World's Longest Coaster

[CedarFlags]

A random reply to a twitter thread on Falcon's Flight lead me down a rabbit hole and I'm curious how The Community™ feels about it.  This is an incredibly niche hyper fixation, but I can't be the only one on here who cares.

Steel Dragon 2000 has held the record for world's longest coaster since 2000, at 8,100 ft (2,468 m).  And when Falcon's Flight opens, it's poised to break the record with a length of 13,900 ft (4236 m).  HOWEVER.  There are three mountain coasters in operation that are substantially longer than Steel Dragon, and one that's substantially longer than Falcon's Flight.

Tobotronc, a mountain coaster that opened in 2007 is a staggering 17,300 ft (5,273 m) long.  So in my opinion, it should rightfully be the World's Longest coaster. 

Rodelbahn opened in 1999 with a length of over 10,000 ft (3,048 m), so Steel Dragon was actually never the world's longest coaster.

I think that if a mountain coaster counts as a credit (and most of us do), then it should count as a record holder.  If Superman: The Escape counts as enough of a roller coaster to hold world records (even when it opened after Tower of Terror), I see no reason why a mountain coaster couldn't.

[prozach626]

Where's the "who cares" selection?

[Anything]

Title was about length, but height seems more of the cheating part to me.

[BobloLives]

...but what about girth?

 

Mountain coasters don't "count" to me because you as a rider are in partial control of your speed.

 

[prozach626]

I'm actually really surprised people are voting yes, if I'm being completely honest.

[CedarFlags]

On 4/16/2024 at 8:45 AM, BobloLives said:

...but what about girth?

 

Mountain coasters don't "count" to me because you as a rider are in partial control of your speed.

 

There are a handful of older coasters that have manually controlled brakes.  Does it matter if it's a customer vs employee who has the lever?

[DoinItForTheFame]

16 hours ago, prozach626 said:

I'm actually really surprised people are voting yes, if I'm being completely honest.

Same. 
 

I always thought that the majority of enthusiast never counted them as credits, so why would mountain coasters count in this case…? 

[bill_s]

Mountain coasters use automatic speed regulation, which allows a mix of actual coasting and design methods more comparable to a powered coaster. This allows essentially unlimited length and height differential. So within those 2 specifications, they are in their own category, though still impressive. And they're still coasters and no way would I not call them credits, for one thing those seats make you pay. 

[SoCalJasonland]

On 4/23/2024 at 6:07 PM, prozach626 said:

I'm actually really surprised people are voting yes, if I'm being completely honest.

Six Flags set a poor precedent when they called Larson Loopers or large Fireballs coasters and SFMM Superman is barely a coaster.  If just the loop or a section of up hill track qualify as coasters, then a lift hill plus a continuous section of downhill track should be a coaster. As far a controlling speed, isn't there a scream launched coaster where the louder you yell, the faster it goes? 

[CedarFlags]

On 5/2/2024 at 7:35 AM, bill_s said:

Mountain coasters use automatic speed regulation, which allows a mix of actual coasting and design methods more comparable to a powered coaster. This allows essentially unlimited length and height differential. So within those 2 specifications, they are in their own category, though still impressive. And they're still coasters and no way would I not call them credits, for one thing those seats make you pay. 

"automatic speed regulation"...  so, like, brakes?  Every mountain coaster I've been on is powered entirely by the Potential Energy of pulling the ride vehicle up a lift, not by powering the ride vehicle.

[bill_s]

On 5/3/2024 at 6:15 PM, CedarFlags said:

"automatic speed regulation"...  so, like, brakes?  Every mountain coaster I've been on is powered entirely by the Potential Energy of pulling the ride vehicle up a lift, not by powering the ride vehicle.

