Richard

Just on the glass floor, this is a very nifty product. It's commonly referred to as "smart glass" and can be done in a number of different ways. Coincidentally I was actually reading a paper on this particular stuff on Monday. It basically works by passing a voltage through a layer of some sort of crystal or particle layer that, depending on its properties and what's passing through it, changes its properties from opaque to transparent. Really nifty stuff - it'll realistically be replacing blinds and curtains by the end of the decade. I've seen it in use, and it's amazing. It goes from completely opaque like a wall (letting nothing through) to transparent just like normal glass. Interesting that what you've received said that they've got a single engineer working on it. Ten or twenty years ago it was very common for engineering projects to be worked on by a single engineer, but it's so rare these days. Because of litigation, it's rare to find someone willing to hire a lone engineer to work on a project, or a single engineer willing to work on it. Of course I have no doubt that the ride is safe and properly designed and calculated. Just looking at the thing, there's not much that even a high school physics and Maths C (I think it's Maths 4 or something in NSW... the most difficult one ) student couldn't analyse and over-engineer with a chunk of spare time. The only thing I'm worried about is stress and fatigue on the track, which would only come years down the track and can be appropriately managed with adequate inspections and maintenance. There's just a lot of weld joints there and I can see some cracks appearing all around the track. Not uncommon on many welded steel structures, but my guess is with the way this ride has been designed, it might be more prone to it than your average Swiss-designed coaster. New rule - we're not allowed to talk about the physics or engineering of rides, because I'm getting too involved and I'm actually starting to use some of the text books I paid hundreds for.

See that little button down in the right hand corner of your posts? The one that says "Edit" and has a picture of a pair of scissors next to it (looks like ). Next time you make a spelling mistake or wish to add something to a post shortly after you've posted it, click that button and you can edit your troubles away! I found this article recently and is a very good read - http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2004/0...9823240556.html.

There are two sets of magnets on the back of each gondola, which effectively lock around the two fins on the tower, which as I mentioned previously would be made from some alloy that can't be magnetically induced (i.e. be attracted to the magnets). This point is pretty critical to understanding how magnetic braking works, because there is no attraction between the magnets and fins and it is not a force of magnetic attraction that causes the braking. I'm not totally sure what you're getting at with your third paragraph. There's never enough force to hold it still in the brakes, and there never can be. It relies on a constantly changing area of the conductor (the fins on the tower) within the magnetic field (created by the two N-S alligned magnets on the gondola which surround this fin). If there's no changing area (i.e. it's not moving), then there is no braking force, so it wound naturally start to move. The exact moment it moves though, there is a change in area so the braking force comes back in. The result of this is essentially why when falling or being towed through the brakes, you will be traveling at a constant velocity. Increase the magnetic field (with better magnets, spacing them closer together), and this constant velocity will be slower than with a weaker magnetic field (less powerful magnets, further apart). I can't easily explain the deceleration due to gravity (I'd rather call it acceleration in the -y direction, but that's just how it'd be put on an engineering paper) without using vectors and the thing with that is if you're at a maths or physics level where you understand vectors, then this wouldn't need explaining to you. Just take it from me that something that's been shot up a 90º curve will have the same speed at the end as something that's been shot vertically up from the exact same starting point, if we're operating in a frictionless environment.

Not exactly new news, but it hasn't been discussed here before. Last I remember there were plans to keep the Caloundra park operating, and open a theme park themed to Crocodile Hunter (rather than being a wildlife park as Australia Zoo is) in Brisbane, out at the Boondall Wetlands.

