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Walibi Belgium | Kondaa | Intamin Mega Coaster | 2021

Trax said:
I have a sad update for you, allthough it is based on an assumption:

It appears like Kondaa might soon get a trim mounted, at least during summer. I visited there yesterday, 31° and sunshine and they intentionally left 2 rows empty because it was running too fast, going to far on the brakerun. Lets hope they find another way to fix this, but I'd suggest to get your summer rides in this year, before it gets trimmed.

If they mount a trim, my guess is the airtime hill after the NICR, as this is most likely easier to reach than the large airtime hill.

Untamed suffers from a similar problem on hot days, where they sometimes leave half of the train empty to accomodate for the speed.
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Well, it is just going too fast. Back row on a hot day, the first airtime hill is way too intense. So as it might be that it's going too far in the breaks, I wouldn't be amazed if they add the trimms to the first hill or even to the drop
 
The drop does not feature any trimm mounts, only the large airtime hill and the one after the NICR do.
But in fact, the first airtime hill shouldn't be the issue, as the speed difference compared to a cold day will increase over time. So whilst this might run slightly faster in the summer, it dies not make that much of a difference. However, the ending will be significantly faster, as the influence of the lower friction will accumulate over the course of the ride.

I didn't bring my accelerometer yesterday, but I don't think that the first hill will be more than 0.1g stronger than on a normal day. The final bunny hops differ way more. We recorded close to -0.7g airtime on a comfortable day (between 15 and 20°C), I am quite sure that it hit more than 1g negative yesterday. We will make a measurement at some point and probably a comparison between the first day and a hot day.
 
VikingsAf said:
Well, it is just going too fast. Back row on a hot day, the first airtime hill is way too intense. So as it might be that it's going too far in the breaks, I wouldn't be amazed if they add the trimms to the first hill or even to the drop
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Trax said:
The drop does not feature any trimm mounts, only the large airtime hill and the one after the NICR do.
But in fact, the first airtime hill shouldn't be the issue, as the speed difference compared to a cold day will increase over time. So whilst this might run slightly faster in the summer, it dies not make that much of a difference. However, the ending will be significantly faster, as the influence of the lower friction will accumulate over the course of the ride.

I didn't bring my accelerometer yesterday, but I don't think that the first hill will be more than 0.1g stronger than on a normal day. The final bunny hops differ way more. We recorded close to -0.7g airtime on a comfortable day (between 15 and 20°C), I am quite sure that it hit more than 1g negative yesterday. We will make a measurement at some point and probably a comparison between the first day and a hot day.
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Or alternatively they could just change the wheel compounds to make it run slower when it's hotter out.
 
For that to happen you a) need to purchase the wheels and b) take the time to mount them on both trains. Walibi usually operates every ride at full capacity, and changing the wheels on both trains takes a lot of time.
The trimm can be mounted with comparative little effort, technically, it could just take a few minutes.
 
Trax said:
For that to happen you a) need to purchase the wheels and b) take the time to mount them on both trains. Walibi usually operates every ride at full capacity, and changing the wheels on both trains takes a lot of time.
The trimm can be mounted with comparative little effort, technically, it could just take a few minutes.
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Literally all parks change the wheels out during hot and cold seasons lol.
 
Trax said:
For that to happen you a) need to purchase the wheels and b) take the time to mount them on both trains. Walibi usually operates every ride at full capacity, and changing the wheels on both trains takes a lot of time.
The trimm can be mounted with comparative little effort, technically, it could just take a few minutes.
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You think that hiring a specialised high works team and crane to fit trims onto the track would be easier than changing the wheels of a coaster in the specifically designed shed it has for that very purpose?

I mean let’s break down your argument into it’s two key components; you’d have to purchase wheels… you’d also have to purchase custom designed trims.. which would take longer than generic wheels.

Also, fitting trims would mean the coaster is out of action for at least a day or two while the crane and highworks team are in operation in the area to fit the trims, meanwhile the coaster could stay open with one train while the other has the wheels fitted..
 
