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The Biggest and Baddest Backyard Roller Coaster

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the cyclone dept.

BoomZilla writes "Following on the heels of previously reported backyard roller coasters (here and here), I'd like to add Jeremy Reid's wondrous beast to the list. This behemoth certainly takes the award for the largest, fastest (and most likely the most expensive) labor of coaster love. Located in Newcastle, Oklahoma, it has an initial drop of 20ft, pulls max positive G's of 3.5 and max negative G's of -0.2. Overall it's a stunning 444 feet in length. Total cost is estimated at $5.5k. Jeremy is, clearly, a man with too much time and money on his hands!"

61 of 219 comments (clear)

  1. wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Since this was a Slashdot article, I figured it must have been about a guy who built a 9-monitor roller coaster simulator running across 3 PC's.

  2. Dangerous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hope he has a lot more time on his hands - to maintain it. Maintaining a rollercoaster is not easy.

    --a Cedar Point employee

    1. Re:Dangerous by Gherald · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I doubt the use is heavy enough for maintainance to be a big issue.

      --
      The unofficial /. digest
    2. Re:Dangerous by Christopher+Thomas · · Score: 4, Informative

      I doubt the use is heavy enough for maintainance to be a big issue.

      Weather's a big issue. Even pressure-treated lumber wears in an annoyingly short time. The rails will also corrode.

      It's a great achievement, but if its time before a major overhaul is needed is over 10 years, I'll be impressed - and this took years to build.

      As long as he puts in the time, kudos to him.

    3. Re:Dangerous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Insightful?

      What does professional rollercoaster maintenance have to do with the fact that an intelligent young man successfully designed, built, and tested his own rollercoaster?

      How about, "Kids, stay out of model rocketry because NASA procedures take lots of time!" Better yet, stay away from all engineering....?

    4. Re:Dangerous by Jacer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Last summer when I was at Cedar Point I was stranded on the top hill of a roller coaster for about two hours before being escorted down the stairs to the side of the first hill. The engine towing us up the first hill was siezed. I was really pissed off because I drove 1,200 miles for the roller coasters and spent a good chunk of my second of three days doing nothing, I mean, for the two hours, I could have almost made it completely throught the line of the Millenium Force!

      --
      --fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
    5. Re:Dangerous by naelurec · · Score: 3, Funny

      Thats what you get for riding the Wildcat .. :)

  3. NIfty toy by curtlewis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pretty slick, but you just KNOW some kid is gonna climb his fence, ride the coaster, fuck it up, hurt himself and sue the guy.

    So... $5.5k + $1million lawyers fees + $5 million per kid that parents let run loose unattended.

    1. Re:NIfty toy by NanoGator · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Pretty slick, but you just KNOW some kid is gonna climb his fence, ride the coaster, fuck it up, hurt himself and sue the guy."

      Wasn't it Han Solo who said "better you than me"? Man, it's like that movie applies to everything!

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    2. Re:NIfty toy by toughluck · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This to me just says how badly things need to change. Any parent that sues another because

      1. they let their kids run around with no supervision.

      2. does not teach their kids what is safe and what is not.

      3. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY!!! does not and will not take responsibility for their Childs actions and for their own lack of parenting

      should have their lawsuit thrown out of court and then sued by the government and by the person they sued for contributing to the problem of our kids pushing off the blame to anyone else they can.

      And yes for the record I am a father of 3.

    3. Re:NIfty toy by ashkar · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, in at least several states in the U.S. you are liable even if the injured party is "uninvited".

      Sometimes my pride in being American tastes like shit.

    4. Re:NIfty toy by guacamolefoo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Two words:

      Attractive nuisance. Sorry, user 633962, the courts disagree with your view. Here's a brief definition of the doctrine:

      http://insurance.cch.com/rupps/attractive-nuisan ce -doctrine.htm

      Clearly, a parent who fails to supervise would be likely be brought in as a codefendant, but that's not to say that a person or entity that maintains an attractive nuisance is without responsibility for the harms that can befall children (who do not know better).

      Here's the problem:
      The tort system is used to try to compensate for damages. A very young child just doesn't know better, and the law has developed in a way that basically says "society should hold someone other than the child responsible for making the world safe for children because the child (1) doesn't know and better and (2) leaving the child exposed to danger is harmful. Better to look to a way to prevent these injuries from happening. Someone maintaining an attractive nuisance presumably has the benefits of it, so it is only fair that they should bear the costs of it as well.