The difference in height between it's lowest track before the curve and the base of the tower is not significant - there might be a metres difference in height. Certainly nothing anywhere close to 10m difference. I've negated friction and air resistance as I said earlier, because it is impossible for me to come up with a friction coefficient value without doing some pretty heavy analysis of the design of the car, right down the bearings etc. on the wheels. Friction (mechanical friction, air resistance etc.) is the only force, aside from gravity, that will create a loss of speed. In short (without getting into some basic vector geometry), without friction, the loss of speed of a body traveling up a curve is exactly the same as the same body traveling vertically to the same height. Most assumptions I made I outlined. Just in case you missed them, I'll list the untrue assumptions I made in all of the calculations I've used here. -We are operating in a frictionless environment. -The acceleration of the car is constant. -It uses induction motors, not synchronous motors to operate. -Dreamworld's publicity figures are accurate (despite being only to one or two significant figures). Because we're only working with around two significant figures (hence my speeds above of 161km/hr and 157km/hr are technically not correct, though with two significant figures they'd both be 160km/hr, which doesn't do much for these arguments), it means that these assumptions and other things I've disregarded or assumed can be perfectly justified as they don't effect anything at the level of accuracy I'm working at. By the way, while I remember, your example with the fridge magnet earlier is largely incorrect. A fridge magnet uses magnetic attraction to stick to the fridge. The braking on Giant Drop doesn't use magnetic attraction, it uses magnetic flux. You'll find that those fins on the tower are some alloy (presumably largely copper because of its conductivity) that isn't attracted to magnets to ensure that there is no magnetic attraction. The brakes on Giant Drop will always provide the same force of braking (which is never enough to counter the downward force of gravity by the way). What a change in speed does is increases the current flowing through the fins. This is why the humming sound it makes as it slows starts off with a high pitch and becomes lower until it stops - at the top of the brake run it is traveling fastest, so more electricity hence a louder sound. As it slows, the current decreases, as does the motor sound. Just think of it as the reverse of a linear induction motor if that makes it any easier. Where they pump in electricity which is used to make a magnetic field to give motion, Giant Drop (or any magnetic braking system) takes motion, passes it through a permanent magnetic field (i.e. made from natural magnets) which converts this motion into electricity.

A speed of 130km/hr would take the car roughly 65m up the tower. 140km/hr roughly 75m. That's ignoring air resistance and friction. I don't know about you, but I don't think I see it a whole 45-55m from the top. Meanwhile a speed of 161km/hr takes it 100m up - around 20m from the top and 157km/hr gives us 95m - 25m from the top. That's more realistic. The ride's certainly rarely, if ever running below around 150km/hr.

I'd say that on any ride of Tower of Terror, you've only got around a 40% chance of actually getting a speed reading. It's not the most accurate thing anyway - it's got at least a ±10km/hr margin of error on it based on what I've seen it spit out. Now, onto the real stuff. Let's do a bit of physics to work out how much of a saving we're talking if the speed is reduced to the 157km/hr it currently runs at. 161km/hr in 7s leads to an average acceleration of 23km/hr/s or 6.4m/s². Meanwhile running at 157km/hr, the average acceleration is 22.4km/hr/s or 6.2m/s². Assuming the weight of car is 6 tonnes as most publicity material about the ride suggests, this means a force to accelerate the car of 38400N for 161km/hr, and 37400N at 157km/hr. I'll skip ahead a few steps, because it'll just confuse most people. I'm using some magnetic flux equations to determine the amperes required for the launch but because of the unknowns involved I can't get an exact result but rather a relative percentage. It's also worthwhile pointing out that the formulas I am using technically only apply to induction, but are reasonably translatable to the synchronous situation we're dealing with on TOT. In short, a launch at 157km/hr will need around 2.6% less amps than a 161km/hr. Power, watts, are found by Voltage x Amps. Voltage will ALWAYS been a constant in situations like this, so hence it will also cost 2.6% less to operate at 157km/hr. We know also from promotional material that it requires 2.2MW of power for the launch, which means that the 157km/hr launch saves us 57,200W per launch. That's running your toaster for about 23 hours. Not that significant really. It's still costing us 2.14MW to launch the thing. Your annectotal evidence doesn't really go with the numbers I'm seriously doubting that Dreamworld's at all on the same grid as Coomera, or that Tower of Terror has ever been the direct cause of blackouts in Coomera. It is said that TOT launching temporarily doubles Dreamworld's power usage, which means that they're drawing about 4,500,000W of power every 10 seconds - how the hell is 57,200W off this at all going to make even the slightest difference - we're talking around 1% of their total energy!

