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Theory: Reason why B:TR has been really flying lately

Talk about anything that has to do with Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor here.
Postby Galvan on June 9th, 2004, 10:38 am
Now, yesterday if you where at the park, you knew that around 6:30pm and about 8:15pm there was some Weather delays with some approaching Weather from the west. Now around 8 i was on one of my 5 rides on B:TR yesterday, and my ride flew, i mean the course of the whole ride easily was completed in 45 seconds, and people sitting next to me even stated that there ride for them was one of the fastest they've been on.

Anyway, after i got off the ride, there was a Weather delay which impacted most of the rollercoasters.

Heres my theory, In order to get as much riders on B:TR and other rides prior to a Weather Delay, Ride OPs, if this is possible manipulate the ride to opperate quicker.

Now, before you get one my case about how stupid of a theroy this is, i did some checking: Most of the posts on this site the commented about how fast B:TR has been running lately have been on days where there where imminent Tornado/Storm warnings or watches.

Could this be one reason besides the new paintjob? Some of you armchair experts please feel free to chime in and let me know what ya think :)
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Postby coastrcorey on June 9th, 2004, 12:11 pm
I don't think that's the case for a couple reasons. One, there was only a 10% chance of inclement weather yesterday. That tiny storm came up very quickly. And two, I know that a big park like that wouldn't trust 16 year olds running their rides to 'manipulate' them to run faster. The only way they could do this anyway is to up the lift speed. Otherwise there aren't any trims or anything on BTR that the ops could turn off. I don't think you can change the lift speed from the panel anyway, can you? I know with the rides I run, nothing like that can be changed from the panel. That would require changes to the ride computer.
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Postby mallclerks on June 9th, 2004, 12:28 pm
No, I can almost guarantee you cant change anything from the station where ride ops are. Only thing they do generally is hit one of 3-4 buttons. Like said above, you really cant trust not just 16 y.o, but anyone to mess with a 10-20 billion dollar peice of equipment (the coaster)
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Postby sfgam on June 9th, 2004, 12:36 pm
mallclerks wrote:No, I can almost guarantee you cant change anything from the station where ride ops are. Only thing they do generally is hit one of 3-4 buttons. Like said above, you really cant trust not just 16 y.o, but anyone to mess with a 10-20 billion dollar peice of equipment (the coaster)


10-20 billion! did you mean million? And on coasters they can turn off trim brakes.
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Postby rct2wizard360 on June 9th, 2004, 12:44 pm
I can also guarantee you there is alot more than only 3-4 buttons. And also it dosent matter what age they are, arent they all trianed to d the same job?
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Postby coasterdude12 on June 9th, 2004, 12:58 pm
45 seconds isn't that quick, one time I was sitting in row 2. The ride cleared the lift in 30 seconds and the track in 35-40 seconds. It was so fast I blacked out in Row 2!

This was on a 76 degree day with 100% sunshine and the track was sill black.
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Postby RagingBullFan on June 9th, 2004, 1:39 pm
Operators of B:TR cannot change any of the ride options, the ONLY people that are even allowed to do that are maintenance. Even then most of those changes have to be approved by park management as they can lead to more wear and tear on the ride, thus leading to possibly higher operating costs. And with B:TR the only things that can really affect how fast the train goes are either the lift speed, or the polymer of the wheels.

And actually there are only about 3-4 buttons that are actually used, most of them aren't actually buttons they are proximity sensors that inform the operator of where the train is, if seats are secure, brake pressure warning lights etc... Then there is the mechanics panel... transfer track operation etc.... Really the only buttons that a operator usually uses are Dispatch ( Can be 2 buttons, depending on ride..), Restraint Release, Ride Stop, Emergency Stop, there really aren't a lot more buttons an operator is supposed to use...

And as to the process of changing the speed of the lift etc, that would require reprogramming by the mechanics, when a ride is under the control of a mechanic, he can have it do ANYTHING, he has override control over the computer. ( I saw this with RB yesterday, Red train has a bad prox switch in row 3, mechanics came, and dispatched the train even though it wasn't "secure".)
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Postby Aero737 on June 9th, 2004, 3:35 pm
Yep, Kyle summed it up there pretty good. On batman they cannot speed the ride up much outside the lift hill as there are no boosters or brakes on the ride until the station blocks. I attribute the speeds to high temperatures and normal 'breaking in' of wheels and bearings and the track itself.
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Postby SIC COASTER on June 9th, 2004, 6:33 pm
It could also be what way the wind is blowing on inclement weather days that would give the ride somemore speed to it.
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Postby Chitown on June 9th, 2004, 6:39 pm
After the lift hill, the train is powered by gravity.

Factors in train speed as mentioned above are the wheels, humidity, the new paint job coating the track where the wheels touch, and possibly the weight distribution on the train.
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Postby Papas on June 9th, 2004, 7:08 pm
I notice how it's running being more tempermental (although more steady recently). I havn't really noticed it 'flying' anymore than usual coming from someone who visits on a daily basis.
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Postby w00dland on June 9th, 2004, 8:30 pm
Hmm...maybe the wheels are just running better than normal?

A little UD-40 will do the trick :lol:
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Postby Timmy179 on June 9th, 2004, 9:12 pm
you men wd-40 ? 20 billion dollars, my goodness thats alot of money!
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Postby w00dland on June 10th, 2004, 10:54 am
WD-40, sorry mistype.
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Postby SfGaMownz on June 10th, 2004, 1:28 pm
Its going to get consistent now that the weather doesn't change as much as it did in May. From now until September you won't see the high below 60 degrees so it shouldn't run slow on days because the metal is already adjusted to the warm temperatures.
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Postby yeti_cat on June 12th, 2004, 12:12 am
In the past I've tended to not ride B:TR because of its long line and short ride time, but recently its been really smooth and fast, more thrilling in a sense. I'm thinking that maybe the moisture in the air during said times of "inclimate weather" might have made the track slicker. When I was on it during memorial day weekend it was going pretty nicely.
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