S&S is building something seriously weird

[pǝʇɹǝʌuı]

In the Amusement Today video they said the flipping is "initiated by the track." I took that to mean that it is controlled, but most likely not as strictly as X2, where the flipping is mechanically controlled by a second set of rails. If I were to guess, I would think that there's some sort of gyroscope in the seats that responds to rapid changes in the track to make the seats flip but generally keeps riders 'face up' with respect to whatever forces are being pulled by the track. My reason for that is that it doesn't look like the seats are completely spinning out of control, but there's also no mechanism on the track like there is in X2 to keep the seats exactly where you want them (and it's highly unlikely that they would try to sync up the ride cycle remotely using just a computer in the train).

[Tanks4me05]

^Nah, it's freely rotating. The flipping is "initiated by the track" in the exact same way as it is on regular spinning coasters, suspended coasters and Zac Spins; the changing radius and orientation of the track moves the center of gravity of and imposes centripetal and gravitational forces on the cars such that it causes the seats to rotate.

[pǝʇɹǝʌuı]

^I figure it would at least be something like Time Traveler where the spinning is reduced at some points. There's also a factor of how fast the seats are designed to spin. Perhaps my physics intuition is failing me but in the video it doesn't really look like it's as free to rotate as, say, the free-spin model. I'm looking specifically where it comes out of the first turn; it doesn't seem to correct itself as fast as it should, which is in direct contrast to the first flip where it seems to spin very freely.

 

Correction: Scratch that, I was looking too deeply into just the AT video. The spinning pattern is clearly different in the video posted by S&S, so, yeah, I'm pretty sure it does spin freely.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

That looks really cool, even just as a prototype. Would love to see a full sized version of this somewhere.

[grsupercity]

The 4D free spins use magnets to control the spins, I wonder if magnets could be used on here to reduce out of control spinning

[pryonisys]

I know this is just saying the same thing as everyone else, but this looks cool, I hope that we see one of these one day in a park

[Tanks4me05]

^^Possibly. It looks like there might be a brake rotor attached to each seat spindle, but the videos so far don't show the back of the train for long enough for me to see if there's a caliper and where it would be.

[CarolinaJay]

Could you imagine if this was going to freaking KD in place of Volcano?!! DUDE THAT WOULD BE FREAKING SICK!!!!

I think the last thing KD wants right now is another prototype/first of a kind.

 

You got a point. But, it would be pretty damn epic if this type of coaster replaced Volcano. It would be super unexpected and truly brand new. I do see your point though. Let a guy dream haha.

[Coastard69]

The ride looks insane and awesome

[tdaun]

^^Possibly. It looks like there might be a brake rotor attached to each seat spindle, but the videos so far don't show the back of the train for long enough for me to see if there's a caliper and where it would be.

 

They have magnets inside the disk behind the seats, they're essentially there as a dampener to ensure that rotation is smooth and doesn't get out of control. I had an opportunity to ride the prototype last week and it was an absolutely fantastic ride. I really hope these get picked up by the parks because this ride was one of the most awesome experiences I've had on a roller coaster.

[A.J.]

I'm curious as to why they're going with a lower-capacity two seats per car as opposed to the four-seat fourth dimension / wing coaster design that they originally debuted the concept with.