I dont visit the site or rank rides often, but felt I oughta in light of the creation of Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka.
Now, before you move to chop off my head for giving the ride an 8 rating, please do your best to read dispassionately (is that possible to do in considering such a raucous machine?). Heres my basic take on the ride: Yeah, its hardcore and unprecedented in the coaster world. However, this ride indicates only the beginning. Thats why I give it an 8.
I believe that there will come a day when this ride will seem dated, a fate which a true classic never meets. Itll remain important in its role as one of the first, but may not retain its unique fun factor in the way that the great ones do (Beast, Cyclone, probably Millenium Force). I remember when XL-200 was lauded as the greatest. Where does it rank today?
Essentially, the recent marriage of computer modeling and advanced steel construction has unleashed a whole new realm of possibilities. As I mentioned in my review of Millenium Force, speed and glass-like smoothness are on offer in previously unimaginable magnitude. It just plain rocks!
Anyway, while I dig 0 to 128 in 3.5 seconds and 455 feet, theres certainly room for much, much more. This is just scratching the surface.
I didnt find my first ride on Dragster to be overwhelming. I can understand where many people would, but I view this ride in the broad scope of human experiments with speed and height. At a personal level, Ive driven a car as fast as this coaster and know folks whove eclipsed 200mph on motorcycles. More objectively speaking, drag racing cars hit 350mph in short time and weve built steel towers which exceed 2,000 feet.
Granted, these towers arent load bearing, and 350mph is absurd to ask of a coaster...today. However, 200+mph at around 700 feet seems quite possible. This seems especially reasonable if designers keep in mind one of the most historically beneficial tenets in building better coasters: Use the surrounding topography to advantage. Can you imagine a coaster 700 feet tall whose support structure is affixed to a mountain face? I sure can. Sounds like fun, eh?
Still, mountains arent even necessary. They might just help alleviate some of the cost of free-standing structures. Maybe Las Vegas could build one up the side of a sky scraper...yeah, I know, Im letting my daydreams get the best of me. Still, I can somehow imagine it in a place like Vegas.
On another point related to Great Adventure and Kingda Ka, I cant help but feel really annoyed by the Kingda Ka t-shirts with "This Breaks All Records" printed on the back. What a bogus and ahistoric claim. The ride breaks 2, maybe 3 records (e.g. speed, height and, if you wish, acceleration). The coaster doesnt break ALL records. Its not the longest, doesnt flip (wouldnt THAT be fun...how bout a 30 degree incline, 60 wide by 160 long double corkscrew on the come down from, say, 760 feet?), etc. This rides a blast, but it doesnt break all records. I kind of hate that t-shirt, actually.
No doubt, this ride and the Top Thrill Dragster ROCK! Ill hold back on giving a 9 until they break 550 feet or so at 160+mph. The 10 will come when 200mph is broken. I feel the wind in my chest already. Well need protective goggles when this monster arrives.
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