Yes, brakes. Supposedly limiting them to about 25 MPH. I've only been on one and it felt more like it really only limited the speed on curves, the harder you hit the curve the more you slow down. However it works, they appear to be designed by following a simple set of design rules such as slope angle, versus having to calculate speed affected by everything that comes before a particular point on the ride. Powered coasters use the opposite mechanism, but if the result is also regulated speed, it similarly simplifies design and theoretically allows unlimited length; there is far more question if they're really coasters however. Maybe if someone made a ride that immediately hit the governor and stayed there, but they don't. The threshold for a "credit" isn't very high.

[CedarFlags]

On 5/8/2024 at 7:51 AM, bill_s said:

Yes, brakes. Supposedly limiting them to about 25 MPH. I've only been on one and it felt more like it really only limited the speed on curves, the harder you hit the curve the more you slow down. However it works, they appear to be designed by following a simple set of design rules such as slope angle, versus having to calculate speed affected by everything that comes before a particular point on the ride. Powered coasters use the opposite mechanism, but if the result is also regulated speed, it similarly simplifies design and theoretically allows unlimited length; there is far more question if they're really coasters however. Maybe if someone made a ride that immediately hit the governor and stayed there, but they don't. The threshold for a "credit" isn't very high.

I've been on several mountain coasters and, just like traditional coasters, they feature trim brakes to keep the ride vehicles traveling at the intended speed for the design in certain areas.  Some sections of the layout are meant to be taken faster or slower.

Also I have no clue where your "unlimited length" theory is coming from because brakes remove energy from the ride vehicle, they don't add energy.  You can't have unlimited length on something that gets its energy from being pulled up a hill and coasting back down.

[CedarFlags]

On 4/23/2024 at 6:07 PM, prozach626 said:

I'm actually really surprised people are voting yes, if I'm being completely honest.

Maybe it's the 'tism speaking but... I think the people voting No are considering form more than function.  The mechanics of being hoisted up a lift hill, then riding a rolling ride vehicle through a layout of track, converting potential energy into kinetic energy.... that's what a roller coaster is.  That's what mountain coasters do, they just have different ride vehicles.

[prozach626]

Can't common sense play in as a factor, though? This is like the Facebook argument someone tried to start with me saying every single animal's life is just as valuable as a child's, because we're all in the mammal species so we're all equal. (I actually just deleted my Facebook app again because of it...)

At a certain point you have to put aside the technicalities. 

[bill_s]

None of this really matters, but if the discussion goes on for more than 30 seconds, one should probably mention the technically longest one AND the one as massive and fast as would be expected of a huge ride. If only one is stated, most say it is the latter, and I don't blame them.

16 hours ago, CedarFlags said:

I've been on several mountain coasters and, just like traditional coasters, they feature trim brakes to keep the ride vehicles traveling at the intended speed for the design in certain areas.  Some sections of the layout are meant to be taken faster or slower.

Also I have no clue where your "unlimited length" theory is coming from because brakes remove energy from the ride vehicle, they don't add energy.  You can't have unlimited length on something that gets its energy from being pulled up a hill and coasting back down.

Weigand's datasheet states "Manual brake and centrifugal brake in vehicle" and maximum 40 km/h. While there are other ways to make a long coaster that never hits high speeds, the centrifugal brake surely makes that a lot easier. Of course there are practical limits, but having to regulate speed by the complex calculations and braking systems of most other kinds of coasters is not one of them. I'm still left wondering if the centrifugal brake is a mechanism, or just uses the centrifugal force during curves to regulate speed, which it certainly does.

[CedarFlags]

On 5/10/2024 at 10:05 PM, prozach626 said:

Can't common sense play in as a factor, though? This is like the Facebook argument someone tried to start with me saying every single animal's life is just as valuable as a child's, because we're all in the mammal species so we're all equal. (I actually just deleted my Facebook app again because of it...)

At a certain point you have to put aside the technicalities. 

Superman at SFMM is counted as a credit, and held two world records... and arguing that attraction counts as a coaster takes WAY more mental gymnastics and "well technically" justification.