Ride Profile
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Waiting time to ride during the October weekends often exceeded two hours, in part because the ride capacity is a modest 200 per hour. But people waited patiently, expectantly, and weren’t disappointed. Knoebel himself has ridden it, of course, and offers a connoisseur’s perspective. “Perhaps the best part of the ride is the last 100 yards [91m] before entering the brake run. That is where the train has the most speed and climbs the chute walls to the highest point.”
Now that it is open, Knoebel anticipates “that the addition of the Flying Turns will add to our attendance, although not a huge amount, but will give our ride line-up a wider appeal.”
Third train lucky
The seven-year path to completion of the Flying Turns was as twisted as the ride itself. Knoebels tried to duplicate the earlier rides as much as possible, but the first version didn’t work right. It didn’t track consistently, and there was concern the trains might jack-knife. The second generation train took into account ASTM standards, but was still the original train design from the 1930s – hinged, or articulated, in the middle. Unfortunately the weight of the train was determined to be too heavy for the structure. This was all good information that was subsequently incorporated into the third generation train. The
chassis was redesigned to be lighter, using aluminium. The design went from three axles to two, which removed a hump in the middle of the car. The single casters that were at either end of each axle were then replaced with two casters on each corner of the two-axle train. This finally worked. “The engineering challenges were daunting,” recalls Knoebel. “If we could have constructed the vehicles as a copy of the Euclid Beach vehicles (we had one on hand to study), we would have been home free. But the rules have changed; we had to start from scratch. Then it was a matter of designing and building the passenger compartment. We had darn near reached the futile end of the project when we lured Mike Boodley [coaster designer, ex- Great Coasters International] into the project. He, too, almost gave up but we kept pursuing until we found the solution and Mike gets the credit for succeeding.”
Knoebels Amusement Resort is a family owned and operated amusement park, picnic grove and campground. It is and has been America’s largest free admission park for its 87 years of operation, boasting 77 rides and attractions, 21 food outlets, 26 games and arcades, and 20 gift shops. But the Flying Turns is the icing on the cake.
knoebels.com
Want one too? Knoebels can help!
If you want a Flying Turns building at your park, talk to Dick Knoebel. “John Fetterman designed all of the structures,” he notes, “with the aid and approval of Bill Kelley of Dynamics Designs who was the project engineer. The vehicles were built by Larson International and Ash- Tec, a local fabrication firm headed by Bill Wydra. Jeff Glinter of Larson designed and built the passengers
compartments. Knoebels now has sole rights to the design and build of the structure and the vehicles. We do not at present expect to license any other would-be builders, but we we’d be happy to speak anyone interested. ”
MORE FLYING TURNS PICS OVER THE PAGE...
NOVEMBER 2013
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