Carowinds was the park of my youth. I haven’t beem there in decades, but my sister takes her family often.
A dad in the parking lot looked up and saw this. 
Glad no one was hurt.
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The video is blood-curdling. 
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It is disturbing this wasn’t found. But something I find curious is the support design. Rather than have the angled support on the other side of the vertical support, where it would absorb the force of the coaster as it rounds the corner, they placed it on the other side which causes the vertical support to pull AWAY from the angled support, which would lead to increased stress.
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Folks have noticed the crack developing in photos from a week ago
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My exact comment to my DH (a construction safety guy) was that I want to figure out who the maker is, because that is a major engineer flaw.
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Wow. How was that allowed to continue?
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Nicely spotted!
Based on this photo (taken from RCDB), there is no reason they couldn’t have the supports angling toward the parking lot instead…
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Oooh, that picture really shows the problem. I was trying to picture whtlat you meant and now I see it.
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I’m guessing their daily “inspections” don’t look very closely for cracks in the supports.
Note: it appears that it’s only in retrospect that folks are looking back at recent photos of Fury and noticing the start of the crack. I don’t think people saw it and didn’t say anything.
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How do they do the daily inspection for a ride like that? On the older coasters, there often was a walkway alongside the tracks and I’ve seen crews walking the entire length of the track doing a close visual inspection at each support. Impossible to do something like that without bringing in lifting equipment.`
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This story p****s me off bc of the shady engineering practices aspect.
- The support beam was completely sheared through - not just cracked - and the track flexed when a coaster passed.
- It was noticed by a guest who reported it to 2 separate employees, and was blown off. Only when he called the fire dept in, did the park take action and shut down the ride.
- The park put out a half-a***d statement about “daily inspections for structural integrity”, but this crack existed for at least a week prior - other guests have submitted photos of it. It casts a lot of doubt on the thoroughness of their safety checks.
- If they’re careless about safety to this extent, what else are they cutting corners on?
- State inspectors are there today investigating.
Sources
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I cannot believe that the employees blew him off. Good for him for notifying the fire department! It’s hard to do the right thing sometimes and this guy really did.
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Wow! I hadn’t heard this part. We have now crossed over from poor engineering into completely negligent. And if something had actually happened to a guest, it could have become criminal negligence! If this was reported it should have been an easy test to confirm by shutting down the ride to guests and running the train through while visually inspecting this.
Indeed! This is not going to look good for Carowinds…and possibly Cedar Fair in general!
Regardless, it is a DEFINITE black-eye for B & M. Ultimately, this failure is their fault.
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What’s B&M?
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Coaster designer/manufacturer, aka Bolliger & Mabillard. They make a ton of coasters. At UOR, for example, you have Hulk. Anyhow, among coaster fans, usually just called B & M.
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Ah, I see. I didn’t know the same company made Hulk.
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They made 3 out of 5 of the best coasters at Bush Gatdens Williamsburgh (were I just bought a summer pass). 
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Carowinds is my local park. I have an AP that I’ll allow to expire this year (not because of this–I don’t normally keep an AP because we just don’t go that often). We plan to be there this weekend.
This is just very sad…I hope it won’t be the thing that tips them into closure. I’ll be optimistic and hope that it forces them to improve training, inspections, etc.
At the very least, safety should be (and should have been) the priority.
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