“It softens where the wheel is rolling and hitting the track, which increases the drag.” A good, worn-in track will have gray or silver streaks where the wheel has worn down the paint, making it move more quickly. “The one thing that will slow down a steel coaster is a build-up of paint on the track rails,” Pike says. Paint makes a big difference in coaster speed.įor all of their high-tech design-the software, fabrication, and precise measures of energy-a good coaster ride can often come down to whether it’s got too much paint on it. The game definitely brought a lot of people into the fold.” 5. “I remember when the game first got popular, I would go to trade shows and there would be kids looking to get into it using screen shots of rides they designed. Jeff Pike, President of Skyline Attractions, says he’s seen several people grow passionate about the industry as a direct result of the game. As a proving ground for aspiring engineers and designers, it worked pretty well.
The popular PC game, first released in 1999, allowed users to methodically construct their own amusement parks, including the rides. Rollercoaster Tycoon brought a lot of people into the business. “For every extra foot of steelwork, it would have cost them £30,000. “It was a practical question,” Walker says. When England’s Alton Towers park was preparing to build a ride named TH13TEEN for a 2010 opening, they asked Walker exactly how much of a drop was needed to scare someone in the dark. In addition to designing a ride based on the topography of a park site, designers take into account exactly how much space they’ll need to terrorize you and not an inch more.
There is absolutely nothing random about the length of a coaster’s track. Thrill seekers go upside-down while riding on the Mind Eraser roller coaster in Agawam, Massachusetts / Kirkikis/iStock via Getty Images Every foot of roller coaster track costs a lot of money. Designers also sometimes use the kind of crash-test dummies found in the auto industry to observe any potential issues prior to actual humans climbing aboard. The water dummies-which look a bit like crash test dummies, but filled with water-can be emptied or filled to simulate different weight capacities. The inanimate patrons allow designers to figure out how a coaster will react to the constant use and rider weight of a highly trafficked ride. The rides are tested with what we call water dummies, or sometimes sandbags.” “We’re subject to ASTM standards,” Kitchen says. Part of that process is devoted to the logistics of securing patents and permits for local site construction-the rest is extensive safety testing. Thrill Rides, says it can take anywhere from two to five years for a coaster to go from idea to execution. Designers test roller coasters with water-filled dummies.īill Kitchen, founder of U.S. “The actual ride might only achieve 80 percent of that excitement.” 2. “The moment the lap bar is being locked down and you have that feeling of things being inescapable, that you have to suffer the effects of the ride, is the highest moment of arousal,” Walker says. In his experience, riders getting secured into their seats are at the peak of their excitement-even more so than during the ride itself. Known as a “thrill engineer,” UK-based Brendan Walker consults with coaster manufacturers and parks on the psychology of riding the rails. Getting strapped in might be the most exciting part of the roller coaster ride. To get a sense of what their job entails, Mental Floss spoke with several roller coaster specialists about everything from testing rides with water-filled dummies to how something as simple as paint can influence a coaster experience. A century later, coaster designers rely on computer software, physics, and psychology to push the limits of the roughly 5000 rides in operation worldwide. Back in the early 20th century, engineers attempting to push the limits of roller coaster thrills subjected riders to risky upside-down turns and bloody noses.