Official Drachen Fire Thread [Merged]

[niiicolaaah]

i rode FOF in 1998 at PKD... and loved it. I used my SLC-riding method of pressing my head against one side of the restraint the whole ride, and emerged unscathed.

 

I also got to watch Volcano under construction that day. I wish I could find those photos I took of it. It was a pretty cool experience; the only other time I've seen a coaster under construction was Silver Comet at Martin's Fantasy Island, which I can see from my window. I also saw a piece of B&M track on a truck heading up the I-90 a couple years ago. It was destined to be Vampire at LaRonde, judging by the colour scheme and the fact that no park in NY has a B&M. Wow I've gone off on a tangent.

 

Anyway, I probably would have loved DF!

 

Nicole "I ain't 'fraid of no horsecollar" T.

[djzack67]

Drachen Fire had that unique 1st drop. What was the element called. and has it ever been duplated on any other coaster?

 

Thanks

[Loefet]

Its called Wraparound Corkscreew. RCDB - Drachen Fire

 

And what I´m aware of, that is the only coaster that have had one.

[djzack67]

Its called Wraparound Corkscreew. RCDB - Drachen Fire

 

And what I´m aware of, that is the only coaster that have had one.

 

Cool, thats what i thought. Just checking. Thanks for your input.

[ECZenith]

And yes, it was the only coaster to have that kind of first drop. I miss it so...

[djzack67]

Sean,

 

What was that inversion like? What did it feel like?

[ECZenith]

I only got to ride it once, and I was very young. I don't remember the coaster all that well, I just remember I was scared to death because it was one of the first coasters I rode with inversions.

 

I don't remember that particular element being rough, it's basically just a corkscrew halfway down the drop. What made it cool was that it was so high up in the air. The part I really liked about that ride, asides from the cobra roll, was the cutback element, which started as a corkscrew and right after flipping you upside down, came back back down on the same side.

[djzack67]

Thats great. I do alot of those elements in my coasters for RCT. Thanks for the intrest.

[pkdcoaster]

Sean,

 

What was that inversion like? What did it feel like?

 

It was very unique depending on the seat.

 

Front of train- You would be facing st8 down when the train would "stall" and you would be thrown forward into the harness (similar to the Impulses)

 

Middle of the Train- was cool cause when you "stalled", you were upside down and be weightless against the harness

 

Back of the train- Very cool to be whipped around the back half of the inversion into the drop.

 

you can see my DF video in the Video forums section to give you a better Idea of the hangtime on it.

 

Interesting fact alot of you might not know.

DF first test run was unsuccessful cause it did not make it through that first inversion (cause of the cold temps they were testing it in and the wheel grease was hard) So they installed heaters along the track (station,E-brakes,MCBR, and top of the lift) to heat the grease, and man you could really feel the heat from thoses things. They were only there through the 1992 season..I will try to post a pic from a Brakeless test POV I have from the park from the 1992 season

 

JEFF

[CoasterFanatic]

// Moderator Note:

 

I have gone ahead and merged the most recent Drachen Fire threads into one "official" thread. Seems like this is a popular topic.

[gravitywolf216]

Also the trains had running lights along the sides that people really got a kick out of.

 

I remeber riding it the year "Escape From Pompii came out" it was a great ride. The 1st. inversion had so much airtime, it was the scariest thing for me! I totally thought I was gonna fall out. I remember seeing the running light's from Loch Ness' lift hill, but I never rode it at night.

[djzack67]

Thanks for you help Jeff.

Will Look forward to upcoming information.

[DragonLord]

I wish I could find my old "operator's manual" for Drachen Fire. It is in my parent's attic somewhere. It had every bit of info you could ever need for that ride. The cutback was a great element that got alot of attention since it was right above the walkway.

 

People used to love the lights on the cars too. BTW, they were just Christmas lights. There was a toggle switch on the back of each car, very simple.

It was a very good coaster mechanically; it never once broke down while I was there.

[pkdcoaster]

Funny you mention that, as many times as I rode it (alot) I remember it being down like once for 10 min. The lights were a great touch but also awkward for the park cause there was NO lighting for the ride what so ever (my guess is to exemplify the train lights) and once again made a hard to find ride even more difficult to find. Always a walk on a night.

