^I think that a Floorless is a gimmick too. To me, it really doesn't matter if a coaster has a floor or not. The problem for a park though is that a Sitdown LOOKS just like a Floorless. Is there any park in the world that has both a B&M Sitdown and a B&M Floorless? A Wingrider train looks different than those 2 though so as I was saying that a park like Fiesta Texas might get a Wingrider for that matter even though they have a Floorless. It just looks different. The GP look at as a totally different coaster than Superman.
The other concepts are very different in my opinion from B&Ms Flyer, Stand-Up, Mega Coaster, Dive Coaster, and Inverted.
You say that this is a combo of a sitdown and an inverted coaster, but I really don't see that. It's seems to me more like a Floorless, but the seats are further apart.
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It really only is a combo sitdown/inverted if the seats spin. However, it is a different feeling being that far away from the track. Busch Gardens Tampa is the only park I can think of that has a floorless & sitdown, but the floorless is Sheikra. I think these wingriders are more like a dive machine than a floorless. The elements should feel different than a floorless. There is no reason they can't have a wingrider drop more than 90* and face first. The trains look a lot lighter too, which allows for more options to what it can do. B&M has had an entire decade to study 4D, and I really believe this is just a stepping stone. Now that they have shown they can pull a train up 300' with a chain on Leviathan, they can add more weight to these, especially down low and centered. They have had 5 years to study the forces on Griffon with a 10 wide train. This design done smoothly, reliably, and with the way B&M can twist track, can lead to experiences we have never had before. This is how I see the wingrider concept evolving. B&M just doesn't want to go out of business like Arrow did.
Once B&M studies this wing-rider concept for a few years, I can most definitly see them doing something that involves roatating seats on these types of coasters. Who knows, ten years from now they could totally re-invent X-flight and give it an xtreme makeover like X at SFMM and rename it Xtreme Flight or something like that. This however could just be my coaster nerd mind thinking a little to far into this.
^I have posed this 4D conversion several times here and you are the first to mention it. I really think it depends on how they rotate the seats. Installing an extra rail doesn't seem like it would work that good. I can't imagine some iron workers out there welding it in place and having it be accurate. Plus, trying to bend it post manufacture. If B&M can do it electrically or electronically, and keep everything within the trains frame, then I think it would be possible. However, electric motors and gears can heavy in a hurry. It might be possible to switch to a back to back seating arrangement, like the Zacspins use, and cut the length of the train in 1/2-5/8.
Electrical appears to be well on it's way. A bunch more grouting still to do though for the last stuff to have gone up, basically from the helix onward, though that doesn't take much time.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
gottastrata33 wrote:The panoramics are awesome along with the drop photo off the midway by Demon. Wow. This is one photogenic ride but what B&M really isnt?!
I know, right? These kinds of photos just make the ride look even better, and gets me even more hyped for May.
6Flags4Evr wrote:Once B&M studies this wing-rider concept for a few years, I can most definitly see them doing something that involves roatating seats on these types of coasters. Who knows, ten years from now they could totally re-invent X-flight and give it an xtreme makeover like X at SFMM and rename it Xtreme Flight or something like that. This however could just be my coaster nerd mind thinking a little to far into this.
I am not so sure they have any interest in adding rotating seats due to potential reliability issues. B&Ms are like the Japanese autos of the coaster industry due partly to their reliability, and once you add rotating seats, there is just more to go wrong. Don't me wrong; if they can do it, i am sure they could make it more reliable, but I am not convinced they want to make a ride like X2. To bring in yet another company, one only need to look to Intamin to see how pushing the thrill envelope=less reliability. We shall see, though.