Any Updates on Test Track Redo?

[Alektronic]

Isn't that like saying man and women are the same, just with some different programming?

Yes they are decendents - but when you change so much, how does one call it the same thing? Indy wasn't designed to support vehicle speeds of 60+ mph. Nor lateral forces like TT supports nor the types of accelerations used. No way they just took the same exact boggie design, track surfaces, and mechanics and said 'here, reprogram this to the new show sequences'.

You would be surprised to see how much they have in common, especially under the track including the boggies TT is a lightweight version of Indy/CTX and you would be surprised to see how fast a Indy type RV can go.

 

[Imagineer6]

I believe the worst case scenario test they're referring to was when they turned off every safety procedure and the car crashed into the side of the building.

How long was the opening date delayed after that incident?

 

[wdw71fan]

How long was the opening date delayed after that incident?

Ahhhhhhhhhh..... Infamous Car #17

 

[RSoxNo1]

How long was the opening date delayed after that incident?

I'm not sure. It didn't open until 1999, and there are definitely park maps that say it's opening in May of 1997:

http://www.florida-project.com/epcot-guidebooks-guidemaps/january-1997

 

[marni1971]

How long was the opening date delayed after that incident?

That incident is a bit urban myth, a bit real. I've never found proof it happened as described.

However, opening was delayed 18 months from the original date of May 1997. It soft opened to guests just before Christmas 1998.

 

[wdwmagic]

That incident is a bit urban myth, a bit real. I've never found proof it happened.

However, opening was delayed 18 months from the original date of May 1997.

Yep same here. I don't believe it ever actually took place. I talked to a couple of the WDI team who worked on Test Track, and they have no knowledge of it.

 

[DocMcHulk]

However, opening was delayed 18 months from the original date of May 1997. It soft opened to guests just before Christmas 1998.

I remember riding it around Dec 29th or 30th of that year while I was on a high school band trip. We waited in line 3 hours due to weather and some down time.

 

[FrankLapidus]

I remember riding it around Dec 29th or 30th of that year while I was on a high school band trip. We waiting in line 3 hours due to weather and some down time.

I used to hate standing in line for Test Track only for a thunder storm to appear out of nowhere and the attraction would shut down straight away. It did make me chuckle though to watch crowds of people try to take cover under the steel arch outside only to be moved back out into the torrential rain by CM's in case the steel got hit by lightning.

 

[Alektronic]

That incident is a bit urban myth, a bit real. I've never found proof it happened as described.

However, opening was delayed 18 months from the original date of May 1997. It soft opened to guests just before Christmas 1998.

I can personally verify that it happened since I was working that day. I had plenty of friends working in Test Track on the project team taking advantage of all the overtime.

I can't remember exactly what month maybe May or June '97, but I do remember that it happened on a Sunday. What happened was WDI was running test laps and the RV's kept on stopping because of different faults, they would never complete a single lap without stopping. So they decided to bypass all the safety interlocks to see if it can a complete a lap. Everything was working good until it was coming back into the bdlg, it was going full speed and but never slowed down, so at that last left turn the car body separated from the boggie and it went through the wall and left a big hole in the bldg and tore up the track. There was big rush to find black curtains to cover up the accident, luckily no one was in the vehicle.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I can personally verify that it happened since I was working that day. I had plenty of friends working in Test Track on the project team taking advantage of all the overtime.

I can't remember exactly what month maybe May or June '97, but I do remember that it happened on a Sunday. What happened was WDI was running test laps and the RV's kept on stopping because of different faults, they would never complete a single lap without stopping. So they decided to bypass all the safety interlocks to see if it can a complete a lap. Everything was working good until it was coming back into the bdlg, it was going full speed and but never slowed down, so at that last left turn the car body separated from the boggie and it went through the wall and left a big hole in the bldg and tore up the track. There was big rush to find black curtains to cover up the accident, luckily no one was in the vehicle.

An addendum to that, I thought the car was used at some point as a prop. Was there anything left of the vehicle?

 

[t3techcom18]

I can personally verify that it happened since I was working that day. I had plenty of friends working in Test Track on the project team taking advantage of all the overtime.

I can't remember exactly what month maybe May or June '97, but I do remember that it happened on a Sunday. What happened was WDI was running test laps and the RV's kept on stopping because of different faults, they would never complete a single lap without stopping. So they decided to bypass all the safety interlocks to see if it can a complete a lap. Everything was working good until it was coming back into the bdlg, it was going full speed and but never slowed down, so at that last left turn the car body separated from the boggie and it went through the wall and left a big hole in the bldg and tore up the track. There was big rush to find black curtains to cover up the accident, luckily no one was in the vehicle.

I was just about to comment on this and you said it beautifully.

All TT CMs, including Maintenance, know through training why there is no Car 1 and Car 17 for a reason. There is also a CM who's worked at that same building since 84 and is still presently there.

Car 1 because its the prototype and now sits in the Cool Wash station;

Car 17 because it was the car involved in what happened and was considered bad luck to keep it.

 

[marni1971]

Surely a car going full pelt on the last left turn (into unload I assume) that physically disconnected would have ended up somewhere infront of Horizons?

 

[Lee]

Surely a car going full pelt on the last left turn (into unload I assume) that physically disconnected would have ended up somewhere infront of Horizons?

Going through the wall would likely slow it down considerably....

 

[marni1971]

Going through the wall would likely slow it down considerably....

The final left turn is the prefabricated tunnel added in 97. Anything hitting that at 60 Would be like a knife through butter id have thought.

To hit the 82 structure the car would have to have negotiated the left handed into load and stayed on track... Hard to do.

Not saying it didn't. Just Trying to understand how it could have.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Das scaffold, it is still there, ja?

Vill zey take it down?

 

[Tom]

Das scaffold, it is still there, ja?

Vill zey take it down?

Um.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

'Um' was? Um laut?

Das ugly clutter, vill it go? Vill zey tear down ze scaffold, like ze Berlin Wall? Ja / nein?

 

[prekteacher]

I hope it is open when we going in 2014. That is all my teens are talking about.

 

[Tom]

I hope it is open when we going in 2014. That is all my teens are talking about.

If you're talking about Test Track, it will be open in 2014, unless they take it down for another refurb. It's supposed to re-open this year.

 

[ChrisFL]

The final left turn is the prefabricated tunnel added in 97. Anything hitting that at 60 Would be like a knife through butter id have thought.

To hit the 82 structure the car would have to have negotiated the left handed into load and stayed on track... Hard to do.

Not saying it didn't. Just Trying to understand how it could have.

Wow, found 2 things Martin doesn't know in one thread! From everything I've heard over the years from various sources, I think there was a "car leaving the track" type of incident, but I don't know what part of the track or how severe it was (meaning, even if it didn't fly into a wall doesn't mean they wouldn't have to re-do the whole ride system)