BridgeMan

Looks like it's still there in the concept art. I think it's pretty admirable they're looking to squeeze it in and keep the speedway.

Great photos! The window you're asking about is where the Space Spiral main controls were. The window on the roof was so you could see the top of the tower, useful when parking it halfway up at night.

Nevermind Akbar's, who remembers Questor? Or for that matter, when the 4D theater was a dolphin show.

A little 'working' of the steel is more common than you'd think. Some pieces just take a little more work than others. The hammering you usually hear in steel erection is alignment pins being driven into bolt holes If said piece is missing than it's a little more than that. It's pretty wild if you think that this kind of thing doesn't happen more often, given the geometry of rides nowadays.

^^ It's likely a bit trickier than that. I'm with you that it's just not in place on the other side. If it doesn't fit, just call it a "World's First" element.

I don't want to beat this one to death, but just wanted to put another Engineers' stamp on it... Bear with me as I nerd out on this. As part of the design for any large foundation, be it for a building, bridge or large ride, soil borings are made to determine the soil properties at different depths. In a case like this, one large foundation would only require one or two borings to be pretty accurate, unlike a long bridge that may have nearly 100. A tall structure doesn't necessarily need deeper piles, it all depends on the soil. Looking at old pictures from Dragster construction, I believe each leg of the tower is on one large spread footing. Most, if not all of the foundations for Cheetah Hunt are spread footings as well. I've worked on quite a few foundations in the Tampa area that only consist of 30'x30' spread footings, some supporting upwards of 2.1 million pounds. That's not to say piles couldn't be necessary. Florida gets pretty unique in terms of Geotechnical Engineering, as we usually don't have any rock layer to bear on, usually just a very dense sand layer. The really long piles have most of their capacity from the friction between the soil and the surface area of a pile. Take the bridge on SR 408 over Lake Underhill by the executive airport for example. That lake is really just a sinkhole. The bridge is supported on piles 30" square nearly 200 feet in depth, the longest in the state of Florida. The first 100 feet of soil is so weak, it's considered to add no capacity to the pile. I've seen many foundations in quite a few states - you could put me down as surprised if the foundation became cost prohibitive.

^^^The "temp bridge" you're referring to in the second photo is falsework for the concrete bridge slab; formwork for the underside.

Robb, sadly I've heard it will be just that - an addition of the castle section before the lift with the existing layout.

Great photos! I can't believe they let you get that close to the ride while it's running. Certainly looks worth the money!

You'd be surprised how straight some section look when they're by their lonesome. That piece is probably leading into the figure eight or in the drop out of it.

Take a look at the video - it's on the DIY network website. The car is designed to clear the brake calipers.

Assuming ffejie is talking about George Boeckling, there's a huge difference between an smart business man who knew how to promote the place versus someone who "has a fair idea of what's going on and provides advice and suggestions as and when his spare time permits." (Quoted from their website) Boeckling also razed the Racer in 1929, not rebuild it with unskilled labor and pickup trucks. Think about the task at hand for just a minute. How do you go about disassembling several hundred thousand board feet of lumber? You're certainly not going to do that with volunteers. Semi trucks ain't cheap. Neither are rental cranes, skilled carpenters, surveyors, etc. It's like so many people have been saying in this thread - show us how, not just that you're going to.

While the Crazed Love scarezone looks "interesting" to say the least, I dig the actors they had mixed into the crowd during the concert. Great report!

I've got the first drop already loaded!

I second Skycoastin Steve. Ever ridden the Thunderbolt at Kennywood? Years ago when I rode it, there were no dividers on each bench. There had to be two riders in each row and they required the smaller rider to site on a certain side (can't remember which one). One ride through the helix and it made perfect sense.

Interesting stuff, thanks for posting! I always find it amazing how they're able fold up some of those rides and fit them into the space of a normal semi truck.

Anyone else notice the screw type plugs near the top of some of the shorter pieces? I seem to recall Maverick having the same feature so the columns could be filled with sand. Perhaps a feature to keep the sound down for the animals, if only a small amount.

I remember seeing a couple of the leaked plans that showed trains with OTSRs. Doesn't seem there will be the Millennium Force level of freedom so many of us love. Now get ready for the foam vs. soft restraint argument...

^^ Try refreshing the page. The third video is up and I think we'll all be VERY happy with what we're seeing! No slowdown into the second launch and some POV in the tower.

^Absolutely! Having moved up to VA in May, I'm looking forward to finally having a chance to check it out. Any good tips?

Awesome news! Imagine launching just out of the station, flying through the buildings, launching up a hill and dropping down towards the river just like BBW used to. I can only hope!

So is this lure track in the photo going to be used to have the cheetahs chase food & lures inside the exhibit? It's great how drastic the changes are going to be in this area.

As exciting as all this equipment talk can be, I'll add on a bit - the piling rig currently on site can actually act as both a 'drill' and a 'driver.'. The blue unit currently attached to the rig is a vibratory hammer and it does just what it's called. They'll grab a sheet pile with it's jaws, turn it on and like a knife through butter the sheet goes in the ground. A drilling rig can be attached to the machine as well, and depending on the foundations used here it may be the same rig that does the work. Hayward Baker, the subcontractor doing the foundation work has good pictures and descriptions on their website. Progress on this ride should be fun to watch in the upcoming months!

Most likely the grey paint is primer. They ground down the joints and have put primer on before the color is applied. All the structural steel I've seen has had grey primer.

Those posts in question - I'm willing to bet they're for all the 'rockwork'. The steel structure under the rocks will attach to them. If someone lined up the model with some photos, it'll probably line up where all the false rock is going.