They either are numerous, or just seem it because they are the more adventurous of the two major companies. Personally, I think it's both, and it's blatantly obvious that's the case.
Blatantly obvious?
Yes, because you know exactly what happens every time a roller coaster is closed, right?
I don't think anything here is "blatantly obvious." I think to suggest such is grossly ignorant.
It does matter what a bunch of enthusiasts think and it's ludicrous to suggest otherwise. It's like suggesting that because I'm not a nutritionist, I can't tell that KFC's Double Down must be horrendously bad for me
No, it's not like that at all. As a consumer, you have access to plenty of nutritional information, and your experience in
directly dealing with other, similar foods can assist you in making such educated decisions.
When it comes to roller coasters, 90% of the time, those outside of the park and manufacturer
never get to know what the exact issue is.
Therefore, to look at something like this and say "Well, that looks bad," be it a ride element or a closure,
is irrelevant - because yes, it does require some experience to make truly educated guesses.
Heck, even people
WITH the experience can't make them at times. You think Cedar Point and Intamin went with the roll "for the hell of it?" Spent all that money, delayed a widely-anticipated opening of a major, major attraction at one of the premier U.S. theme parks because "eh...it looks a little weird...but what the heck, let's give it a shot?"
Goodness Joey, I don't know
WHY they didn't just register on CoasterForce to ask some fifteen-year-old's opinion on the subject. They could've saved a lot of time, money, and effort.
I'm not saying that we're all far more knowledgable than the professionals, but are you effectively suggesting that it was a complete coincidence that Maverick's roll looked ridiculous and then turned out to be incredibly forceful and would cause structural damage?
Yes, I do call that a coincidence. If I said that because that car is red, it will probably have a manual transmission, I'm going to hit one sooner or later. It doesn't exactly take a genius or an "enlightened" individual to make a hundred guesses and get one right. What irritates me is your insistence that such a thing somehow means enthusiasts have any real knowledge over how something is going to perform based on how it looks.
After all, if that were the case, surely these elements:
http://photos.igougo.com/images/p160137 ... aconda.jpg
http://cache.rcdb.com/pictures/picmax/p24723.jpg
http://www.rcdb.com/m/1354.htm?p=11934
http://www.themeparkreview.com/spacewor ... orld05.jpg
http://cache.rcdb.com/pictures/picmax/p15278.jpg
Would have been axed a long time ago? Yet all perform(ed) perfectly fine. I won't dive deeper in to it, but if you want to look at some more things that look weird and work...
http://coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27995
Heck, Hydra is a perfect example. The entire thing is jilted and distorted. Another great example in the upcoming months will be the new Texas Giant - people have been ripping its looks to shreds, even going so far as saying the track doesn't even look like it
lines up!
I just literally cannot see how they wouldn't have been able to calculate close to what they should expect in real life and I would have thought that you should leave some room either side of that prediction.
Well, for starters, Maverick's train design was fairly new, wasn't it? The trains have fixed permanent magnets on them, and they're shorter...
Since then, I know Fahrenheit has similar trains (almost the only thing it shares with Maverick, despite the comparisons), and that hasn't had any issues, right? Seems to me like when Intamin realized their limit with said trains, they didn't try to touch that boundary to me again...
This is where I wish I still had the post that explained the issue. In it, Sandor explicitly stated (as I said above) that according to computer simulation, the element ran perfectly as expected, and he himself had ridden it, and said that while intense, the element was well within tolerances. However, it was stated that the fatigue factor - the reason it was removed - could not have been predicted before physical testing.
Which is why I urge you to grasp the concept that physical testing is just an
extension of computer-generated testing. It exists for the exact purpose that Maverick's roll removal demonstrated - to pick up issues that could not have been predicted using other means. It is VERY common (in fact, I'd bet that not an installation goes by without it) for things to be changed from the original design after physical testing begins, and it in no way means failure by the manufacturer, unless the issue cannot be fixed.
This physical testing and adjustment process is even
MORE crucial for a company like Intamin, where they routinely push the limits of both the industry and their own ride systems, as opposed to B&M, who (as stated before) are generally comfortable staying within their "known" boundaries.
Unfortunately, in the case of Maverick, one of the testing issues that required changing was something involving one of the more interesting elements of the ride, and the fixed turned out to be a very visible replacement. Thus, the rather "normal" process of adjustment became a tool with which enthusiasts used to beat Intamin over the head with. Quite unfortunate, seeing as how the same people consistently have rides like El Toro and SFNE's Superzarro in their lists of favorite rides.
