B&M Dive Machine for Chimelong Paradise

[TheStig]

^B&M came from Giovanola.

[Airtime&Gravity]

I thought that they came from Intamin. I thought that Giovanola was the contractor, and that B&M broke off and formed a new company.

 

I'm not sure how well themed this park is, but the coaster looks nice already, and with some theming, it can look really nice.

[InsanityFreak]

I don't know if it's been said or not but this will be a floorless DM.

 

You can tell by the diamond plate panels that run along side of the lift running rails. Griffon came with them and SheiKra installed them for the floorless conversion. They support the evacuation platforms the ride operators use to help remove guests from the ride.

[kraxleRIDAH]

I thought that they came from Intamin. I thought that Giovanola was the contractor, and that B&M broke off and formed a new company.

 

Ya, it's been said that Claude and Walter were a team that worked at Intamin AG and the pair left the firm to start up their own -- which became known as Bolliger & Mabillard.

 

Giovanola is a contractor and manufacturer of steel parts. They didn't start building their own rides until 1999 with Anaconda in Gold Reef City. Their last coaster project was Titan at Six Flags Over Texas, after which they left the coaster building business (at least the design aspect of it).

 

I'm sure someone here has more insight about the beginnings of B&M, but that's not me.

[Swimace]

^As far as I know Giovanola went bankrupt in 2004 so it's no longer in the coaster business at all.

[kraken613]

Bucsh did such a good job with the DM. It will be a sad day when a Six Flags gets a generic DM called Goliath!

[hyyyper]

^how's that? the more DM's the better IMO

[kraxleRIDAH]

It will be a sad day when a Six Flags gets a generic DM called Goliath!

 

Who are you kidding? That would be a great day. Like noted above, the more Diving Machines, the better. I've yet to hop on one myself...maybe for 2011, Magic Mountain can build The Goliath's Revenge - Fly at the Speed of Diving Machine Coaster...that way I'll be able to get a Diving Machine credit without having to fly out to Williamsburg or Tampa.

[kraken613]

I love having the rides themed! Thats why I like Bucsh so much!

[Scaparri]

^I get the feeling that Six Flags is really moving up in that category though. Sure, they aren't to Busch's level by any means, but I feel like they've done a pretty good job with the Tony Hawk rides. It's definitely a step in the right direction! And it looks they might be taking another big step in the right direction with the Dark Knight coasters. I don't expect anything from Goliath, but they could do some good stuff with Evil Knievel if they want, granted only time will tell how they do with that. My point though, is that I think Shapiro has got the right idea as far as theming things go. However, I still don't see many B&M dive machines popping up anytime soon.

[stormrider]

One thing I do wonder: will this new B&M coaster be copied by chinese ride designers, like they did with the Vekoma SLC. I mean there could be a chance that we see B&M style track that's not made by B&M in the future.

 

Haha! I'm scared of that. The track would be bent weird, the square sections would be shoddily made, no heart lining,... The Vekoma track is probably alot cheaper and simpler for them to copy (since it's based on tubes) than the square track B&M uses (I know how tubes are bent, yet I don't know how B&M track is made, maybe a bunch of triangles are welded together?). Although it might be good if they could make B&M style rides that aren't so expensive...

 

On topic, this ride seems really cartoonish to me with its bright colors. I honestly wish more rides were happy looking like this. I'm tired of red and blue, red and black, red and white... Blood red and yellow looks nice to me.

[Gutterflower]

just a quick update.

did some searching in chinese and came up with this

 

 

http://www.chimelong.com/SubCompany/?s=2&t=11&Id=757

 

not much more but construction progresses

 

Edit: and a slightly more recent one

 

 

http://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/news/2007/10-28/1061461.shtml

[odene497]

I wish B&M made dive machines a lot longer.

[Scaparri]

^Yeah, me too. I'd mostly like to see them do a little more after the first drop before hitting the brakes. They all just do a drop, inversion, and one turn max before the mid-course brakes. It'd be nice if they could have them take a few more turns or do another inversion before hitting the MCBs.

[coasterfreak101]

Woah! The immelmann actually goes all the way down to the ground!

 

Anyways, it looks alright so far. Nothing different, unfortunately...unless we see a dive loop after that second drop!

 

Which, by the way, doesn't look too big or too steep..

 

And just to throw it out there, whatever support-less appearance they were going for with the MCBR is ugly, in my opinion.

[Shockwave]

Whilst I think a couple of extra elements would be nice, I wouldn't want anything to take too much away from the big vertical drop which is the trademark of the Dive Machine. That is perhaps the biggest selling point of the ride to Joe Public, and so far these coasters haven't needed to have much extra added to them, because their piece de resistance is such a strong one.

 

Busch's rides were a fairly big step up from the first two models, which solely relied on one big drop for the thrill. But from a business point of view, there's not much point adding unnecessary extras to something which is gonna take away the effect what a ride was designed to do and dilute the experience.

[speedracer]

^ Totally agree, if a park wants more elements and a longer ride, they can just build a floorless for probably alot less. As you said, the point of a Dive Machine is the drop, everything else is just icing on the cake.

[Scaparri]

^Yes, I'll give you guys that. But if there was a dive machine that was 3500-4000 ft long and still had the 200ft vertical drop with the holding brake, as well as a vertical drop after the mid-course brakes, wouldn't that still make the big vertical drop the trademark of the ride?

 

I understand what you guys are saying. I'd just like to have a 'little more' before the mid-course brakes instead of having the momentum and pace killed so fast.

[kraken613]

It looks alot shorter than Griffon.

[Ed]

^ They haven't finished it yet...

 

I'm pretty sure it will duck under the MCBR towards the station, do a splash and then go straight into the brakes.

[InsanityFreak]

If you look at the new photos you can tell that it will be floorless and feature a longer train like Griffon.

[kraken613]

^ They haven't finished it yet...

 

I'm pretty sure it will duck under the MCBR towards the station, do a splash and then go straight into the brakes.

 

I mean how tall it is.

[coasterfreak101]

^Griffon is 205 feet, this one is 196 feet. About 10 feet in between.

 

I wonder how tall the immelmann is...I'm gonna guess 130'.

[Wood Dragon 1988]

^Good lord, do stats really matter that much?

 

Posts like that remind me of all the Griffon fanboyism last year.

[Scaparri]

^Did you even read the entire conversation? There's nothing fanboyish about what he said. The kid just mentioned that it looks short, so he's putting it into perspective by comparing it's height to Griffon's.