Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

Hudson:

With a rollback (and a spike) you gradually come to a stop then slowly accelerate in the opposite direction

I assume you would never come to a stop, just like Wicked Twister. Why would it stop?

In the process of transitioning from forward movement to reverse, or vice versa, there is a very brief moment where you are at a stall and thus stopped. Guessing he meant the slow down to the transition.

However, a holding brake would be pretty fun.

Fair enough. I was picturing it stopping mid course. Not at the peak of it's launch. I'm dumb sometimes.

A holding break that quite literally randomizes whether you get a roll back or not would've been an interesting idea for sure

I'm enjoying the admission of possible disappointment, regardless of what this thing does. The park could easily have pulled the plug and taken down the the entire ride, tower and all. Instead CP is investing again to make their 420-foot tall roller coaster (possibly higher, TBD on 8/1) work. Anything they do to get trains going over that tower again is a huge win for coaster enthusiasts, IMO.

So few weeks back I suggested Pole Position as the name. Here’s what it looks like in that font they used for the announcement teaser:

Anyone play the Atari racing arcade game Pole Position? That’s what I think of every time I hear it haha. Loved that game.

Four launches? A holding brake? Just how much overall capacity are you guys wishing away?

Dvo:

The park could easily have pulled the plug and taken down the the entire ride, tower and all.

I would've been perfectly OK with this.

I got bored and decided to make a guess at how fast the launches are going to be. I assumed:

• The ride will have three launches - forward, back up a spike, forward over the top hat
• The energy input for each launch is the same
• Way oversimplify physics (no friction, no air resistance, etc…)

I ended up with:

• 69 mph first launch
• 98 mph second launch
• 120 mph final launch
• ~320 ft rear spike

I doubt I’ll be right, but it’ll be interesting to see how close I got.

I think you’ll be pretty close to correct.

For those concerned about a triple launch affecting capacity negatively, the original Dragster wasn’t able to launch a train as soon as it cleared the top hat either. It took a solid minute for the hydraulic system to reset. The swing launch won’t take an entire minute to complete - I’d estimate somewhere closer to ~40 seconds. If two trains are loaded at the same time, the next one will be ready and waiting to start the swing launch by the time the first one completes the swing. This gives the next two trains two whole minutes to load, and with the new trains that I assume will have a seatbelt that connects directly to the lap bar like Maverick, I think capacity will be pretty good on this thing.

I would hope they amp up that first launch else it wont be much of a rollback.

You really think they're gonna launch people backward at 98mph with a lap bar? At Cedar Point?

I’m looking forward to knowing what the train size will be. Going from 18 to 20, 24, 28, 32 or 36 people will improve capacity. I think 20 or 24 is realistic.

If the switch track is located north from the load/unload, there could be an opportunity to fit 3 long trains or even more shorter ones. One train in the station for load/unload, one that has departed and is awaiting the switch track. One ready for launch and one on the break run.

I’m most looking forward to learning the reason behind the large crane on site several weeks back.

The height of that spike needs to be higher. Based on your calculation the height displacement needs to be roughly 320 but the height of the top of the track on the lowest point is about 6-7 feet off the ground, plus you want to factor in the height of the last train will be much higher than the height of the first train, and your calculation probably accounts for the height of the center of mass, and you also want some extra track in case you get some extra wind gust that helps propel the train faster and higher. I think we’re looking at a 360ish foot spike.

Well…. I found this floating around twitter

I would say this will best describe how the layout will be.

https://m.youtube.com/watch...RGyH29E0hQ

considering Red Force goes 112mph and crests at 367 feet I would say that top speed does not make sense unless the lsm stators work their way up the tower quite a bit to keep the momentum longer.

That could be fake. Maybe it’s just me but the wording is choppy and doesn’t have the same CP marketing touch.

One example: It says Polaris is now daring riders…, wouldn’t it say Polaris will soon dare riders…?

I would be shocked to see CP use “top thrill” in the description for TTD 2.0. They don’t even use it on the teaser page. It’s gotta be fake.