eli5 why roller coasters with spikes like TT2 or Pantheon can’t go off track at the top, even though they come extremely close

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Why do coasters that have a spike such as TT2 or Pantheon seemingly have the cars go almost to the end of it? I love rollercoasters and typically have no concerns for the safety of rides. I recognize there is rigorous testing and obviously people much smarter than me are designing them with very precise specifications. However, looking at pictures of the cars at that point in the ride, they are extremely close to the end of the spike. How are they able to not fly off backwards, especially at such high speeds and with such force? Why do the engineers of these not include more track “wiggle room” at the top as an added precaution?

In: Engineering

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The end of the track at the tower are probably closed off so there’s no chance the carts will just pop out. There are likely a series of emergency brakes at the top as redundancy safety, a series of sensors and linear induction motors to calculate the exact acceleration the carts can safely reach without causing real danger.

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