KrautWithAltitude

^ That´s an interesting theory. Maybe someone should go an compare that heap of pictures we have of EGF. Though I understand that the very hot weather and maybe freshly replaced bearings and lube could do a lot. Or could it be that adrenaline and expectations make most of the difference? Hmmm... Norman

^^^ The helmet dude is not from Holiday Park, his Homepage is http://www.helmstativ.ols-video.de/index.htm and there´s also some POV-footage of EGF

Ok, so here we go... For insurance reasons, I´d say that every coaster must be checked regularly according to its technical instructions and documentation be taken thereof. Many (All? - I´m not sure) coasters must be checked daily on critical issues like safety devices, wheel assemblies, brakes etc. No serious operator would skip any of these inspections, since if anything would go wrong, besides possible casualties insurances wouldn´t pay, the coaster might be shut down for a long time, and people would avoid his park. So be sure that all the coasters are being checked, maybe at night, maybe even earlier in the morning in order to have time for possible repairs. Well, mostly out of luck, like most people do. You cannot plan this for your lifetime and expect a job in the coaster making business, since it is just to small. Back then I was unemployed and looking for a new job, so I gave engineering office Stengel a try, without many expectations since I knew how small a company they are. They didn´t hire me but offered me to work as a freelancer for them, to do CAD. From there on, everything went its way, and I was just lucky to have called the right company on the right day. I´ve got no idea but to try ebay and amazon frequently. Though I´ve heard rumors about a reprint... Norman

Here you go: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=615477&highlight=#615477 And also I´d like to repeat: I´m always glad to tell as much as I can and know about coaster projects, so feel free to ask. Of course absolutely no information will be given out on any confidential matters, like upcoming roller coasters, specific technical problems and company secrets (not that I know of many...) Norman

@Robb Oh well... I think I am not a guru on magnetic brake technology. But I´ll give it a try: Those trim brakes were installed after the opening of EGF, because the trains were running to good. As far as I remember, there are two of them. So if they were speed sensitive, one would be enough because the train would be broken down to a calculated set speed depending on season, weather, occupation, actual speed etc. to make it merrily to the station. This would require proximity sensors before the trim and of course variable brake force, none of which we have here (maybe there are sensors, I can´t recall). It should be possible to vary the gap of the magnets with some kind of hydraulic setup, but no such gear is visible on EGF´s trim brakes, and this is due to the fact that the faster the train goes in, the more eddy current will flow and the stronger the brake will catch. A slower train will be broken down softer but will also stay longer in the brake, so the train speed (difference of about 7% between the slowest and fastest possible train) will always be broken down by roughly the same difference of 3 or 4 mph in such a trim brake. In the case of EGF two such brakes were installed (hope I recall right), which should therefore be sufficient under all circumstances and not require any seasonal manual adjustment. PS: Also to me, riding EGF really is close to a religious experience. I rode it for the first time and got four consecutive rides in the first row, and one in the last. Never before did I know why people love airtime so much. It´s an instant superman machine, and flying over the trees like this is just like a dream, the first drop and the first two airtime hills give you everything from near-death terror to total bliss, and all of that within seconds. The airtime yanked so good, I had sore hip joints. I wish the very best for HP´s executives´plans and want to thank them for building this cathedral of roller coasters and also for the tasty hot dogs and beer Norman

Hello everybody, this thread is intended to exchange background knowledge about our beloved scream machines. Since I´ve been working in the coaster industry for more than five years now, and already got positive feedback on TPR about sharing what relatively little knowledge I have on rollercoasters, I figured it might be a good idea to start this topic. Since I don´t want it to be my very own ubermenschen thread, everyone who thinks he has information worth sharing is very welcome, and all questions, be they from die-hard geeks or cute little infants, (who is who?) are vital too to keep the thing alive. This thread should stay clean of rumors and speculations as far as possible, in order to establish some quality time for the people reading it. High aims? Perhaps... but totally worth a try, I guess Norman

Airtime, Hairtime,... and Racktime! No doubt the king of all steel coasters: Norman "OMG I´m a celebrity now... "

