Maverick Heartline

Jeff:

Let's litigate every word of that short statement. It went super well for the Dragster thread.

I have arrived!

DA20Pilot:

"The decision was made because we actually built a ride that would've likely caused severe whiplash injury or worse to guests

But that's not what happened. That seems like a pretty good reason to not say that.

DA20Pilot:

"The decision was made because we actually built a ride that would've likely caused severe whiplash injury or worse to guests...

Except there is, quite literally, nothing to support this idea beyond your frankly uninformed opinion that was formed by watching a 20 second video.

And again, the second inversion following the S-curve hasn't, to my knowledge, ever caused "severe whiplash" to any of it's many millions of riders, so it's a huge stretch to suggest that the heartline would have. Especially when there is a plausible alternative explanation - the heartline pushed certain train components toward the edge of their operating envelope, which would have caused excessive/premature wear that the customer wanted to avoid.

Im sorry, but it seems like from the footage that the heartline roll was not nearly as "Snappy" as the elements that close out the ride.

I don't think I saw this point mentioned in this thread but from videos of the heartline roll and I was fortunate enough to see in person (2007) is how much it is trimming coming out of launch compared to now or anytime after removal of the Heartline roll. I do think it put too much stress on the trains and or riders at the original the intended speed of the ride. I also think they had and theoretically still have the option to slow the train down enough (Trims going up hill out of second launch) to make the heartline feasible but would sacrifice the pacing for the 3 remaining elements post heartline. Its not like Cedar Point ran the ride once and came to the conclusion that it wouldn't work. If I remember right they tested it for weeks prior to park opening and continued testing it with heartline roll the first week the park opened. Something I also haven't seen mentioned is it could have been a clearance issue as well, similar to the "notch" on Millenniums first overbank support but just didn't have an option to increase the clearance.

All I’m saying is that the roll looks really flat compared to some other rolls Intamin was installing then, and since. It’s almost like the train looks like it rolls around the track vs the track rotation being around the train/riders.

I’ll provide some photo examples from similar angles. Screen shot from a posted video of Maverick, and an Orlando Informer shot of VC

Pardon the double post, but formatting was giving me a hassle on mobile - here is another example I thought of, from 2006, so Intamin was clearly designing rolls that were bigger and not as flat at that time. This one looks to be somewhat in between the Maverick roll and Velocioaster rolls.

Ten Inversions Coaster:

I think it might just be the angle.

That still looks really flat to me, compared to the others. It’s almost like it want to grab the middle and pull it upward just a bit. I do love the way it looks in that photo, though.

24mm lens, so not really representative of how it looked to the naked eye.

Agreed, I think the angle of your first photo exaggerates it, but it also seems to be a fair bit flatter.

I'd be interested to see what other options aside from the S-curve they considered, and why they ultimately went with that.

Y'all know - the track is sitting in plain site in Mansfield. Why doesn't someone go check it out.

I tried to, but John Hildebrandt stopped me and told me I’d get whiplash.

I agree that the roll doesn’t seem snappy. At least not as neck snappy as the 2 Stengel dives at the end.

Shades:

Y'all know - the track is sitting in plain site in Mansfield. Why doesn't someone go check it out.

I've been waiting for someone to say this. Has anyone looked at the date on teh Google earth photo? And.. maybe.. compared it to the most recent?

The posted photo was 2018. Go check out Google Earth now. ;)

Someone refresh my memory: Wasn't there an early review of Maverick where someone was quoted as saying the heartline roll was their favorite part? Obviously written before they'd actually ridden it...

exit english - Those rolls on the 10-inversion coasters are taken at much lower speed. I rode the one at Thorpe Park and glad they were at slower speeds, as there are four of them in row.

As for Maverick, I have to believe it was engineering issue. many of you say companies know all the speeds and forces before building one piece. I say WRONG. There is a difference between what's on paper (computer) and the real world. The heartline was a huge botch. Can you imagine taking that at such a high speed? Or even worse...without the trim? So, yes, I believe there was a major miscalculation on Intamin's part. Bad enough many rides have added trims due to going faster than expected. But to replace an element before it even opens...oops!

Magnum "Candy" Man:

There is a difference between what's on paper (computer) and the real world.

The difference is negligible. You don't even need computers to calculate the forces, because it's all physics and geometry. So you know how precise the vector and velocity has to be to put something in orbit? They did that math for Sputnik in 1957. Human dynamics on roller coasters are a piece of cake compared to orbital dynamics.

How materials interact with each other can certainly be more difficult if you don't have a strong background in metallurgy (axels, bearings) and fluid dynamics (lubricants). What surprises me about Maverick is that the guide and upstop wheels are not as large as the road wheels. Given the dynamic direction changes, I would expect more wear from smaller wheels, which will turn far more often for every meter of track, combined with more force applied. You would think that Intamin would know this, when a ride like Wicked Twister appeared to use guide wheels the same size as the road wheels.

Speculation, of course. But there's no doubt that the dynamic forces on humans was well known before a single piece of steel was cut.