kennykoala - no one's taking jabs at you. By all means, if you don't want us to discuss things you bring up in a level-headed way, then don't come here posting things! You come here and repeat things that you've obviously heard around Dreamworld. We then discuss what you've said, adding our opinions and whatnot. You then come back and think somehow that because we're not saying "WOW! THAT'S COOL!!!!!!" we don't appreciate what you've said. Seriously, just calm down and don't get so defensive about everything.

Wicked Twister at Cedar Point was slowed down and given a new ride program. The reasons given by Monty Jasper (Cedar Point's VP of maintenance and construction) was along the lines of to prolong the life of the ride's electric and electronic components. I see it to be perfectly reasonable that Dreamworld may have knocked a few km/hr off TOT's launch speed in the name of reasonable and economic maintenance.

Daniel - that's pretty spot-on. The wheels are all the same and were more than likely used on the ride. Their collection of spare wheels didn't consist of too many unused wheels. kennykoala, a bit too far-fetched for my liking. If there was any intentions of keeping the loops, then they'd still be there. A mix-up might sound good for your Dippin' Dots buddies, but it's a bit of a flimsy excuse. Needless to say, I for one like the fact that they're gone.

As the first post said, April 16 is the date, 7pm til 10pm is the time.

Well, it was made official in the Autumn 2004 edition of Take 3 (amazingly the second one dedicated to the coming-soon attraction Shark Bay - could they perhaps take it for 3?). Nothing I can add really - til August 31 you'll be able to get unlimited entrance to the three parks with your 3 Park Super Pass for 14 days from the first use. It really should be made the standard deal I think. As it is, in comparison with similar theme park destinations like Orlando (which is actually VERY similar, though much much bigger), the normal deal (pay for three and get one free) it is a bit on the expensive side. A five park FlexTicket in Orlando gives unlimited access for 14 days to SeaWorld, Busch Gardens Tampa, Wet 'n Wild, Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios and sets you back just under $200. There truly is enough entertainment there for two days at all those parks but Wet 'n Wild

Since the March 22 update, the loops have disappeared, so the entire ride is now down. I think this calls for some sort of celebration.

Try Ozcoaster's latest update from March 22, which shows that it's all down. As for the trains, they're certainly not going to be used again. Whether they are incorporated into any sort of memorial for the ride as has been suggested here is anyone's guess at this stage.

I read recently on Screamscape that Huss released a statement in which they stated that the ride was not a Huss model, but an Asian-made "ripoff" (goes nicely with all those fake watches, clothes and dodgy DVDs and whatnot that are so common over there). I would say this explains 90% of what happened, but still doesn't give their rescue method too much credibility.

The rides really come from Hollywood? I didn't think Warner Bros. even had a theme park division anymore, with the sale of Six Flags in the 90's. Doesn't it seem a tad counterproductive to have rides come through Warner Bros, not WVTP who is a management company set up exclusively to operate the theme parks. I can see it being reasonable to work closely with Warner Bros. in Hollywood so as to be faithful to their various franchises, but it just seems strange to have a team over there who design attractions for a tiny speck-of-a-park across the Pacific.

14 day Park Hoppers for Disneyland?!? A bit much don't you think - I thought it only went up to like 5 days or so at Disneyland? I love the place, but there's seriously only two or three days at the most entertainment at both parks. How'd you fill 14 days there?

Just for being himself, but let's not let the topic go that way at all. As for carnival rides, I personally think that there's not much out there that is really quality. Certainly not in this country. I love some of the sweet traveling coasters in the German circuit, but they are in a completely different league from our Crazy Mouse or Galaxy or whatever.