Hi Dave, I´m working for Mr. Stengel´s office. (Funny one with the TP, I wondered when somebody was going to come up with this...) Norman

Hi everyone, people call me Norman or Norml or Norm or whatever, you decide since I seem to be getting too many names to care anymore. In 2003 I was lucky enough to catch a job in the coaster business, and since then I´ve been working on more than 50 rollercoasters. Mostly I do technical drawings for tracks, supports, bases and various details for wooden and steel coasters, working as a freelancing engineer. There are two sons of mine and their mom´s also still here, so we are a happy little family here. I live about 70 km west of Munich and spend most of my time here in my home office or with my family outdoors, browsing around and watching and laughing at our rascals. What else? I have a serious crush for handmade music and listen at least 4 hours everyday (all kinds of punk, rock, some metal, also unplugged kind of stuff, like Dead can Dance or even jazz...) and sometimes I like to shake the house by putting on some action movie on my home theater system, which is pretty big and plays loud enough to make you sweat just by being in the same room. Then I like barbecueing, grilling and cooking, and to compensate I like to go for walks or ride on bike, all of that pure and simple and not gearheaded at all. Then there are some minor hobbies like bowling, computing, reading, tinkering with things, watching people and backbiting them... So I´m totally your regular guy, just a pretty lucky one Norman

@SharkTums: Acoording to the current headlines of http://www.coastersandmore.de/ the coaster has already been sold to Gorki Park. Note that the makers of this site are pretty much dead serious about their work (they also feature some articles in English, in-depth technichal information with lots of excellent pictures). @Robb: I love to hear that! Still waiting for enough accommodation? @olimonn: Gruezi! You seem to have a pretty accurate picture of things going on That´s right, installation of prefab track is quicker and therefore saves overall time and money, although the costs for raw material and machining are higher. Making laminated track takes a lot more time and effort and may not last as long as prefab, so I think Intamin have a good point in their patent (and make the customers pay dearly to use it ?). Intamin own the commercial rights on this track created by Mr. Stengel´s office, as to my knowledge, which may be incomplete here. Since most of the joints in the supporting structure are made with standardized timber construction parts, noone can patent such a kind of prefab structure, the knowledge lies in correct analysis and dimensioning of the whole mess of timber, nails, screws, dowels, bolts, custom metal parts... @Ryancrash: Thank you. Work wasn´t that hard for me, I like to leave that to the others if I can Norman

To everyone, I´m always glad to tell as much as I can and know about coaster projects, so feel free to ask. Of course absolutely no information will be given out on any confidential matters, like upcoming roller coasters, specific technical problems and company secrets (not that I know of many...) To bridge the time until I meet you people again for some talk, some rides and maybe a few drinks - all of which I much prefer to posting around anywhere in the web. Special regards go to Ryan, Hanno, Piers, Lou, Jeff and Big Mike. And all the others whose names I forgot. Next time, let´s raid a bar Once again thanks to Robb and Elissa for the spontaneous and warm welcome - and for taking my pidgin I wonder if you are ever going to make a trip to the Oktoberfest? I´ve been going there ever since I was a rollercoaster doodling kid, so here´s your "guide". You know you can get some really decent food there. Smoked mackerels. Chicken and ox roast on the spit. Salmon, Champagne, Caviar, Fried Sausages, Horseradish, Dumplings, Sauerkraut, and tons of sweets... Probably the best and most varied in any TP related environment. Did I mention beer? As Eurostar will be sold to Russia soon, and no replacement to come, many coaster freaks are going to weep a little bit (like me) but will find plenty of solace in our infamous beer gardens (same). Norman

Expedition Geforce for me. Last row to the left. The beginning of this drop makes me feel like I´ll have to die NOW. Doesn´t get any better, imo.

