98-186 Spring 2013 Roller Coasters: Background and Design Final Project – Cover Sheet Directions: Replace the all-caps word with an appropriate answer. Make sure to answer everything. Include this file in the zip file your team submits (you only need one per team). Team Name: Andrew McCoy (a.k.a. Target Amusement Park Name: Thorpe Park, UK Roller Coaster: Doctor Who – The Ride Wood or Steel: Steel Type: Indoor Spinning Coaster Manufacturer: Gertslauer Amusement Rides GmbH Height: 100 ft Inversions (if any): 1. Double corkscrews 2. Standard loop 3. Inclined Loop 4. Corkscrew 5. Heartline/Barrel Roll 6. Zero-G roll 7. Immelman loop Sections completed Park Research: Mandatory Coaster Research: YES Visual Representation: Mandatory Stats, Calculations, and Estimations: YES Design Critique: YES Presentation / Pitch: Mandatory Bonus – Park Expansion: NO Is it okay if I post your team’s project to the course website? YES If yes, may I use your names? Otherwise, I will just use your team name. YES Andrew McCoy 98-186: Final Roller Coaster Project Doctor Who: The Ride Introduction: Doctor Who is the longest running sci-fi series in television history. It has captured the imagination of millions of viewers across the world, especially in the United Kingdom and United States. The time has come for the ride of a life time (maybe several life times in several different realities). From time vortexes to monsters from all reaches of time and space, Doctor Who: The Ride will complement the success and creativity of the TV series. The coaster will be a steel coaster with spinning cars, 4 riders per car, which are TARDIS themed (see figure 1 below). This will be an indoor coaster to enhance the theme of time and space travel, and will feature inversions. Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH is the first manufacturer to accomplish inversions on an indoor, spinning car coaster and will be contracted to build the next generation in spinning car coasters. Figure 1: The TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) Every time the ride is entering a time vortex, there will be an in-line twist, or corkscrew-like, element surrounded by a tunnel that appears to be a worm hole. Wormholes or time vortexes will separate the ride into three different phases according to Doctor Who monster. The three Doctor Who monsters to be featured on the ride, in order of encounter, will be the Cybermen, the Weeping Angels, and the Daleks (see figure 2 below). The Weeping Angel phase will be unique because this section will be timed such that the lights will be timed to go on and off every 3-4 seconds and angel statues will move and change position (see figure 3 below). Figure 2: The Cybermen, The Weeping Angels, The Daleks (left to right) Figure 3: The lights will flick on and off (white arrow) in 3-4 second intervals to for the Angels an atmosphere to move. Andrew McCoy 98-186: Final Roller Coaster Project Doctor Who: The Ride Park Research: Thorpe Park, United Kingdom Figure 4: Satellite Map of Thorpe Park – Target location outlined in red Thorpe Park is located in Chertsey of Surrey County in the UK. Originally the plot of land for the park was occupied by a rock quarry. In the late 1970s, Ready Mixed Concrete Limited flooded the quarry upon its closure. Lord Mountbatten, a rich UK real estate bro, financially and logistically helped the park officially open on May 24th, 1979 as an air exhibition center. The early 80s saw development of themes that would later be modified into what the park is today. For example, Space Station Zero opened in 1983 as a major attraction and would later become Flying Fish in 1990. A current thrill coaster opened in 1996 called “X: No Way Out”, known as the world’s first dark backwards roller coaster. In 1998, the Tussauds Group purchased the park and closed down the “dull” attractions like a theater and a ranger show. They opened a Dare Devil Drivers ride and a water ride called Wet Wet Wet! After 2000, the Tussaud Group collaborated with Merlin Entertainments to give the park more the thrill atmosphere we see today. Unfortunately, on July 21st, 2000 , a major fire erupted in the park and damaged the The Wicked Witches Haunt and Mr. Rabbit’s Tropical Travels. In the place of these, they eventually cleared land to develop Nemesis Inferno, a B&M inverted roller coaster. From 2003 – 2012, the major coasters and rides opened up with park increasing its presence as one of the UK’s top theme parks. In 2009, Saw – The Ride opened and was designed by Gerstlauer as a fighter roller coaster. In 2012, The Swarm (B&M wing coaster) opened. It currently is leased solely to Merlin Entertainments and is ranked as the UK #2 theme park. Currently known as the “The Nation’s Thrill Capital”, the park has 33 rides to offer