[coasterfanbase]

Thats not as bad as what SFGAm had at their media day for Dark Knight, they had children ages 1yr to 12yr running around and crying and screaming wearing masks.

[Capler]

On the launch theory; if that were the case, wouldn't we be seeing some heavy duty electrical infrastructural work taking place that would support such a power hungry monster? On Hulk, I've read somewhere that though it is a reliable launch system, it is not very practical because of the high maintenance cost required to keep it operating. This may explain why we have not seen another one. One thing about a standard B&M is that you can plug it in and it is fairly worry free. It is beyond me why a park would spend millions on a maintenance nightmare that is expensive to operate. I'm happy for Dominion but something tells me that the Carowinds coaster is the better deal for the company and the public. I will be pissed if I drove all the way to Virginia and their little experiment is not working on that day. But in all fairness, Volcano was temperamental for a while when it first opened. Now it's like Old Faithful.

[RiDeWaRrIoR]

If you read the banner it says....

Record Breaking
History Making

Carowinds.com

8.26.09

[Dude]

If you read the banner it says....

Record Breaking
History Making

Carowinds.com

8.26.09

That makes sense now. Ok, I'll check carowinds.com on august 26!

[CarowindsFan]

That makes scents now.

I don't smell anything. Wait.... mmm bacon!

[Jstbcool]

KI did do an in park announcement of Diamondback as well as launching a website. Be warned if its anything like Diamondback the website will be swarmed and may not load every time. The POV's took forever right after the announcement.

[dailyshow]

On the launch theory; if that were the case, wouldn't we be seeing some heavy duty electrical infrastructural work taking place that would support such a power hungry monster? On Hulk, I've read somewhere that though it is a reliable launch system, it is not very practical because of the high maintenance cost required to keep it operating. This may explain why we have not seen another one. One thing about a standard B&M is that you can plug it in and it is fairly worry free. It is beyond me why a park would spend millions on a maintenance nightmare that is expensive to operate. I'm happy for Dominion but something tells me that the Carowinds coaster is the better deal for the company and the public. I will be pissed if I drove all the way to Virginia and their little experiment is not working on that day. But in all fairness, Volcano was temperamental for a while when it first opened. Now it's like Old Faithful.

I’m assuming that most of you are continuing this "launched hyper" debate for the sake of humor at this point and not because you actually believe this will be a reality...so in that spirit; I was at IOA last month and I could be wrong but I think Hulk is tire launched and not LIM launched -- like would require all the supplementary equipment that you are talking about here. I’m not sure how large (footprint) the "power plant" for Hulks launch requires but I cant imagine that it is anywhere near as large as the one required for a magnet launch. Therefore if there was the slightest possibility that B&M had agreed to do such a coaster then it probably isn’t feasible to think that you would be able to tell either way this early in the build.

As a side note, maybe I am just in the dark here, but is there really so much evidence that this is going to be a launched hyper to justify there being so many pages about it on here; other than the resurecting of the name (which doesnt hold much water with me)?

[Dude]

That makes scents now.

I don't smell anything. Wait.... mmm bacon!

what?

[WindsWaker]

On the launch theory; if that were the case, wouldn't we be seeing some heavy duty electrical infrastructural work taking place that would support such a power hungry monster? On Hulk, I've read somewhere that though it is a reliable launch system, it is not very practical because of the high maintenance cost required to keep it operating. This may explain why we have not seen another one. One thing about a standard B&M is that you can plug it in and it is fairly worry free. It is beyond me why a park would spend millions on a maintenance nightmare that is expensive to operate. I'm happy for Dominion but something tells me that the Carowinds coaster is the better deal for the company and the public. I will be pissed if I drove all the way to Virginia and their little experiment is not working on that day. But in all fairness, Volcano was temperamental for a while when it first opened. Now it's like Old Faithful.

I’m assuming that most of you are continuing this "launched hyper" debate for the sake of humor at this point and not because you actually believe this will be a reality...so in that spirit; I was at IOA last month and I could be wrong but I think Hulk is tire launched and not LIM launched -- like would require all the supplementary equipment that you are talking about here. I’m not sure how large (footprint) the "power plant" for Hulks launch requires but I cant imagine that it is anywhere near as large as the one required for a magnet launch. Therefore if there was the slightest possibility that B&M had agreed to do such a coaster then it probably isn’t feasible to think that you would be able to tell either way this early in the build.

As a side note, maybe I am just in the dark here, but is there really so much evidence that this is going to be a launched hyper to justify there being so many pages about it on here; other than the resurecting of the name (which doesnt hold much water with me)?

Nope. Not at all. Feel better?