^ Well, 90% of the structure of Mammut is prefab, the wooden track is not, but had to be laminated on the structure. (as opposite to Intamin woddies which also have prefab track) To ensure maximum protection, each single part of the structure is first completely machined, then impregnated. The single parts get shipped to site and all the assembly gets done there. Some minor parts, like such which only need a couple of nails and some adjusting, are prepared on site. So this is a prefab woodie, as opposed to such coasters which are made on site from raw beams, which rules out high precision industrial processing and proper impregnation and "record time" completion. Are you sure that Intamin owns the patents on the whole structure or only on the prefab wooden track which was not used in this case? (sorry for all the ot) cu Norman

Yes, Mammut has its rough sides, like lift hill engagement and some tail wiggling along certain parts of the track. While the former ought to be fixed, the latter is just a bit of wooden coaster feeling. I can hardly imagine how this coaster could cause fear of derailing? It´s rock solid and most accurately gauged, compared to most other woodies. So it´s almost a miracle there´s still quite some wooden coaster feeling left. For the speed - since I discussed it with the op in the morning, he told me that by afternoon Mammut would gain another 3 seconds from hilltop to brake. Doesn´t sound like much, but sure makes a difference.

^^^ Well, the cited company is not that new on the coaster market at all. Holzbau Cordes has been making the woodwork on quite some "plug-and-play" woodies like Colossus and El Toro. Just check out "Referenzen" on http://www.cordes-row.de/3/6/ The trains and electromechanical components are by Gerstlauer. What´s left? Some (A hell of a lot of!) foundation work and landscaping. So Mammut was made by collaboration of previously not collaborating companies, that´s what´s new about it. That and the magnetic brakes - the first of their kind on a wooden coaster. But who am I telling ?

Hi everyone, it´s about time I post my first one. I met up with TPR at Tripsdrill and Holiday Park, was repeatedly asked for a screen name and couldn´t offer one, so here we go. First of all, big thanks to Robb and Elissa for bringing that whole bunch of TP gurus over here, and for taking me along, also thanks to all the people who made my day just by coming from foreign countries and therefore let me practice my beloved old english again. As a man from the roller coaster business I really appreciate the work you people are doing here, for your contagious and enduring enthusiasm for TPs and rides is thus spread over the world and makes more people ride roller coasters and therefore helps me pay my rent and stuff. I hope we meet again soon! Now a few words on Mammut: Although I spent several months working on this wooden beauty, I´m not too disappointed to find that not everyone is too happy with this one: too slow, too little airtime, too tame etc. But this is the judgment of people who travel the world to ride (should I say live to ride? - no, you aren´t ACE) and therefore proves that Mammut was made just right. How? On the one hand it is intended to be a family coaster in a family park, on the other hand more intensity means more cost in the end, and it´s easy to figure how big an investment Mammut is for a park the size and like of Tripsdrill. So I really hope this coaster attracts plenty of crowd, not only because it should pay off, but also because I think it´s a real beauty and fits perfectly into the landscape and the park, and within it´s limits is very well laid out. It´s a coaster made for the eye more than most others, since Tripsdrill´s executives always took special care for architecture, old crafts, genuine materials (and boobs). So they hired a renowned theme park architect, among us engineering heads, and over months of discussion and design and discussion and redesign and so on, came up with this design, which I find - I repeat, within its limits - close to perfect. Of course, for myself I could easily take some more airtime and more of the things the ride deliberately lacks, but this whould shy people off, to the average park guest and in this environment Mammut is already very impressive and maybe even daunting, and the youth will love it as it is. None but the best heads in the business could have made this coaster exactly like it is. Just think twice about all those things you might take for granted. E.g., the track layout with the best feasible choice and succession of elements on limited space, including the mist tunnel. The beauti and balance of the structure. The integration into the park´s concept. It´s easier to do all these things with millions on end, and much harder to get it just right with what money, time and space you have. Just my 2 cents, some people here seem to have a similar point, some don´t, but I could agree with them all, since I have a professional and a personal view of things here. I like the Mammut experience as it is (almost as much as Gsengte Sau) and feel proud having been among the makers, but also find it not quite meeting my personal coaster needs. Since I can´t always travel as far as I want to, I hope someone will be there to build something crazy like Expedition Geforce right next door. Soon. Even Bigger cu Norman