- July 31st, 2009, 8:15 pm
#31937
I think TadAz is onto something. The most recent crate pic more clearly showed the apostrophes and the spacing of the numbers. It looks like a total weight, until you separate the numbers...
I was looking at RCDB to see the ride time and capacity on the more recent Beemer hypers to explore this theory and...saw TadAz had already come up with it several hours ago. Good work!
I didn't do the math on capacity, but noticed the listed capacity on Goliath and Diamondback. Goliath (2-train, no MCBR) is listed at 1220 riders per hour. Diamondback (3-train, MCBR) is listed at 1620 riders per hour.
Goliath's listing doesn't give the ride time, sadly. Diamondback's is listed at 3:00 even. Ok, on to Sixflags.com - there they say "around 3.5 minutes from load to unload". Checking KI's site, they also give 3:00. I'd assume that 3 minutes is the station-to-station time, not counting load /unload.
Interesting, if this is indeed true. It would certainly point to 2 trains and no midcourse, which has it's potential pluses for the actual ride experience and the obvious minus from a capacity standpoint. The ride time is where things get intriguing. If that 3:39 is actual on-ride time, compared to Diamondback's 3:00, this sucker is going to be quite long. Even if it's a total time, including load and unload, it would still seem to suggest something on the longer end of things, i.e. somewhat longer than Goliath. Of course a taller lift hill also increases your time....
Afterburn is listed at 1380 people per hour, which seems somewhat high, but I'd guess it can push through well over 1,000 on average. Using that as a yardstick, and noting how rarely it has a full queue, CF may have thought a 3rd train was overkill for the crowds at Carowinds. 3 million people a year (KD, CW) gets you 3 trains - 2 million (Carowinds) gets you 2, perhaps.
Maybe KD is getting the tallest coaster in the South, and Carowinds is getting the longest.
That's definitely the right page. 
