Dragster speedomoter gone

Going 120 mph on the Ohio Turnpike will net me some jail time. It's still somewhat of a big deal. ;)

It was broken early in the season so it may just be in for repairs if not oh well

I always thought it was nice because it reminded me of the display board at the end of a dragstrip that gives the speed and E.T.'s of each car on the track. I never noticed it when on the ride, but I always thought it fit well with the theming.

FYI i believe the speedometer is back.

Yes, I also noticed it was back too.

Yes it is back.

http://cedarpointpictures.webs.com/apps/photos/photo.jsp?photoID=9677382 Picture from July 20th

Oh, thank God.

Now we can tell that it goes 120 mph every time! Now that's useful ;)

It has been back for about 2-3 weeks but is it displaying anything on the launches. It wasn't last Thursday 7-17.

And here I thought this was all a conspiracy for them to reduce Dragster's speed. Then again, maybe they tampered with it so that it shows a higher number than the actual speed. Somebody better bring a radar gun to double check.

^I'm on it!

I know this is an old topic, but with Cedar Point not adding anything major for 2009, do you think they'll bring back the speedomoter back? I have read this topic before last year and today, but figured maybe they'll bring it back. It would seem like a minor adjustment for Top Thrill Dragster.

In my opinion, it was a waste of money, yes it would read the speeds, but most of the time it was way off. Like what Adam said, riders could not see the speeds of the train. So, in all honesty, it was never a good thing to have.

I've always thought they should add a display at the finish with Speed and Time data so riders and people in the queue could see what they did, like a real drag strip. That's just something I thought would have been better, that's all.

And besides Shawn....it did come back. So it'll be there in may.

maverick_owns said:
In my opinion, it was a waste of money, yes it would read the speeds, but most of the time it was way off.

Uh. I hate to break this to you, but it wasn't way off. The train doesn't always launch at exactly 120, so when it read 124 or 121 or whatever, it was probably correct.

There's toooo much into why they launch it over 120 anyway so I won't bother trying to explain it.

Was there ever that much of a speed difference between launches? I'm sure it was much slower when there was a roll back, but what ranges has everyone seen? Sadly, I have only had 1 ride on Dragster lifetime and sadly it wasn't a rollback either :(. I plan on many trips this summer and hope its back.

You know if it would have stayed missing I would have thought that it had something to do with liability or something. I am glad its back, yay! Little things amuse me.

Weather has everything to do with it, for instance:
-Wind, obviously can either aid (or more likely hurt) a launch speed
-Its a hydraulic launch, thus it relies on a liquid. When liquids get cold they become more viscous which increases friction slowing launches, the opposite happens with heat
-The oil on the wheels is a liquid too, same rules apply
-Evaporating Water is an endothermic reaction, thus when it rains water gets into the system where (due to heat) it rapidly evaporates making things cooler.

There is a reason that rollbacks typically happen on cold, windy and/or rainy days in the morning or right after a breakdown (when the system isn't warmed up.)