 

JEFF

[paulosthejackal]

I have never seen or been on this ride but this rates as a massively important ride IMHO. This is from the time when we were begining to find out B&M were going to make the nineties and Arrow perhaps began their descent (excuse the pun) from form.

 

I have always read and believed that the disign of this ride was initially B&M and that they had to pass on the work to Arrow because they were busy with KUMBA? Someone has said something different so could someone clarify this. Just be interesting to know either way.

[pkdcoaster]

Some people say no on the Kumba thing and I think they are crazy LOOK at the lift structure....It Screams "look at me I was supposed to be a B&M"

 

2. Zero g camelback hump (not an inversion but Arrow was not gonna attempt that)

3. Cobra roll

4. Interlocking corkscrews (originally)

5. Helix at the end

 

I am pretty sure the story was like this, BGW wanted a new big coaster for 1992 (PKD just built Anaconda in 1991) They hired B&M but were busy with the inverted coaster (Batman 1992). B&M could not deliver it for the 1992 season so the basic layout was shown to Arrow, they slapped something together in 6 months and it was DF (Remember Arrow was the KING back then and they had had 2 big hits previously with them in LNM and BBW) Kumba was built for BGT instead in 1993.

Drachen Fire was a HUGE hit in 1992 but after the Ads stopped nobody knew it was there (location,location,location).

 

JEFF

Check out the B&M lift structure! (Don't tell me there was not a B&M influence on the ride)

Another better shot of the lift

[djzack67]

as paulosthejackal says, i heard the same thing, that its wasn't an arrow project to start with.

[Joe Cool]

Wouldnt that be kick ass if B&M came out with there original Drachen Fire version?

[paulosthejackal]

I to would love to see B&M build something like DF, the first drop/inversion is what i would love to ride. (Obviously with the track continuing through the ride to the station otherwise we would all be dead).

 

I'm glad people are with me on the B&M thing anyhoo.

 

I also read somewhere on my internet travals that Arrow design thier Cars differently to B&M ssomething to do with the heartline of the rider.

 

Great photos by the way, best I have seen.

 

Edit: I'm sure you have all read this little article...

http://history.amusement-parks.com/drachenfire.htm

[ECZenith]

Yeah, that first shot in particular is incredible!

[Teddymonster]

I just wanted to say that I rode Drachen Fire quite a few times and while it DOES have quite a unique layout for an Arrow, the ride was total Vekoma-like torture on the neck and the head. I personally don't miss it for the purpose of riding, but I do miss it because it took up space and increased BGW's coaster count. Shallow? Maybe, but true.

[pkdcoaster]

I just wanted to say that I rode Drachen Fire quite a few times and while it DOES have quite a unique layout for an Arrow, the ride was total Vekoma-like torture on the neck and the head. I personally don't miss it for the purpose of riding, but I do miss it because it took up space and increased BGW's coaster count. Shallow? Maybe, but true.

 

I used to think Arrows were alot worse (roughness) when I was a kid and I believe it is your heads position at that age in relation to the harness. Perhaps you would have felt differently if you were an adult (body) when you rode it.

 

JEFF

[Teddymonster]

^You know, I did take what you mentioned into consideration when I was typing earlier, but I really don't see how it would be too much different as other Arrows are still a bit rough on me.

[pkdcoaster]

^You know, I did take what you mentioned into consideration when I was typing earlier, but I really don't see how it would be too much different as other Arrows are still a bit rough on me.

 

Well.... your ears would not be banging directly into the harness

 

like these unsuspecting minors

http://members.tripod.com/~jmbagb/images/drachenfire97.gif

 

JEFF

[willski]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, and more no.

 

 

 

B&M had nothing (and I do mean nothing) to do with the Arrow design of Drachen Fire. DF was solely an Arrow project, designed by the master of pain himself, Ron Toomer.

 

In 1992, B&M was working on perfecting their Inverted coaster (which debuted that year as B:TR at SFGAdv). Originally, Arrow was contracted to build two looping coasters for the Busch parks. However, Busch wanted a looping coaster with a loop around the lift hill, and as Arrow was unable to offer that, they went with B&M instead of Arrow for Kumba. Once again, B&M never had any affiliation with Drachen Fire, as witnessed by the awful transitions that only Arrow and Toomer could provide.