      Your issue is not necessarily with attractive nuisance, but with a separate tortfeasor, namely the negligent parent. While I do not disagree with you, you must remember that the harmed party is the child and limiting the child (who, remember, does not know better because he/she is very young) from recovering. Saying "blame te parents" doesn't screw the parents, it screws the kid more often than not, since it limits the ability of the totally without blame child from recovering for his injuries from either (1) the negligent parent (who may, and usually is, insolvent) or (2) the maintainer of an inherently dangerous object.

      Any parent that sues another because [...]
      should have their lawsuit thrown out of court

      It is not the parent's lawsuit -- it is the child's lawsuit. And yes, as I mentioned above, it is likely that the negligent parent would be brought into the suit as a codefendant by the maintainer of the attractive nuisance. Unfortunately, the parent is all-too-often insolvent. That leaves us with an extremely young child with poor judgment in an uncompensable situation just because someone likes to maintain a rollercoaster in his yard (something with low social utility). Sorry, but the courts do not agree with you.

      GF.

      --
      Lots of petrified grits
    5. Re:NIfty toy by guacamolefoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      By Pennsylvania law, you're required to have a fence around your pool. Otherwise, if someone decides to trespass and use your pool, you're responsible if they drown.

      Facts and circumstances. Facts and circumstances. If a seven year old trespasses and drowns in your pool and you have no fence or a fence with a gate that doesn't latch, blah, blah, blah, you may be screwed. If the neighbor's college kids come over a trespass in your pool and drown, you'll be fine.

      BTW, it is not a "Pennsylvania law" that I am aware of regarding pools and fences. Many, if not most, municipalities have regulations in their building codes and zoning codes addressing this issue, but not all. That doesn't make it a "Pennsylvania law"; it makes it a local ordinance.

      GF.

      --
      Lots of petrified grits
    6. Re:NIfty toy by Sabalon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      An 8 foot pricacy fence should stop a child too young to know better. If they are old enough to bypass the fence, they are probably old enough to know better.

      Perhaps I'll find some poisinous berries on a bush on government land, let my daughter eat one then sue for them being an attractive nuisance.

    7. Re:NIfty toy by toughluck · · Score: 2

      I see your point of that the courts do not always agree with me, however that does not mean that the the courts are always right.

      An extremely young child does often have poor judgment, this is a given. IMHO this does not excuse the parent from not watching the child or put the blame on someone that has taken some steps, like putting up a fence as stated in the parent post.

      I will admit that there have been cased where both the neighbor and parents should be at total fault for a child getting themselves into trouble. The point I was trying to make, and badly at that, is that there are to many cases where parent who where not doing their job watching their kids. Who where not doing there job teaching their kids right from wrong sueing everyone else because they would not look in the mirror.

      Sometimes shit happens, although not as much as most would want us to believe.

    8. Re:NIfty toy by roystgnr · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That leaves us with an extremely young child with poor judgment in an uncompensable situation just because someone likes to maintain a rollercoaster in his yard

      To make this sentence correct, the word "just" needs to be deleted and the words "and because someone else likes to let their kids run around other peoples' yards unsupervised" added.

      It is not the parent's lawsuit -- it is the child's lawsuit.

      If it were really the child's lawsuit, then:

      The damages would only be taken from the maintainer of the "attractive nuisance" after the parents had demonstrated an inability to pay.

      They would be placed in a trust for the child that his guardians could only touch to cover medical bills.

      The child would be placed in a foster family away from those parents, who, even if there were no backyard roller coasters, may be unable to successfully raise children in a world with operating railroads, roads full of fast cars, alleys full of junkies and muggers, and all sorts of other dangers that can be lethal to young children running around public (not to mention private) property unsupervised.

    9. Re:NIfty toy by guacamolefoo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Perhaps I'll find some poisinous berries on a bush on government land, let my daughter eat one then sue for them being an attractive nuisance.

      I presume that this is a hypothetical, and that you ouldn't purposefully poison your own child. I definitely hope that this is true because you can't sure the government under most circumstances. Go google "sovereign immunity" and try again.