[bobbysmagic]

Well let me ask this. Again, Carowinds is making a big deal with the signs saying "breaking history" and I know they made a big deal about the Carolina Cobra. But could there be anyway B&M has came up with a NEW coaster style? Making Carowinds having this new brand coaster?

Also, I was at the park yetersday (I forgot the camara) but I was looking at the crate and I'm not sure if anyone has brought this up yet but it said Cosco in the middle in big letter, what could that mean?

[charlotteguy02]

I was at IOA last month and I could be wrong but I think Hulk is tire launched and not LIM launched -- like would require all the supplementary equipment that you are talking about here. I’m not sure how large (footprint) the "power plant" for Hulks launch requires but I cant imagine that it is anywhere near as large as the one required for a magnet launch.

It does have tires that accelerate the train, however it has a fairly large 'bunker', if you will, with giant motors that look like large mainframes. Each one runs a set of tires, and there are a several dozen tires on the ride. It is a pretty impressive room and I will be sure to link to a photo if I can find one. If this was a lauched coaster, I am 99.9% positive that we would have seen some sort of foundation work for the launch system at the very least. Seeing as we don't even have a hole in the ground for such a powerplant at this point, I think it is fairly safe to say the whole launched idea was nothing more than a pipedream thought up by some highly imaginative posters.

[Capler]

I think most folk are hanging their hats onto the White Lighting, racing theme. If you look at it that way, it gives some credence to a launched coaster. Otherwise, common sense suggest that this will be another version of Behe/Db model. But who knows, this could be a newer generation of the B&M hyper. Maybe, just may be, they are ready to push it up to 250 ft, considering the 200-230ish range is fairly common. Maybe it is just me but I think B&M is working up to 250ft and the last two coasters were only test models. To disagree with what some have said in this thread, I don't feel B&M is ready to ruin their reputation by pushing the envelope so quickly by racing upward without fully testing the product. Many, many companies have ruined their reputations buy going to levels before they were ready. The giant Invertigos from Vekoma comes to mind. Now Intaman, that is another story, they will slap it up and work out the bugs along the way.
Could B&M be ready to test LIMs? Maybe, as someone has mentioned some companies have success with them. Shooting a coaster up 200 ft can't be as difficult as getting it up 400ft.
Regardless of what we get, I will be very happy. I just hope ours is as tall as the other two. I will be kind of mad if we got only 200ft. That would be so 1999ish.

[jasonwilson88]

I don't see why B&M pushing to 250 feet would be a huge deal for them. With the computer tech available today it shouldn't be difficult to design something slightly larger than DB, unless that 15 feet(ish) difference adds some unforseen element to the equation.

I highly doubt the launch idea, but I wouldn't complain if we had a 250 first hill launched B&M hyper :0.

[Capler]

Yeah Jason, it would be sweet to have an one of a kind B&M. Folks would flock to Carowinds just because. I'm not an engineer but I guess that a lot of work goes into those few extra feet. B&M has been sitting at 200 for nearly a decade. The floorless stayed at about 160. With the exception of Alp at Busch, the inverts stayed in a certain range. My gut tells me that they stayed there because they were not ready to higher, but what do I know? I'm assuming it requires a lot of ground work and research on their part, which they likely have been doing. I guess the company who orders the first 250ft hyper has to pay for all that research? Surely that little extra steel would not be much of a cost factor.

[charlotteguy02]

I was at IOA last month and I could be wrong but I think Hulk is tire launched and not LIM launched -- like would require all the supplementary equipment that you are talking about here. I’m not sure how large (footprint) the "power plant" for Hulks launch requires but I cant imagine that it is anywhere near as large as the one required for a magnet launch.

It does have tires that accelerate the train, however it has a fairly large 'bunker', if you will, with giant motors that look like large mainframes. Each one runs a set of tires, and there are a several dozen tires on the ride. It is a pretty impressive room and I will be sure to link to a photo if I can find one. If this was a lauched coaster, I am 99.9% positive that we would have seen some sort of foundation work for the launch system at the very least. Seeing as we don't even have a hole in the ground for such a powerplant at this point, I think it is fairly safe to say the whole launched idea was nothing more than a pipedream thought up by some highly imaginative posters.

Let me clarify my earlier statement as I found the material I was looking for. There are actually 220 individual motors that run the tire launch up the hill. Separate drive modules located in the main control room run each motor individually. The drives constantly adjust the motors each time the train takes on riders.

As for the designer of the launch system, it was Universal. Universal's engineers worked with Reliance Motors, whom they bought the 25 hp motors from that run each individual tire and Allen-Bradley whom they bought the pinch wheel drive for the actual launch from.