General Carowinds discussion
By Deja Vu Dude
#7450
Hello, on Monday I was at Carowinds and I noticed that it rained alot. At one point, it was pooring, but all the rides were still open. I asked a ride op. why Borg was down and he said because of the rain. I thought it was pretty pathetic. No wonder Borg has low compacity. It just wasnt right. I was getting ready to enter the station when the closed it.............................By the way, Front row rules!!!!!!!
By The Anomaly
#7452
I can't too much blame them for closing. As much as that thing breaks down I don't think anyone would want to spend a good thirty minutes face up in the pouring rain. What wasn't right about them closing it? Ricochet doesn't run in the rain, is that wrong and why?
By Trev32
#7455
Anomoly's right would you want to be facing up in the pouring rain??? Didn't think so...


Richochet dosen't run in the rain?? Why do they clsoe that??
By RollerBee
#7460
Rain makes the track wet and the cars tend to run "faster". Maybe Carowinds thinks the ride would be too strong when it is raining, or maybe they just feel like closing it.
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By bgwfreak
#7468
Also, Borg is the tallest coaster in the park and they aren't going to run something that is that tall for fear of being struck by lightning.

They also shut down Top Gun when there's lightning in the area.

And trust me, a coaster in the rain is not fun. Alpengeist was down right painful in the rain.
By thewinds
#7472
Ricochet and Borg close in the rain as they use tires to stop the units after the fin brakes, and braking is not effective on the tires once they become wet. To compare, Vortex uses a similar method, but there are differences. One is that Vortex comes to a complete stop via fin braking before proceeding to the drive tires. Also, on Vortex the drive tires are not on an incline as they are on the aforementioned rides and therefore the tires are not providing a braking function.
Despite of these inconveniences, things are much better than they used to be. You older folks may remember the days when all the coasters used to close during and after a rain during the times of friction brakes.
Hope this helps.
By Dukeis#1
#7473
^lol! I remember hearing that Thunder Road's trains would often over run the station (or bump into a another train) when the old skid-brakes were wet from rain. Sounds like loads of fun! :lol:
By The Anomaly
#7474
SFOG seems to have a different policy regarding this. All of their roller coasters shut down for rain and won't reopen until the rain has stopped for thirty consecutive minutes. This was the policy back in 2002. I don't know if it has changed since then.
By Cephas
#7479
When we were at cedar point, we were next for the Wildcat, then it shut down for rain because it uses tires for the lift.
By carowindsfreak13
#7540
That is so weird but still it has to do with saftey reasons.