      GF.

      --
      Lots of petrified grits
    10. Re:NIfty toy by Plix · · Score: 5, Informative

      That's true in New York including if the person is trespassing (I realize that you were implying thus, but I figured I'd just state it explicitly). You can also be prosecuted for what's called an "attractive nuisance" (which a backyard rollercoaster would probably qualify for).

    11. Re:NIfty toy by guacamolefoo · · Score: 2, Informative

      That leaves us with an extremely young child with poor judgment in an uncompensable situation just because someone likes to maintain a rollercoaster in his yard

      This required a separate answer.

      World with "good parents", "bad parents", "no roller coaster", "roller coaster", "injury from roller coaster", "no injury from roller coaster"

      My matrix develops the following scenarios:

      1. If "good parents" and "roller coaster"; no injury from roller coaster.
      2. If "bad parents" and "roller coaster"; injury from roller coaster.
      3. If "good paretns" and "no roller coaster"; no injury from roller coaster.
      4. If "bad parents" and "no roller coaster"; no injury from roller coaster.

      Ergo, the roller coaster leads to injuries that would not exist in its absence. It has a social cost. Fairness generally dictates that those creating or causing the costs to society must bear some portion of those costs. In this case, the coaster owner should bear some portion of the cost of the injuries that he is creating. If there were no roller coasters, there would be no roller coaster injuries. It is only fair that the roller coaster owner should pay when his property results in injuries.

      You are hung up on this "trespassing" notion. Young kids can't trespass because they lack the requisite intent. Therefore, you folks are seeking a substitute by which the intent can be derived through the child by the parent's actions or inactions. Sorry, but the legal status of the child and the remedies available to the child do not depend upon the parent's actions or inactions. The child (rightly so) has a separate and independent legal status under the law.

      Collectively, society has determined that it is a better policy goal to seek to protect young children from dangerous conditions that common sense and experience have told us will attract children. It is simply a pragmatic cost/benefit regulatory function performed through the tort system in the courts.

      If this is grossly unfair to you, then tough shit. It's not going to go away just because you don't like it. I didn't like it either when I first started to digest it, but basically, it works. You hear about abuses from time to time, but that's why it's called "news".

      GF.

      --
      Lots of petrified grits
    12. Re:NIfty toy by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Funny

      "The quote was 'Better her than me', referring to Leia as Luka and Han were talking about what to do while Ben went out"

      Ya know how when ya move out of your parents house and you throw away your old toys? Having a girlfriend has that affect on Star Wars trivia.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    13. Re:NIfty toy by lewp · · Score: 4, Funny

      Right, but what's your excuse?

      --
      Game... blouses.
    14. Re:NIfty toy by rossifer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The child falls off the deck and breaks his spine and is paralyzed from the waist down for life.

      1) What deck are you referring to? In this discussion, we've got roller coasters, pools, and fences, but your post is the first to mention a deck.

      The child is not at fault, and should not bear the cost of the negligence of others.

      2) Life is not fair. No matter what society says, I am ultimately responsible for my own safety, as is every other person on this planet with agency (i.e. is concious with decision making capacity; infants don't qualify).

      Parents will almost always assume responsibility for the safety of their young children because they love them and want their genes to continue on through more generations. There's nothing stopping them from doing that (I will do that when I have children of my own, probably about three years from now, I'm guessing) but let's not pretend that even younger children don't bear real responsibility for their sometimes stupid actions. To repeat: this parental generosity doesn't remove ultimate responsibility from the individual.

      I'll bet my kids are going to end up in the emergency room more than once and I hope that they gain wisdom from their injuries, but I'm not going to sue the construction company building a house nearby if my kid sneaks into the partly finished house and 1) steps on a nail in a loose board 2) in suprise and pain at the nail penetrating his foot, falls from an unfinished upper floor to the plywood covered floor below, breaking his arm and then proceeds to 3) cut his hand on roughed in ductwork trying to get back out... (it was a very exciting day for my mom, who was convinced that I was never going to make it to adulthood). But there was no thought of suing the construction company. I was foolish and paid the price for my stupidity.

      If a different child pays a higher price for his stupidity than I did, then I'm sorry for his troubles, but this is yet another way in which our modern legal system does not attempt to determine responsibility sanely, but instead seeks to assign blame to anyone but the injured party so that they can be "compensated" for their loss.

