Test Track

[MattyMitch]

Hi I have a few questions about Test Track, I was wondering if anyone could answer them.

1) Why don't they check your seat belt at the load station instead of going up the hill to the seat belt check, is it possible to get out of the car before the seat belt check?

2) How do they keep the spacing the same? For example someones seatbelt doesn't work or someone needs help getting in and they delay boarding, wouldn't there be a backlog. Is there an automatic timer or something to say "Send a car now"?

3) Is there cameras in the cars to monitor you throughout the ride?

4) What happens if a car breaks down in the middle of the ride? I know they would stop all the cars but how would they move it out the way?

5) How does the car know when the change speeds at different points on the track? Do the speeds vary because of factors such as the weight of the car or does the ride account for that and add more/less power?

I think thats all my questions, thanks.

 

[jrogue]

Sorry -- I don't have answers for this but I am definitely curious as well to see if anyone does!

 

[Rob562]

Hi I have a few questions about Test Track, I was wondering if anyone could answer them.

1) Why don't they check your seat belt at the load station instead of going up the hill to the seat belt check, is it possible to get out of the car before the seat belt check?

2) How do they keep the spacing the same? For example someones seatbelt doesn't work or someone needs help getting in and they delay boarding, wouldn't there be a backlog. Is there an automatic timer or something to say "Send a car now"?

3) Is there cameras in the cars to monitor you throughout the ride?

4) What happens if a car breaks down in the middle of the ride? I know they would stop all the cars but how would they move it out the way?

5) How does the car know when the change speeds at different points on the track? Do the speeds vary because of factors such as the weight of the car or does the ride account for that and add more/less power?

I think thats all my questions, thanks.

Hoo boy, that's a lot.

1) Checking seatbelts at Load would require more CM's working the platform. To keep things moving, you'd need one CM per car. As it is now, they operate with one CM per pair of cars, plus the CM at Dispatch/Seat-Belt check. So that's a savings of one CM. Technically, yes, someone could theoretically get out of the car on the curve between Load and Dispatch if you haven't buckled your seatbelt... But once a seatbelt is buckled, it can't be undone.

2) Yes, the system requires cars to constantly be moving and dispatching at regular intervals. If they *know* they'll have a long rest-time (like if they need to take a vehicle on or off the track) then they can prepare for that. There is a buffer of parking spaces between the high-speed loop and Load/Unload, but once those spaces fill up, they'll go into a cascade ride stop where cars will stop because the zone in front of them isn't clear. (And CM's working the ride are acutely aware of how long they have until things cascade to an e-stop)
The same thing happens at Space Mountain. There are only a set number of parking spaces before the Unload point, so if a rocket sits at Unload for any appreciable time (more than 60 seconds), the rockets will back up behind it and then go into a cascade ride stop.

3) In the cars, no. But there are cameras along the entire ride path.

(It looks like these only show the truck tunnel through the infrared re-entry tunnel. If I recall, there is another bank of monitors to the left above the window overlooking Load/Unload)

4) There's a couple possibilities. A car will go into creep mode if it can. Its lights blink and horn sounds, just like a car alarm. Then they can get it off the track. If it's *really* disabled, they could try and coax it to one of the two places they can get cars off the track (either at Dispatch which is preferable since that leads to the Maintenance shop), or if needed into the storage track, which is the formerly-known-as "Track Course B" between the old corrosion test and the handling curves, just to get the ride back up and running.
If the thing is just totally dead, won't move an inch, then they shut the ride down until Maintenance can work on it where it is to get it moving and off the track.

5) The car has an on-board computer that knows what the car is supposed to be doing at each point in the track. It speeds up and slows down according to the program with outside input from the master ride controller to know that track zones ahead are clear. The cars also talk to each other. Just like your own car, the car would apply more power as needed to reach the pre-determined speed.

-Rob

 

[MattyMitch]

Hoo boy, that's a lot.

1) Checking seatbelts at Load would require more CM's working the platform. To keep things moving, you'd need one CM per car. As it is now, they operate with one CM per pair of cars, plus the CM at Dispatch/Seat-Belt check. So that's a savings of one CM. Technically, yes, someone could theoretically get out of the car on the curve between Load and Dispatch if you haven't buckled your seatbelt... But once a seatbelt is buckled, it can't be undone.

2) Yes, the system requires cars to constantly be moving and dispatching at regular intervals. If they *know* they'll have a long rest-time (like if they need to take a vehicle on or off the track) then they can prepare for that. There is a buffer of parking spaces between the high-speed loop and Load/Unload, but once those spaces fill up, they'll go into a cascade ride stop where cars will stop because the zone in front of them isn't clear. (And CM's working the ride are acutely aware of how long they have until things cascade to an e-stop)
The same thing happens at Space Mountain. There are only a set number of parking spaces before the Unload point, so if a rocket sits at Unload for any appreciable time (more than 60 seconds), the rockets will back up behind it and then go into a cascade ride stop.

3) In the cars, no. But there are cameras along the entire ride path.

(It looks like these only show the truck tunnel through the infrared re-entry tunnel. If I recall, there is another bank of monitors to the left above the window overlooking Load/Unload)

4) There's a couple possibilities. A car will go into creep mode if it can. Its lights blink and horn sounds, just like a car alarm. Then they can get it off the track. If it's *really* disabled, they could try and coax it to one of the two places they can get cars off the track (either at Dispatch which is preferable since that leads to the Maintenance shop), or if needed into the storage track, which is the formerly-known-as "Track Course B" between the old corrosion test and the handling curves, just to get the ride back up and running.
If the thing is just totally dead, won't move an inch, then they shut the ride down until Maintenance can work on it where it is to get it moving and off the track.

5) The car has an on-board computer that knows what the car is supposed to be doing at each point in the track. It speeds up and slows down according to the program with outside input from the master ride controller to know that track zones ahead are clear. The cars also talk to each other. Just like your own car, the car would apply more power as needed to reach the pre-determined speed.

-Rob

thanks that answered all of them!
Do you know how the streamline part of the ride works? I don't know what you call it but it used to be the part with the robots and the hot/cool bit.

 

[Rob562]

thanks that answered all of them!
Do you know how the streamline part of the ride works? I don't know what you call it but it used to be the part with the robots and the hot/cool bit.

If you're talking about the "smoke trail wind tunnel" effect, it's essentially a Pepper's Ghost effect. You're seeing both a reflection of yourself, plus a reflection of an unseen projection surface displaying the smoke effect around the car. I'm not sure if the smoke is the same every time, but a live adjustment to the animation based on the passengers in the car wouldn't be difficult to program.

-Rob