Ground breaking has commenced at VF for their new coaster for 2003!!!

I was driving down to VF when all of a sudden I ran over a muffler on the road, flattened it, and it skidded off to the other side.

So I just "had" to pull into the parking lot of VF to check on any damage/hole punctures/lost muffler on the truck. (The exit gate was open, so I just couldn't help myself!)

Fortunatly, nothing was damaged or missing on the truck....

...but as far as the parking lot is concerned, what was once a huge plot of tar & concrete now stands a nice section of dirt!!

Yes, my friends, VF has offically started constuction of Steal Venom!
And it was RIGHT where Drewbie said it would be (I had a sat foto and circled the section along Challege Park)

Now note, there were NO track pieces on site yet, unless they're in the back parking lot of the property. IF there are any track pieces sited, please let me know.

All that has been done so far is the ripping up of the parking lot where the coaster is going to stand.

Now, for discussion purposes, are they going to need a dedicated power line for this coaster? I'm not all too familiar with Impulse coaster specs.

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Airtime. It does a body good.

When I originally spoke with the maintenence guys at VF back when they first told me about it, they were saying that yes, the ride is going to need a dedicated power supply just for that ride. The guys there were pretty pumped about it, but really were in the dark about much of the ride. They aren't involved in the contruction at all so what they know is limited.

As far as the current construction goes, yes, ground has been broken. They've had the parking lot torn up since the week after they closed for the season. Unfortunately, they've been slow getting bids in for almost every part of the job so no footers have been poured or anything else. Track is not expected on site for a couple months yet. My guess is that with the early and heavy winter we're supposed to be having here in the great white north, they will be happy just to get footers and some supports up before they can't do much else for the winter. Anyways, that's all I know for now, but I'll let you guys know if I'm told anything else.

Oh and one other thing. I asked the guys there if they had ever though about having one of the upright towers of the ride go up through the back turn of Wild Thing. They had originally planned to do that, but that plan had been nixed fairly early on. I'm guessing it would have impeded construction having to move around the track to build SV. Oh well, that would have been cool.

Mod edit: Double post removed. You can use the edit button, you know. It's a fun little button in the bottom right corner next to quote.

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Pleasantly missing since 2006

Well, more news on construction of Steel Venom. Footers have been poured and track and supports are on site. With the extended power plant required for this ride, they are already frantically working on the ride and it's not due to open til May 10th 2003! Maintenence guys that typically have Friday's off during the winter months are being asked to stay on the extra day to help with the unloading of trucks which arrive daily with more pieces. Once the electrical componentry is in place, the ride should go vertical quickly I'm told. They've even got some of their guys working over x-mas to get things done in time.

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Pleasantly missing since 2006

Did Valleyfair! release any information as to what the color scheme for this ride will be? All they did on their front-page image of Steel Venom was an edit photograph of CP's Wicked Twister.

It's basically the same colors. The track is bright yellow and the supports are periwinkle, which is sort of a greyish-blue.

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ThrillNetwork Editor Emeritus
Voyage is the best roller coaster ever.
2008 Raptor ride count - 126. Lifetime - 1,143.

i would like to know where you got your "track" info from... there is no track on site... only a few small supports...

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-funkytones-
if you have nothing to post, dont...

Well, I received someting in my mail today that told about Steel Venom and had pictures of construction and...TRACK!

There are only three pieces of track on site, since it was printed, and they were:

2 sloping track pieces
1 twisted track piece (obviously for the 360 Degree twisting spire)

I am very excited about ValleyFair! getting a new roller coaster. I am hoping that Steel Venom will push up park attendance so we can get more coasters and other attractions soon!

Here are the exact demographics for Steel Venom if you were wondering...



Physical Dimensions
Height of track: 185 Feet
Height of drop: 175 Feet
Ride Length: 2,600 Feet
Angle of track: 90 degrees
Top Speed: 68 mph

Design
Model: Single twist impulse coaster
Structure: U-shaped steel tubular track
Features: 360-degree vertical twist, Linear Induction Motor (LIM)
Color scheme: Periwinkle columns, bright yellow track

Speed and Capacity
Speed:
First launch (forward) - approximately 55 mph
Second launch (backward) - approximately 55 mph
Third launch (forward) - approximately 68 mph
Fourth launch (backward) - approximately 68 mph
Fifth launch (forward) - approximately 62 mph
Capacity: Approximately 950 passengers per hour

Vehicles
Coaches: Seven four-passenger coaches. One 28 passenger train
Design: Steel coaches with individual shoulder retraint and restraining belt
Color: Periwinkle seats, orange seatbacks and yellow shoulder harnesses

Investment
Investment: $8.5 million

Ride Manufacturer
Ride manufacturer: Intamin AG (headquarters in Wollerau, Switzerland)

Opening Date
Opening date: May 10, 2003 (Opening day of ValleyFair's 2003 season)

Location
Location: Southeast corner of ValleyFair! (near Challenge Park)

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"I may look busy, but I'm confused..."

theres more track then that there now ;P

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-funkytones-
if you have nothing to post, dont...

Both CP and SFWoA require extra powerhouses for their rides. I forget the exact comparison, but it can power 500 homes through the one station for the launches.

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Bryan Wood Thrillnetwork Database Admin and review writer extraordinare

Well, like I had said in an earlier post, they expected to go vertical by the 1st of the year. I actually have to go out there for business in the next few days. I'll let you guys know what I see. On a side note, I wonder how much if any the bit of snow we've gotten in the past couple days slows them down. I don't imagine that much, but you'd think that some of the structural things they do have to be modified when you assemble something at 5 degrees and then expect it to run at or above 70.

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Pleasantly missing since 2006

Here's a couple pictures of the track and supports that are onsite. You can also see the control building in the backround by Wild Thing

Mod Edit: photo removed

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Pleasantly missing since 2006

did you get permission to post those pics? because you are on VF property... private property... the park is closed... i posted a msg like this on another forum for ya... but i guess you didnt see it... or somthing... i dunno... email me if you want... and i shall explain... peace

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-funkytones-
if you have nothing to post, dont...

There's pics of virtually the exact same thing from the road too so I'm not really disclosing anything you can't see from anywhere else. I'm not too concerned. If they have a problem, they can ask for them to be removed and for me to not post them again. I'm not going to do anything further with them. It's the parking lot for crips sake, it's not like I was in the bowels of the park. If we don't make a big deal about it, no one else will either so just look at the pics, or don't and move on with life.

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Pleasantly missing since 2006

It is obvious that the photo posted by Drewbie was taken on private property during the off-season. If you can take pictures on public property and be able to prove it, they will be allowed here.

Lol, it sounds like fate intervened with your sighting. o_O

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