guests, including 7 coasters and 5 water rides. It is divided into different sections including: Port Atlantis, Amity Cove, Lost City, Canada Creek, Calypso Quay, Ranger Country, Neptune’s Kingdom, Saw Island, and Swarm Island. Andrew McCoy 98-186: Final Roller Coaster Project Doctor Who: The Ride Summary of Thorpe Park Coasters: 1. Nemesis Inferno Year opened: 2003 Type & manufacturer: Steel – Inverted, B&M Height & Length: 95.2 ft, 2,460 ft Inversions: 4…Loop, Zero-G roll, Interlocking Corkscrews 2. X Year opened: 2013 (previously known as X: No Way Out from 1996-2012) Type & manufacturer: Steel – Sit Down, Vekoma Height & Length: 42 ft, 1,312 ft Inversions: none 3. Stealth Year opened: 2006 Type & manufacturer: Steel – Sit down, Intamin AG Height & Length: 205 ft, 1,312 ft Inversions: none 4. Colossus Year opened: 2002 Type & manufacturer: Steel – Sit Down Height & Length: Inversions: 10…Loop, Cobra roll, Double corkscrew, Quad heartline roll, heartline roll 5. Flying Fish Year opened: 2007 (most current version) Type & manufacturer: Steel – Sit Down, Mack Rides GmbH & Co KG Height & Length: 21 ft, 768 ft Inversions: 0 6. Saw – The Ride Year opened: 2009 Type & manufacturer: Steel – Sit Down, Euro-fighter, Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH Height & Length: 100 ft, 2,362 ft Inversions: 3, immelmann loop, dive loop, barrel roll 7. Swarm Year opened: 2012 Type & manufacturer: Steel – Sit Down, Wing Coaster, B&M Height & Length: 127 ft, 2,543 ft Inversions: 5, dive drop, zero-g roll, inclined loop, corkscrew, in-line twist Assessment: The roller coaster line up brings out a lot of unique themes that many parks in the UK do not have. One hole that could be filled is introducing the spinning coaster concept. The park directors must already be open to the idea with the addition of the Swarm as a wing coaster. In addition, the Saw ride has an indoor element however it takes part of the ride out side which I think takes away from the intensity of the ride. Doctor Who: The Ride would build upon roller coaster concepts already explored and might even be more kid friendly than a ride like Saw. In addition, the theme of Doctor Who: The Ride is something that most UK park guests would completely understand and be excited to explore. Andrew McCoy 98-186: Final Roller Coaster Project Doctor Who: The Ride Coaster Research 1. Name: Veil of Dark Location & Year Opened: 2012, Tokyo Type & Manufacturer: Gerstlauer Amusement Rides Height & Speed: 16.4 ft, 23.6 mph Inversions: 1, inline twist POV Video Link: (best I could find) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLaqW0IWK8M Major Elements: 1st spinning coaster with an inversion Critique: I really want to take the element of the in-line twist, which is basically a corkscrew as the car spins, and use it in each time vortex on the Doctor Who ride. This coaster is the template design model for my ride except that mine is the next step: Larger, longer, and more inversions. A BBBA 2. Name: Thor’s Hammer Location & Year Opened: 2002, Denmark Type & Manufacturer: Steel – Sit down, Gerstlauer Height & Speed: 52.5 ft, ~20-30 mph Inversions: 0 POV Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoljQOr2UFM Major Elements: Gforce max = 3 Critique: I think that this ride has a tight turning series that I would like to capture for the Weeping Angels portion of the coaster. That will maximize the exposure to the moving angel statues and give the riders time to be scared. ABA 3. Name: SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge Location & Year Opened: Nickelodeon Universe, MN, USA, & 2008 Type & Manufacturer: Steel – Indoor Eurofighter, Gerstlauer Amusement Rides Height & Speed: 67 ft, ~ 30 mph Inversions: loop, heartline roll, horseshoe POV Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLJm0IC3lQk Major Elements: Near vertical climb up first lift hill Critique: This ride shows the current ability for coasters to be designed indoor and feature multiple small inversions. Though is not the tallest coaster, it demonstrates the command of space that I’d like to have. ABBA 4. Name: Anubis – The Ride Location & Year Opened: 2009, Adinkerke-De Panne, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium Type & Manufacturer: Steel – Sit down, Gerstlauer Amusement Rides Height & Speed: 111 ft, 55 mph Inversions: dive loop, immelmann, corkscrew POV Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuI7GzBJxTE Major Elements: 0 – 55.9 mph in 2 seconds Critique: This coaster features a great collection of features that result in a solid steel coaster meant to balance both speed and thrill. This coaster shows the importance of having break runs in between major elements to give the rider a chance to take in the surroundings which is imperative for a successful indoor coaster.