, so they were working on hardware versions of this theory to test it.
June 18, 20169 yr comment_236875 Fortunately, despite Arrow 'dying', there are now other companies producing their own variations of swinging suspenders. These include Vekoma's Dragonfly - whilst the seating position is different, it looks like a great way to improve the classics arrow suspended coaster.
June 19, 20169 yr comment_236980 The only reliably safe way to get one of those inverting would be to have the ability to lock the carriage in a position for that manoeuvre before releasing and swinging for the rest of the ride, in the same sort of way a spinner does. While I'm sure it would be possible to design a comfortable way of getting it to invert without locking there would be no other way of having it behave safely in the event of an underspeed or stall. I imagine the only way of doing this would be to have a guide track under the carriage for the bottom of the swinging carriage to engage with for that portion of the ride, but I'm not too sure the messing about involved would be worthwhile to get an inversion into a ride type that doesn't really need it.
July 3, 20169 yr comment_237804 You may find this interesting. It's a video of Jim Sheldon discussing the suspended coaster concept in 1979. It also features a prototype. Now, whilst the model is tiny and the train enters the corkscrew at phenomenal speed, this video does prove that Arrow Dynamics did intend to make their suspended coasters invert. Now, if suspended coasters did invert, I agree with Pluk that the carriage would have to lock into position like a spinner does. This is because there are simply to many variables. The weight of the train, the balance of the weight, the weather all have to be perfect to insure that the carriage completes the manoeuvre smoothly and doesn't wip round the element. I think it may be time before suspended coasters invert, but even if they don't, there is still plenty of ways that these coasters can be amplified and popularised again. Take Iron dragon at Cedar Point, which has been trying VR, and Vekoma's dragonfly. These days, don't put anything past Vekoma. They look like a really exciting company ATM.
July 6, 20169 yr comment_238078 Inversions were considered on suspended coasters, prior to the opening of the first one (The Bat at Kings Island in 1981): For the reasons stated above, the idea never took off and inversions on suspended coasters were never really considered.
July 31, 20169 yr comment_239264 I've had this in mind for quite a while now but suspended coasters could contain inversions if they used that grove thing (I don't know the name) used on the lift hill, brake run and station. If they made it follow the inversion then the coaster would remain supported through the inversion then when it exits the inversion it could come back to normally and come out of that grove thing.
July 31, 20169 yr comment_239274 2 hours ago, Equoaster said: I've had this in mind for quite a while now but suspended coasters could contain inversions if they used that grove thing (I don't know the name) used on the lift hill, brake run and station. If they made it follow the inversion then the coaster would remain supported through the inversion then when it exits the inversion it could come back to normally and come out of that grove thing. On 6/19/2016 at 11:52 AM, pluk said: The only reliably safe way to get one of those inverting would be to have the ability to lock the carriage in a position for that maneuver... I imagine the only way of doing this would be to have a guide track under the carriage for the bottom of the swinging carriage to engage with for that portion of the ride, but I'm not too sure the messing about involved would be worthwhile to get an inversion into a ride type that doesn't really need it. That's basically what I was trying to say. Certainly possible, not certainly worthwhile. I don't understand why no-one is building these any more. Such fun rides.
July 31, 20169 yr comment_239276 Arrow were the only ones that could do them well, but as they're gone there's now no point.
July 31, 20169 yr comment_239277 Very easy to emulate or improve on with todays technology, I'm sure.
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