      No wonder that the first two ways people expect to get rich in this country are 1) win a big lawsuit or 2) win the lottery. Lawyers are writing the laws which benefit the lawyers (find the deepest pockets in reach and plunder... not easy enough to plunder? "There ought to be a law." "It's for the sake of the children..." "If just one child is saved.") Complete and utter bullshit.

      Sorry about that. Nothing personal, your post just happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back, as it were...

      Regards,
      Ross

    15. Re:NIfty toy by plupster · · Score: 2, Funny

      Man, it's like that movie applies to everything! Except how to pick up women.

    16. Re:NIfty toy by jmo_jon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You can quote case law all you want, but the fact is most people sue in instances like this to try and get rich, or cover their own financial losses for being stupid (or allowing their kids to be stupid). Lawyers support such lawsuits only because they can line their own pockets.

      Couldn't a reason for all these lawsuits also be the high costs of medical care. West Europe is compareable with USA in wealth and in most countries there is the healthcare very cheap, hence no need for a lawsuit. Maybe it's just me but I've never heard of a lawsuit like that in Europe...

  4. In case of Slashdotting by dicepackage · · Score: 4, Informative

    Technical Info: Style: Out and Back Height: 17 feet First Drop: 20 feet Top Speed: 20 mph Track Length: 444 feet Max Positive G's: 3.5 Max Negative G's: -0.2 Material: Pressure Treated Southern Yellow Pine Number of Drops: 4 Lift hill angle: 26.6 degrees 1st Drop: 54 degrees 2nd Drop: 43 degrees Curve banking: 50 degrees Duration: About 1 minute Cart: Single Car, Wood and Steel Construction Capacity: Single Rider Chain Lift: 1HP Motor, 3/4" Pitch Roller Chain/Sprockets Overall: 9,500 lbs (4.75 Tons) Lumber 7,000 Screws/Nails 2,900 board feet of lumber Investment: $5.5k Started Construction: September 1997

  5. loops. by stagl · · Score: 5, Funny

    what? no loops? ;) (i'm hoping some crazy guy will take this challenge so i can see another article entitled "bigger badder roller coster")

    --

    R.I.P.
    1. Re:loops. by Tyler+Eaves · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's already been done (And covered on /.)

      See...

      --
      TODO: Something witty here...
  6. An American pastime? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, do slightly crazy folks in other countries build homemade roller coasters as well, or have the slightly crazy Americans got a monopoly on this?

  7. Re:Fragile? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    old wood means nothing, as long as its not rotten, wood can easily stand up to the elements for many many years. trees are designed that way, to survive against rain and tornadoes and whatnot. altho i doubt a high quality wood was used in the production, i also doubt that its 'fragile' i mean its a roller coaster for cmndrtaco's sake. fragile is not a term to be used lightly.

    consolevision roxors

  8. Soon to be Darwin Award winner... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm looking at it and thinking that I will be reading about this guy when he gets a Darwin award...

  9. Re:Great Site by MrFreak · · Score: 2, Interesting

    He's hosting large mpegs, and its still early. Who wants to wager how many more comments get posted before someone starts whining about the borked Windows site?

  10. Biggest Coaster Ever... by pHatidic · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone read the title and think that AOL switched from CD-ROMs to Laserdiscs? :)

    1. Re:Biggest Coaster Ever... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Apparently you did... but no one else.

  11. Time? by MoThugz · · Score: 3, Funny
    Jeremy is, clearly, a man with too much time and money on his hands!


    He should spend some hours on HTML when he's done with the roller-coaster.

    The roller-coaster is something really cool... can't say the same about the site though!
    --
    Welley Corporation - SLM Scammers
    1. Re:Time? by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Jeremy is, clearly, a man with too much time and money on his hands!

      I am sure that after Jeremy finishes college... he will get a better job than you and by 35 own a hellova(tm) more stuff and have much bigger piles of money than you BECAUSE of this.

      This is the kind of person that already at 22 has more accomplishments not only personal but in the workplace that 90% of the population. a 22 year old with a project manager title and corperate engineering experience already on his resume.

      sorry, but this lad is a better man that most of us here (Yes including me.)

