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The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 3:47 pm
by Top Gunner14
Decided to get the camera out one day while we were doing a bit of maintanence to the Hurricane at Joyland's Christmas carnival last month. Was interesting for me to see the "eye" or up the centre of the tower and the ins and outs of the ride a bit more closely. Didn't have to climb up the tower which was a bit of a relief as you'll see why with all the obstacles and you can get quite grubby. Also a photo of the top of the tower where the arms connect to the centre ram which runs down the tower and just general photos around the ride as we had it down. Enjoy guys:

General overview:

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Gooseneck, compressor and top of the tower:

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Hydraulic pump at the end of the trailer (still the original pump, coming upto 40 years old)

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Looking up the centre of the tower. In the middle is the ram which runs up and down the tower while the ride is in operation. The arms connect up the top of the tower to the top of the ram. Can see in the bottom of the photo the hydraulic lines which run up to the the 2 drives that sit up on the outside of the tower. Top of the photo you can see the air lines. On the right the air runs up the tower, the left pipe is where the air runs back out with a muffler which you can just see, where the air comes out creating the trademark "crack".

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Exterior of tower, looking from bottom to top:

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Looking down onto deck and cars, also can see the bullring pulled out, sitting under tower:

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Tower and crown:

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Top of the tower and top of the ram, where the arms all connect up:

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Back up ready to run:

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Will upload the rest of the photos from the carnival sometim soon, my computer's been out getting repaired the last 2 weeks so hopefully will have them up soon. Enjoy

Cheers
Top Gunner14

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:07 pm
by redhot
Thanks for the excellent photos Topgunner.
Always interested to see the mechanical side of things.

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:09 pm
by kiwi
Have to say how very clean and tidy that ride is, well looked after.
Thanks for the great pics
Kiwi

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:22 pm
by Dazzleland
Thanks for the pics too!

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:19 am
by Zamperla
Good stuff TG!! well done and thanks for sharing. Have always been in awe of the Hurricane. Incredible design idea, incredible technology (especially given its age) Yes it's a very tidy unit all right.

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 1:10 pm
by Hurricane
All I will say is... I approve :P

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:15 pm
by Top Gunner14
Thanks guys yeh great ride that's forsure. Been interesting working on the ride and learning about it, one of the better classic thrill rides IMO. Also the ride is meant to be undergoing a full refurbishment this winter, will see the ride completely stripped down and refurbished, new and fresh paintjob and also LED lighting. Will be good to see it all done, this has been planned the last 6 years so hopefully all will go to plan

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:24 pm
by Dazzleland
More pics of the fair pleaz!

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:29 pm
by Top Gunner14
Take a look in the public forum in the christmas carnival folder buddy...

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 5:23 pm
by Zamperla
Topgun, tell them to drill a few air holes in that muffler - IMO it's a little TOO quiet.

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 6:38 pm
by Hurricane
I was going to say, the only thing that lets Joylands Hurricane down in my opinion is the cosmetic appearance. Glad to hear it's getting a nice overhaul. I'd kill to see the ride looking like March's Hurricane looked before the paintjob. It looks great now, but the racing theme that the ride had just looked awesome!

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:50 pm
by Top Gunner14
Zamperla wrote:Topgun, tell them to drill a few air holes in that muffler - IMO it's a little TOO quiet.
You've just caught the ride at the wrong time, guessing LPS is where you saw it? We have to turn the air pressure down there and at Huski. And there's a different way we crack it aswell, we time our cracking differently so that also makes it quieter aswell. Other than that catch it anywhere else it's quite loud which is how it should be.

Yeh not sure on what the colour scheme is going to be yet, we're getting a skirt made up to go around the bottom of the ride so that'll get rid of those panels we have around there currently. But no doubt it will look good

Re: The Eye of the Hurricane

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:29 pm
by Zamperla
Yes it was Syd Luna Park that I saw it (twice)