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Dollywood | Lightning Rod | Launched RMC

^ Here you go...

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Honest question: Can anybody confirm that that hump is modeled with a hyperbola? It approaches a linear slope on both ends and has that "conic" look to it, but I can't say I've ever noticed hyperbolas on coasters before. Nerdy question, but I fangirled over Skype last night when I noticed that and was wondering if this hyperbolic element was something that hadn't been done on a coaster before. :?

Hyperbolic, parabolic, sinusoidal, -|x|, the airtime going through that is going to be sick! <3
 
Jarrett, no-one can confirm that for you. :lol: Even if we had the plans, it would be very difficult to prove. Curve fitting, especially with hyperbolic/parabolic curves, it very tricky. Mathematically they're very different (well, sort of), but in reality conical sections and parabolic sections look almost alike. In fact, there's a whole field of curve fitting mathematics that deals with this (I had to study this for my final year project at university). You could probably use a relatively basic Lagrange Polynomial (one of the methods I used in my project to fit parabolic curves to combined sinusoidal curves) to approximate a parabola to most of those curve types you mentioned.

Even if you had the plans, it would a difficult task. Considering we have a photo, perspective and lens distortion is going to make predictions like that impossible. Not to mention that that photo has a funny look to it - almost "GoPro-on-a-drone". PLUS, it probably looks strange because it starts from a stright section of track.

Anyway, that's enough geeking out about curve fitting from me... :p

I think whatever the shape of the curve is, it's going to be fantastic to ride! :lol:
 
RMC just put some pics up on their Facebook page. Good look at whats to come back in the woods. I will say that pictures do not do the wave turn justice. I have seen it in person, it's gonna be amazing.
 
This thing is looking better every day! Although it's due to open in 3 months. I hope they're still on schedule. However, being RMC, I think they'll be fine.
 
Hyde said:
Talk about a transition!
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For people who have ridden RMCs, how much do those feel like the fast Intamin transitions that are on I305 and Maverick? I'm really excited for Lightning Rod, but the snappy roll transitions on those two ruined those rides for me.

(After messing around with FVD++, I've decided that Intamin's flaw might be with the change of roll speed, not just the roll speed, so it's not a given to me that a quick transition is necessarily going to be unpleasant.)
 
^RMC either has insanely smooth transitions, or quite snappy ones(ala Zero G stalls and that green High Five on TC). But usually, they're well executed. This should look to be a very smooth and very nice transition.
 
Maybe I'm just not used to the angle, but the pullout looks pretty drawn out. That's not a complaint, just an observation.

I'm looking forward to riding this.
 
^I think it is quite drawn out, to follow the terrain better.

But still omg this is going to obscene.
 
Very cool perspective. It was a bit difficult to think through the placement of the ride from computer renderings - very cool getting to see the physical thing in its place!
 
I think the angle is making the bottom of the drop look more drawn out than it actually is. Take a look at the footers in this image, you can see that the terrain of the valley where the two sides actually meet is quite tight:

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Its going to be an amazing year for RMC next year; I am blown away every time I see their construction updates.
 
I can't believe how long this is! It really does look amazing, I love how it follows the terrain so well too!
Won't this make Thunderhead a bit obsolete now though? Saying that though this is more based on airtime and Thunderhead is more based on laterals.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
^Umm, no.

Thunderhead is an absolute machine when it comes to airtime. The whole ride is littered with random pops of airtime. It may not be sustained thigh crushing ejector like on Skyrush or instances of completely weightless floater like Phoenix, but it's there. While it twists around its layout it randomly chucks you out of your seat and into your restraint. It's awesome, one of the best wooden coasters I've ridden.

Lightning Rod is also about airtime, yes, but with more focus on speed and snappy transitions it seems. It's RMC's version of a speed coaster like Fury or Millennium, almost. Thunderhead is built for airtime, Lightning Rod is built for speed and aggression.

Don't judge a coaster you haven't ridden. Others around here have told me it's not okay to be prejudiced against rides you haven't ridden. ;)
 
Yeah, Thunderhead is really excellent.

This will be better, but, in the same way Tennessee Tornado is still good but Wild Eagle is better.

Thunderhead will be more of a "gateway" coaster whereas Lightning Rod is out and out thrills.

Just realised they've got two woodies, Thunder and Lightning, that's fab.
 
Jarrett said:
^Umm, no.

Thunderhead is an absolute machine when it comes to airtime. The whole ride is littered with random pops of airtime. It may not be sustained thigh crushing ejector like on Skyrush or instances of completely weightless floater like Phoenix, but it's there. While it twists around its layout it randomly chucks you out of your seat and into your restraint. It's awesome, one of the best wooden coasters I've ridden.

Lightning Rod is also about airtime, yes, but with more focus on speed and snappy transitions it seems. It's RMC's version of a speed coaster like Fury or Millennium, almost. Thunderhead is built for airtime, Lightning Rod is built for speed and aggression.

Don't judge a coaster you haven't ridden. Others around here have told me it's not okay to be prejudiced against rides you haven't ridden. ;)
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I haven't prejudged anything though?
I asked a question, I didn't say Thunderhead was bad In anyway, because from what I've heard it's a top coaster.
The way Ben described it was perfect, it will be a step down coaster but by no means a redundant coaster.
 
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