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  12. Advertisement.. by ewhenn · · Score: 5, Funny

    bag of popcorn: 3$
    300 yards of lumber: 5.5K
    labor to assemble: 6.7K

    watching the neighbors annoying kid puke his guts out: priceless

  13. Too much money? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    If the poster read his resume, he'd see:

    "Oklahoma EPSCoR Stipend Recipient - Personal roller coaster project - 1999"

    So, he doesn't necessarily have too much of his own money on his hands...

  14. Re:Fragile? by 3waygeek · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, the wood is specified as pressure-treated southern yellow pine, which turns that color after a year or two of exposure to the elements.

  15. Re:Fragile? by whereiswaldo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I dunno, but I'm still trying to get over the fact that an AOL customer built this thing.

  16. Cartman Land by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Soon he will have to let in two people to pay for the security guard. Then two more to pay for the upkeep. Then more for candy sales. Then he'll get all pissed off because he doesn't have it all to himself anymore and sell it back.
    End of story.

  17. Too much time and money on his hands? by vudufixit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm really tired of hearing normative statements like that. If someone has earned that money and/or time to pursue a hobby, no matter how unconventional, it is their absolute right to do so. Before we humans started generating agricultural surpluses above what we could hunt and gather, one person's idle pursuits could impact the ability of a whole community to feed itself. We don't have that situation now, and shouldn't feel the need to criticize anyone's idleness, if they have earned the right to it.

    1. Re:Too much time and money on his hands? by bangzilla · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ever heard of irony......?

      --
      Rich people are eccentric. Poor people are strange. Me, I'd be happy with odd.
  18. Oklahoma pass times by nhavar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ah to be young and bored in Oklahoma again... this reminds me just how little there is to do there. You either work yourself to death, drink the boredom away, or find a hobby like this guy (which I assume involves both).

    --
    "Do not be swept up in the momentum of mediocrity." - anon
  19. Great job! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since nobody else has said it,
    "Great job!"

    Of course, all of the early posts either talk about how much time it took, how boring Oklahoma is, how it can be dangerous, etc. People like Jeremy are actually DOING things instead of reading about them and being critical.

    Well done!

  20. Pot-kettle-black by WasterDave · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A man with too much time on his hands builds a rollercoater? This is from people who spend all their spare time building kernels for a community developed operating system, pissing around with config files, fighting off RPM dependencies then telling the world how easy it all is?

    Do you not think there's a little, y'know, irony in the whole thing? Maybe "Rolldot. News for people that make rollercoasters. Stuff that matters." runs the occasional story about people making operating systems in their back bedroom.

    Dave

    --
    I write a blog now, you should be afraid.
  21. Nobody's riding though. by ndvaughan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not one of the pics (or movies, I believe) has anyone actually IN the car (if you can call that little wooden box a "car") as the coaster is operating. One pic has a view of the top of the first hill, but he could have just climbed up to take it.

    I have a feeling the first day he tested it out, it either :
    A) Caused serious injury, or
    B) Didn't work (couldn't make it up hill or around track)

    Just my suspicion.

    Dallas

  22. Bandwith In Oklahoma. by twitter · · Score: 2, Funny
    Realestate might be cheap, but try getting a decent net connection. Check out the video he set up and you get a "this site has exceeded it's daily bandwith" message. So even when you've got $5,500 making a ride for yourself, it's hard to share with your friends and the world. I suppose that there's a trade off to everything, unless the phone and cable companies suck everywhere so that you can't use the wires that run into your house. Oh wait, they do.

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

  23. Speaking as someone who's helped build one... by The+*Amazing*+Larry · · Score: 3, Informative

    All I can say is personal rollercoasters are a must-have for all true geeks . Check out www.speedcult.com For those of you who know about it, this will be on the esplanade at The Man this year (we were 2 streets off center camp last year) ((www.burningman.com)). If you're in the Detroit area and want to ride it, we can probably work something out. Oh, Free Spin is by FAR the best.

    --
    - Shameless Plug -
    Riding Skins Extrodinare [mot
  24. Resume by mrpuffypants · · Score: 4, Informative

    Check his resume and you'll see that he has some experience with Roller Coasters: Not only is he a mechanical engineer, but also once woked for Arrow Dynamics, which is one of the foremost Roller Coaster companies in the world.

