The Parkz Update: Movie World's hypercoaster commences vertical construction

Vertical construction is officially underway on Warner Bros. Movie World's new hypercoaster. Today the first sections of track have gone in place on the support columns.

Image: Theme Parks a Go-Go. And it goes up... the first sections of track are now in place.

Update By Richard Wilson
19 April 2017

The first of the support columns go vertical on Movie World's hypercoaster.

This is one of many significantly high points of the ride – at best guess this would be 15-20 metres tall.

The curve out of this high point heads straight into a mess of low supports that suggest some high-speed twists and banked turns.

Like the recently replanted tree in the foreground, this large support is temporarily secured with cables. The track itself acts as part of the support structure for the ride to help keep everything securely in place.

Cable support will only be needed for the higher supports, which are more unstable until track secures them in place.

The first pieces of track before being installed into place. Each piece of track has a male and female end to facilitate the easy joining of each piece. These pieces are located in the direction of travel, with the male connection pointing in the direction of the ride course.

This section of track has brackets for trim brakes. Many manufacturers build these into the track at designated points on the ride; they won't necessarily be put to use. Depending on how fast the ride runs upon opening they may elect to install brakes to reduce g-forces and wear and tear.

These first sections of track were today put into place.

These twisted sections will be located at the top of the high column after the previous four curved sections that lead up into this element.

The curve out of the high element takes riders back down close to ground level.

Some of the paint on the support columns has been scuffed during transport or construction. Primer has been applied so that they can be repainted later in the construction process.

Foundations are cleaned up ready for the installation of columns.

The odd angle of this column and its mounting plate suggests a fast banked turn.

It's not just supports that require some touch-up paint work. Primer has appeared on many pieces of track as well.

Some crazy twisted sections of track have appeared.

These straight sections feature side brackets that will likely support a catwalk along the ride's final brake run. There are also mounting brackets for fixed magnetic brakes on the top of the right section of track. The left section meanwhile has an indent that will likely create room for friction brakes. The right section is 128, giving a rough idea of the total number of pieces required given that these will be located at the very end of the ride.

Track is now trickling in at a steady rate.

The numbers on these twin-spine sections of track (67 and 68) suggests that they will be located a bit after the section of track currently in place. The twisted section to the far right is lucky number 100 – further towards the end of the roller coaster.

More crates have appeared. Presumably these contain bolts for assembling columns, connecting track and other hardware needed during this stage of construction.

So far we have lots of twisted track.

A couple of relatively straight curved track with double spines.

A money shot for you... here we have a closeup of the pink bits. These thicker spines are simply two of the standard spine with steel plates welded over the gap to stiffen them up.