[Jstbcool]

How far to the left do the footers go? The area by the tents looks like it has to be the station or the storage shed, which i would lean towards the storage shed. It could be the station wont lead straight into the lift hill, but there will be a 90 degree turn to get to the lift from the station. As obvious as it is that this is a B&M hyper, the layout from the footers is not easy to tell.

Also, i'm not sure exactly what the black pipe is for. Some of it is near where i believe the storage shed and lift are meaning it could be just to drain excess water, however, i'm not sure what the black pipe on the right side of the photo is. Could be for a lake, or could just be drainage underneath the future queue or whatever goes in that area. Or it could be insolation piping for future electrical work. I can't say i know enough about construction to be sure.

[carowindsman6654]

Between the season pass processing path and the white tents is the farthest left the footer markings go. The black pipes you see are for drainage. There is a shopping center getting built near my house right now and those exact same pipes are being used for that.

[coastercrazy]

Just got back from vacation in ohio. Dimondback was awsome! so happy to come back home and find that footers are finally being poured. I can't wait for the stats and everything. If we get anything close to What dimondback is like, then we are in for one awsome ride at carowinds. Thanks for all the updated pics and keeping us informed about what has been going on. keep it up.

[Diamondback FOF]

The long cylindrical re-bar bundles and augered holes at Carowinds just looked a little atypical to me. I was hoping someone with local civil engineering knowledge might weigh in with an opinion. The rebar for Diamondback was a more typical shallow, broad-base formation suited for compressive loads. Shallow and wide is good for vertical loading. In other words- up and down movements of the load. Think bunny hops or camelbacks.

Longer, deeper and narrow rebar like we are seeing is better for horizontal loading. They are generally made to flex in the horizontal direction. Think hammerheads, helices, and overbanked turns.

Of course all of this is dependent on local soil conditions, the part of the track that is being constructed and local hydrodynamics. Does anyone here know what the typical building standard is for the area?

so what are you thinking--does this indicate a coaster other than B&M hyper to you? or do you think these different building elements have more to do with the actual, um, dirt?

and regarding the jumbo footer- this is my first foray into coaster construction observation, but the first thing I thought when I saw the pic of the footer was "holy c$@#! that sure is a big footer!" so...do you all agree that this is a larger-than-expected footer? and if so, is that significant? (I did read the posts about this earlier, just wondering about other folks' thoughts as well)

anyhow, thanks to everyone for the photos. at last, this is getting really interesting.

Diamondback had a jumbo footer for the hammerhead. BTW what 'jumbo footer' are you talking about? The one in the middle of the dirt field? I think that's for the bottom of the lift hill.

As to the 90* drop, I do believe it is not possible on a hyper. The way the trains are made, they could not bend enough at the top of the lift hill, get vertical, and then pull out in only 230-ish feet. The trains are too long and not made to bend that much.

BTW if anyone wants to see how Diamondback's construction went, I know someone who made a really cool PowerPoint on it that went through the construction. If you'd like me to post it, just let me know and I will because I have a copy of it.

[Double_a]

Well, if the guy who made the powerpoint is cool with it, I would sure like to see it.

[chunkyskunk]

Hey all, went to the park this AM for a couple of hours. Been about three weeks since I had been. My nephew has a birthday next month so I had to take advantage of the 75% off on Nick items. 29 items for $91. Wow. I also rode a few things I had not yet been on this year. Anyways, I did notice that today, an 'L' shaped footer had just been poured and they were smoothing it with a trowel, or whatever you call it. When you look at the typical skytower photo, this footer is on the left center of the shot right up against the pavement or in the extreme N central section of the construction. Also, in between that one and the current ones (that are lined up to the north of BIG footer) is an angled one. You get a real picture today of a 'footer curve' which seems to back up the typical brake run to station to lift hill layout that is being presented with illustrations. Yeah, I know, I know, 'what about photos?' No photos, it was a spur of the moment thing. Sorry.

[carowindsman6654]

What? No pics? Where's FSUNolez? Would be nice if the track got delivered next week so I could see it during Coaster stock. Hmmm....

[chunkyskunk]

I happen to be messing around with Wikipedia Carowinds listing and looking to see if something different had been added to the timeline it has listed and I noticed this had been changed in that article:

Wild Thornberrys log flume removed to make room for a new attraction in 2010, rumored to be King's Dominion's former ride Hypersonic XLC. Cedar Fair will not renew it's contract with Viacom. Meaning it will be the last year any character apart of Nickelodeon will be seen in the park. Action Theatre will be getting a new movie to replace the current Spongebob 3D film.

It previously read that Wild Thornberry's was removed for a 'new attraction.' I think we already figured it out that Nick is gone but this rumor is a new one to me as for the coaster. It is pretty obvious that is not what we are getting but I just thought I would pass it along and share.

[carowindsman6654]

HyperSonic is not going to any other Cedar Fair park including Carowinds. The ride is still up for sale. Don't ever trust Wikipedia.

[Diamondback FOF]

This is the PowerPoint I was talking about.

Edit: I forgot to post the file. Give me a minute.

[chunkyskunk]

As for track, I did some looking around but the only thing I saw that I did not see before was some red/orange looking pieces in the storage area on the north side of the rapids. It appeared to me to be some sort of fencing pieces such as you would have between entrance lines to a ride. Or something similar.

[chunkyskunk]

HyperSonic is not going to any other Cedar Fair park including Carowinds. The ride is still up for sale. Don't ever trust Wikipedia.

Yeah, I have seen the ride up for sale before. Just thought it was interesting and even humorous. I love Wikipedia for trivial type stuff but it is not for thesis and report writing, that is for sure.

[carowindsman6654]

HyperSonic is not going to any other Cedar Fair park including Carowinds. The ride is still up for sale. Don't ever trust Wikipedia.

Yeah, I have seen the ride up for sale before. Just thought it was interesting and even humorous. I love Wikipedia for trivial type stuff but it is not for thesis and report writing, that is for sure.

Do you know how close to the trees next to Dora was the L shaped footer?

[chunkyskunk]

HyperSonic is not going to any other Cedar Fair park including Carowinds. The ride is still up for sale. Don't ever trust Wikipedia.

Yeah, I have seen the ride up for sale before. Just thought it was interesting and even humorous. I love Wikipedia for trivial type stuff but it is not for thesis and report writing, that is for sure.

Do you know how close to the trees next to Dora was the L shaped footer?

The footer was on the opposite end of that. If you look at the skytower photo on the previous page on this blog, look to the far left center of the photo and you will see an excavator and some fresh dirt. It was located there. I pulled up Google Earth and it is about 100 feet NW of the NW corner of the northern most 'white loaf bread' building. Right on the edge of the dirt and service road pavement.

[Diamondback FOF]

I guess my PowerPoint is too big (it's 82.5 MB ). I tried posting it earlier (twice actually) and it said page cannot be displayed. Then I tried taking out the music and it never would post. Can someone tell me how to make the file smaller so it will post?