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CrashCoaster said:
Literally all parks change the wheels out during hot and cold seasons lol.
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Multiple parks change the wheels on at least some of their rides for the winter season, but they usually don't change them during the season. As I was only at Phantasialand, Efteling and Energylandia during winter , I can only speak for those, but I have not seen any difference in the wheels compared to the summer season.

The trimm on the lower airtime hill can be mounted with little effort, a trimm is not a custom designed part. It is basically just a T-shaped piece of metal. The only thing necessary is to bend it a little bit to fit the track, and that is a one dimensional bend, those are really easy to do. With the ride obviously having mounts, it is clear that Intamin wanted to give the options to mount trimms - it is not unusual in such cases that the trimm will even be delivered free of charge, maybe the necessary brake finns are already in storage at Walibi.

Mounting them is also not half as difficult as you are trying to make it. Yes, the first mount is hard to reach, and will likely require a crane or climbers, but the second mount is pretty low to the ground is is reachable via a simple lifting plattform.

Expedition Geforce gets a second set of trimms mounted on it during summer, they don't change the wheel compounds either. Other rides, like Taron for example, have dynamic trimms to avoid trimming to much in the cold weather.

A specific thing to Kondaa is the slow NICR - if the night was cold, the empty train will barely make it anyway, if you go with a different wheel compund, rollbacks are possible, as it will bleed of a lot of speed during the first elements.
The second trimm mount is located after the NICR and can easily avoid this issue, and (unfortunately), they could leave it in place over the course of the season without affecting the high elements.

In the end, we will see, maybe they can make some changes to the final brakerun to get this issue sorted. If they add a trimm, my call is the second mounting option. I highly doubt that they will use a different wheel compound (if they do, the wheels should be the blue ones), but I might be wrong.
 
Crazycoaster said:
You think that hiring a specialised high works team and crane to fit trims onto the track would be easier than changing the wheels of a coaster in the specifically designed shed it has for that very purpose?

I mean let’s break down your argument into it’s two key components; you’d have to purchase wheels… you’d also have to purchase custom designed trims.. which would take longer than generic wheels.

Also, fitting trims would mean the coaster is out of action for at least a day or two while the crane and highworks team are in operation in the area to fit the trims, meanwhile the coaster could stay open with one train while the other has the wheels fitted..
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168 wheels for the trains. That'll probably take more time, than adding a permanent trim, like they did on Expedition GeForce.
 
If they want to add trimbreaks, is there a possibility to turn them off/on when they want to do it? How does a trimbreak works in general?
 
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JeffreyDC said:
If they want add trimebreaks, is there a possibility to turn them off/on when they want to do it? How does a trimbreak works in general?
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They could be turned off and on, yes.

How it works would depend on the type of brake. Some trim brakes, such as the one on the first drop of Thirteen at Alton Towers, only have two settings of “off” and “on”, and the level of braking is constant regardless of how fast the train is going. Some other types of trim, such as the ones often found on B&M Hyper Coasters, are more nuanced, and the extent to which they trim depends on how fast the train is going. If the train is travelling faster than usual, the trim will bite harder. If the train is travelling slower than usual, it will bite less.

Hope that helps!
 
Matt N said:
Some trim brakes, such as the one on the first drop of Thirteen at Alton Towers, only have two settings of “off” and “on”, and the level of braking is constant regardless of how fast the train is going.
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Not quite. If a magnetic trim is present in the path of a train, and doesn't somehow retract out of the way, the braking force is proportional to the speed of the train as it passes through. You can sometimes feel this as a ride warms up throughout the day, and the ride actually starts to slow down, as opposed to just not gaining speed as it passes through a trim brake.

When the train is moving slowly, magnetic brakes become completely ineffective, which is why trains can roll slowly out of the end of a magnetic brake run, and why friction brakes or drive tires are needed to bring a train to a complete stop on coasters that use magnetic braking systems.
 
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