You'll notice that the forums have been significantly changed in terms of graphics. It's just a little more pleasant to look at, and the new smilies are great. Next change to the forums will be integration with Roller-Coaster.com.au.

It's hard to find because it's all taken up by urban sprawl. It's expensive because it's hard to find. It's true that you can build parks way out where land is cheaper, but then the majority of the 4 million you'd class as "local residents" are getting to be hours and hours away, which really does make them a difficult market to . Not many people will drive three hours each way to visit a theme park for a day (of course that's not saying no one will, but it's a bit hard to market to). If you're looking at cheap land in the middle of nowhere, it's not as if it'll make an attractive weekend holiday for those too far to come in a day. I'd suggest that anything more than 90 minutes from Sydney CBD (or any City for that matter) is too far for the bulk of Sydney residents, and you're not exactly going to get many tourists taking the trip out if its so far.

The forums will change from Total Thrills to Roller-Coaster.com.au, and be more integrated into the new site. I'm still working out a few things with that before the move can be made. http://www.totalthrills.com/last10.php The "Latest Forum Activity" box on the front page will soon have what's in the link above, obviously it'll be made consistent with the design etc., but that's the code I'm working with to do that.

There's not much to say on this topic at this point in time. I know Tony, but I'm not sure what that has to do with anything.

Just a reminder to everyone that you're expected to keep the language clean at all times in the forums. This is actually the first point of the Terms of Service, and I'm getting a bit sick of it all. Don't use obscenities. Most will be censored by the system automatically anyway, but I'm sure you'd rather select your words more carefully than get **'s in your posts. It is just as bad to avoid the censor by putting your own asterisks in place of single letters and it is looked at in exactly the same light. Consider this the only warning you'll ever get. There will be repercussions after this.

For those who didn't see the news, it was a carnival-style freefall ride, I believe a Huss Shot'n Shot. It was at Riverside Parkland - right country with Lotte World, but not the right park. I presume it was some sort of power failure or ride error that meant that the ride got stuck up there. They would have tried a manual release and probably a dozen other things before getting the rescue people involved. When that proved unsuccessful, they brought in what I believe was some sort of crane or cherrypicker to take rescuers up and bring those stranded down. Great plan, but I think they forgot a few things. If you're going to send people up there, make sure that there is no chance of the ride moving - make it mechanically impossible to do so, and surely the ride is designed with such things in place to make rescues like this safer. I can't see a ride like this being built without some sort of hard-coded system that shuts the ride down exactly where it is and prevents it from budging. Many rides use a hydraulic system that when activated will just completely jam the thing up completely using cams or something similar. If by some chance this isn't possible, and you're going to get rescuers involved, then make it safe by rigging it so that it's not going to budge. Anyone that's done a first aid course (or just has common sense) knows that first priority is keeping the rescuer/helper safe. You don't swim into shark-infested waters to save someone in a shark attack. You don't touch someone who's been electrocuted and is sprawled out on live wires. I'd have thought you don't climb onto a gondola 27m above the ground that's likely to fall at any moment. Better to be safe than sorry. In this case they're definitely sorry.

Slick - what's wrong with it being on CoasterBuzz earlier. Does that somehow detract from the topic? I frequent CoasterBuzz, it's one of my favourite coaster sites, and even posted in some of the topics and news items there regarding this model, but I really fail to see what CoasterBuzz's coverage has to do with this thread. willsy - Chris Brewer, the guy behind www.coasterworks.com builds custom designs which take months and months of work. Look at the prices he sells his models for - $4,000 and up. What CoasterDynamix have is a set which anyone can buy and set up in a seemingly limitless number of ways. It's like the K'Nex working coasters, only far more realistic. Compared to the $4,000 for one of Brewer's custom and detailed designs, this thing will set you back around $650 Australian.