The issue I have is whenever Intamin are defended you get long winded answers to why this wasn't their fault and that wasn't their fault, but they are always the common denominator and it's always something mind-numbing simplistic. What on earth happened with the miscommunication about boat sizes on shoot-the-rapids, for example? Not their fault, it was the other company? Possibly, but again, common denominator.
No, I'm not suggesting that accidents don't happen. After all, one can view what happened on S:RoS SFNE as a clear oversight in restraint design. I believe it was even admitted as such, if not directly, then by when nearly every similar ride had a restraint retro-fit done.
However, these issues are a common denominator throughout the industry. The fact of the matter is, when you build so many rides, things are bound to go wrong. It happens with everything, in every industry. Aircraft. Shipping. Cars. You name it.
Of course, you're going to come back and say something to the effect of "Well Intamin have a lot of issues, it seems, and other companies don't." No, I don't see that as the case at all. It seems the issues Intamin coasters have had have been much higher profile, yes, but you're an idiot if you think B&M coasters don't have their faults - and a quick look in to the accident history of amusement parks in general will reveal that everyone shares some responsibility.
Your "common denominator" theory is absolute BS, because that's exactly what you're going to get if you look at it using
one company. To say someone is to blame simply because their name is there is a ridiculous theory. It's easy to do that on the surface, but look deeper and you'll find more explanation.
I just think you're very quick to throw blame around without actually knowing what the exact issue is.
EDIT: Also, with regard to what Sandor said. There's numerous issues there all summed up into; he's defending himself and his company and choosing his words wisely, obviously. I heard that twist was pushing 6g, but like that's any more reliable than his words. Acceptable and preferred are two very different things. You don't want your ride making everyone light headed, sick and not want to ride again if you can help it.
Oh, I see - so the President himself isn't to be trusted when he comments on the issue, but the 15-year old Joe Schmoe from Supercoasterz dot com is capable of convincing you that the roll should've been removed in the first place because it "looked funny?"
And where are you getting this 6g statistic anyway? A friend of a friend?
You see the problem here?
You're so quick to sit back and say that "enthusiast opinion absolutely matters" - yet when pressed for actual facts and back-up on it, it's rare that enthusiasts can
actually back up what they're saying, because 99% of them don't have any real reason other than speculation for saying it.
When your primary arguments are "Well, that looks sort of funny" and "I have a friend that knows a friend who knows a guy that works for *insert park name here*," you need to be willing to defer to the case of professionals when discussing matters that involve the integrity of their companies and quality of their work.
Even I, for all of my opinionated posts and what I feel are fact-backed arguments, wouldn't dare for a second to comment on a technical aspect that I do not have adequate knowledge in - and when I do, and am corrected by someone who does know, I always admit the flaw in my original point/fact/whatever. That, for those of you who noticed, is why I do
not tend to associate myself with "enthusiasts."
But also, is the intensity felt by riders and the strain on the structure itself are both effects of the same thing?
Yes and no. There are two important factors.
1. Rides are designed around a general human body model - just like everything else is in this world - that is "known" to be capable of withstanding certain forces. This is not changed, and is consistent for pretty much everything out there. For example, it's generally unacceptable for rides to sustain more than 3 positive gs for anything other than a short period of time, and it's usually unacceptable for rides to "spike" above 6 positive gs. Obviously there is a tiny bit of leeway on this, but there are set guidelines.
With structures, the guidelines are set by the design and type of material. Something made out of steel is going to be "stronger" than something made out of wood, although something made out of wood is going to flex more. Depending on what it is you're designing, everything from wheel placement to support structure to chassis placement to seat placement to weight distribution is all going to have an effect. It's not a set "standard" of guidelines like the human body is.
2. Fatigue. Generally, a person is only going to ride a ride once or twice. The trains, on the other hand, cycle hundreds or thousands of times a day. Fatigue was the reason Maverick's roll was removed, just like I'm sure if you rode Maverick all day, every day, for a year, you'd probably get pretty screwed up too. Fatigue is a factor that really isn't going to have a great effect on the human body when it comes to ride design - but it's absolutely, completely essential to monitor when it comes to the ride structure itself.