Schwarzkopf's Thriller up for sale

[richtrav]

I rode it at Astroworld, it was one of those rides you endured more than enjoyed. The Viper right next to it was definitely funner.

[Swede]

Everyone's ridden certain roller coasters "in their prime" - such as Intimidator 305 in 2010 and Alpengeist before they turned up the mid-course brake, among others. Were the raised loops really that much of a change for the ride? Is 6.5 Gs down to 5.X Gs really that much of a difference?

 

Wait, this thing did 6.5Gs? That's Moonsault Scramble level. Crazy. I imagine turning it down to 5.X made it more re-ridable in one day.

[A.J.]

Wait, this thing did 6.5Gs? That's Moonsault Scramble level. Crazy. I imagine turning it down to 5.X made it more re-ridable in one day.

Yep. For reference, the big Schwarzkopf loopers (Source) -

 

Dreier Looping - 6.1 G

Mindbender (Galaxyland) - 6.7 G

Thriller / Texas Tornado - 6.5 G

Olympia Looping - 5.2 G

 

Also, the mountain railroads, BMRX / Knightmare and Jetline, pull 5 Gs each.

 

Olympia Looping is probably the most comparable to Tsunami as it stands today, as Olympia's first loop is pretty high off the ground. If Schwarzkopf were to be designing roller coasters today, he'd probably have to be a little bit more careful when turning the Gs up as to not physically hurt anyone. I'd imagine that's why Premier made the modifications they did in the first place. I'd bet that Tsunami still pulls nearly 5.5 Gs though.

[gerstlaueringvar]

^ Back then there wasn't any regulations on how much force a roller coaster is allowed to pull. Stengel was getting the statics from astronauts and use them on roller coasters. 6.5Gs might be a lot for most people but for astronauts that's probably nothing. After Stengel established the safety and force regulations, his designs don't pull that many Gs anymore. Thriller might be a part-experimental project when he was still exploring so pushing 6.5 is understandable IMO.

[Iron Wolf 90-11]

I hope that somebody purchases this coaster. Schwarzkopf coasters are pieces of art and are becoming rarer and rarer. I hope this one doesn't end up at the scrapyard.

[805Andrew]

I rode this when it was Zonga at SF Marine World and it was awful. I'm all for saving Anton Schwarzkopf's masterpieces, but this was one of his duds, at least in its state as Zonga. If no one is willing to buy it, or its been at so many places over the years, that's usually a sign that it was bad. Just because its from an awesome manufacturer doesn't make it a great ride automatically. Intamin makes awesome coasters as well and a lot of the best in the world, but they also made Flashback. So I vote to scrap this ride once and for all.