Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

Jeff said:

DaveDzRochNY said:

Due to popularity or production problems?

When you finish the quarter with 25% higher production than the year before, in the midst of a supply chain crisis, what do you think?

I thought this was a thread about TTD.

The sheer mass of EV Snobbery here (and every place else, for that matter) is astounding and laughable. This is a TTD thread.

Choice of vehicle, very much like a person's sexuality, religion or political stance, is personal and nobody else's business OR concern. It also does not belong in this thread.

TTD thread. As site "owner", why not remove EV vs ICE talk and keep things ON TOPIC? Folk get shamed elsewhere for straying from topic. You are VERY ham-handed elsewhere.

PS: I love the formatting function here., Top of class.

Ok, great.

*runs for cover*

DaveDzRochNY said:

Choice of vehicle, very much like a person's sexuality, religion or political stance, is personal and nobody else's business OR concern. It also does not belong in this thread.

Curious what your thoughts are on light bulbs - are you an LED, CFL, or a die hard filament type of guy?

I'm personally partial to xenon lamps.

I like to open the refrigerator at midnight and light the whole neighborhood up like it's high noon in July.

Curious what your thoughts are on light bulbs - are you an LED, CFL, or a die hard filament type of guy?

Has nothing to do with TTD. Not thread-appropriate. Start a separate thread and I'll participate.

Yeah probably opening in 2024…it’ll take another year for the stand up conversation.

Hmm, on the topic of TTD and lights, this was probably mentioned in a behind-the-scenes tour of some such at some point, but are the giant Christmas tree/countdown lights on the tower LED or halogen/halide-based?

While we're armchair pondering refurbishments for Dragster, if they're halogen-based and the ride is staying, might be as good enough of a time as any to upgrade to LEDs (and maybe program it like an actual NHRA pro countdown for how fast the 3-2-1 already goes).

DaveDzRochNY said:

The sheer mass of EV Snobbery here... personal and nobody else's business OR concern. It also does not belong in this thread.

I wasn't looking for help on deciding what to allow on my site. But since you have such strong feelings about it, comparing the transition to sustainable transportation to issues of sexuality or religion is offensive and patently ridiculous.

It is taking all of the self control I don't have to not start a Favorite Lightbulb topic.

Osram 54602 - HPL 750W

It's astonishing how easily and to what degree some people are triggered, and by the most innocuous things, too.

^my lights don't have triggers, they have switches thank you...

I just want to know what all the hype is about converting TTD to LSM? I see it on here, the Facebook groups, etc. Most of us know it wasn't the launch that caused the accident, right? I'm super lost as to where the LSM chatter came from. And continues.

Because the hydraulic launch system has proven to be unreliable, expensive to maintain, and dangerous (see past launch cable breaks on TTD, Ka, and Xcelerator, the ride system cannot contain cable breaks and it's a crap shoot as to who and what gets maimed by a cable that ruptures under tension and extreme forces- track and trains were sliced through like butter by the cable on Ka & Xc).

The ability to underwrite an insurance policy for the ride is based on all risk factors, of which last year's incident is just one, and likely raised awareness of the other risks, and the calculus as to whether to keep the ride from.a business perspective also undoubtedly involves not only risk but cost and maintenance efforts.

While LSM would ostensibly not provide as intense a launch in terms of the time required to reach a given velocity, it would still give the park a 420 foot tall, 120.MPH launch coaster, and one that would likely be safer and less expensive to maintain, not to mention one that could be insured.

Plus, public confidence in the ride would likely be boosted as im sure they would market it as a new, "improved" version of TTD.

Wait people are actually serious about a LSM conversion being a viable option?

While certainly possible, I think its highly unlikely that dragster will get LSMs. I think its far more likely that the ride will either be scrapped, the line re-routed, or the line somehow covered. To convert to LSMs would require:

1) Many millions of dollars invested, with minimal return on investment, into a ride that is already 18 years old.

2) Working with Intamin to update the ride. Cedar Fair hasn't worked with Intamin since 2010, and that ride didn't even make it 5 years.

Not saying CF will or won't do this, but it's not as if parks haven't used other manufacturers to refurbish or modify coasters years after the fact. The Steel Phantom to Phantom's Revenge conversion is the first I can think of, and I think B&M had nothing to do with the launch system for either version of the Incredible Hulk.

As an aside, Knotts has removed the flywheel drive and the loop from Montezuma's Revenge, the last operating Schwarzkopf shuttle coaster in operation in the US. Rumblings are that they are replacing the launch system with something that doesn't require a cable. Also when they removed the loop, it was done with a cutting torch, so it's not likely that the original is going back up.