  25. No weather protection by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It looks like the coaster is made of bare wood, without any sort of weather seal on it of any kind. It seems to me that unless he paints it or stains it, rotting is going to make it unsafe in a few years.

    --

    Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.

    1. Re:No weather protection by mrpuffypants · · Score: 3, Funny

      rotting is going to make it unsafe in a few years.

      What you mean is that rotting will make it thrilling in a few years.

    2. Re:No weather protection by NeMon'ess · · Score: 2

      How many years are you talking about here? 10 years? 20? The wood was bigger than just 2x4s. It looked way overbuilt to me.

  26. How the Times Have Changed by Farley+Mullet · · Score: 2, Informative

    Did anyone else click this link to an old coaster article in the story text, and see how michael had added a cute little "sorry buddy" note about slashdotting the guy's server, and even posted links to mirrors? Now the /. effect is positively a marketing tool; we're told that we can "beat the rush" and see the sites before the server is reduced to a smoking husk if we buy a subscription.

  27. Re:Engineering??? by thogard · · Score: 2, Informative

    Have you ever been on a wood coster? Part of the unique feeling is how the wood gives way in the curves. The steel pipe ones never had the same feel.

  28. Re:Engineering??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    You said: I'll be interested when I see a backyard roller-coaster with some actual engineering design work put in to it.

    The post immediately before yours said: Check his resume and you'll see that he has some experience with Roller Coasters: Not only is he a mechanical engineer, but also once woked for Arrow Dynamics, which is one of the foremost Roller Coaster companies in the world.

    Just because the freaking thing isn't over-engineered in steel and concrete to last through Hurricane Andrew, doesn't mean it isn't properly engineered. As someone else said, wood rollercoasters have a distinct look/feel/sound to them that steel cannot hope to match.

    If you're so smart, build one, or shut up. This guy has built a cool thing. What do you have to show for your life?

  29. You lost out then... by Xandar01 · · Score: 3, Funny

    The Six Flags park I worked at (long ago) would give riders who were stuck walk-on ride access to either the ride you were stuck on or another ride if that one was down for the rest of the day. You know if you had played your cards right, you probably could have walked right onto a few rides after being stuck so long.

    Also, thought I should mention that I find it kind of weird that they left you in the ride for so long. In my several years working major coasters, I don't recall leaving anyone stranded on a ride for more than 15 minutes or so.

    Oh one last thing (heh heh), I remember occasionally stopping trains at the top of the 115' lift of a certain ride I worked because "I saw someone do something." I tell you it was 1) exhilarating to walk to the top of that 115' lift and 2) amusing as hell to see people, who are safely strapped in, start freaking out because they are afraid of heights. What were they doing on a "tall" coaster anyway?

    --
    Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. -FB
  30. Another homebrew coaster by m33p · · Score: 2, Informative
    This isn't quite a roller coaster, but it is one goddamn impressive ride: http://www.speedcult.com/speedcult/coaster_a.html

    There is a reason that disclaimer is on the ticket...

    http://stories.about.ticketstubs.org/story.stub/41

  31. Re:Fragile? by CGP314 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    wood can easily stand up to the elements for many many years. trees are designed that way, to survive against rain and tornadoes and whatnot

    But a tree is alive and can heal. A wooden roller coaster is not, and cannot.

  32. pressure treated yellow pine by nietsch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Like the article states it is made out of pressure treated yellow pine. Even if it was made out of untreated wood, it'd still be safe in 10 years time, provided he did the engineering right(no places where water can pool on the wood). (He is an engineer, and unlike you probably knows his stuff)
    If wood stays dry, it will not rot, it just stands there. Like trees really.

    --
    This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
  33. Re:Fragile? by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 3, Funny

    Me too!

  34. Dangerous, Probably the best in the world by reality-bytes · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is possibly the best 'coaster in the entire world.

    I mean, 'coasters are all about causing exhilleration though fear induced adrenalin rushes.

    The think that always spoils rollercoaster rides for me is the safety. Theres little or no chance of even getting injured on mordern 'coasters so the whole thing seems less scary; whereas this guys creation is a whole different story.

    If you take a look at this image you realise that if you really were riding this; you'd have just worked out that there was an even chance of you not living to regret climbing aboard!

    What a rush!! ;)

    --
    Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.