USA news on Youtube Aug 27 2017

To watch part 1, click the I icon at the top right hand corner of your screen.

Six Fags Great Adventure: Explained - Part 2.

As stated previously, the original plans for Great Adventure depicted a large complex.

Unfortunately, this idea was not realized to its entirety.

However, for the 2000 season, Six Flags Great Adventure constructed and opened a separate waterpark.

The area, known as Hurricane Harbor, features various swimming pools and water slides.

The park's era of rapid expansion during the 90s did not end with the new decade.

Only two years after the last large-scale new attraction,

Great Adventure opened Nitro to the public.

Nitro was one of the first B&M hyper coasters

ride-specifically designed to offer large amounts of floater airtime.

Shortly after, the park received yet another large-scale addition,

again from B&M.

Superman - Ultimate Flight: a B&M flying coaster, opened to guests

allowing them to experience the sensation of flight as they navigate the twisted circuit.

The ride was one of the first to feature the famous pretzel loop,

found exclusively on flying coasters.

The following years saw the construction and debut of arguably the park's two most iconic attractions:

Kingda Ka and El Toro.

Kingda Ka opened to the public in 2005

as the world's tallest roller coaster.

The ride is an Intamin accelerator,

meaning it launches riders to the top speed of 260 kilometers per hour,

before causing them to climb and crest the 139 meter high structure.

To this day, the ride remains the tallest and one of the fastest in the world.

El Toro on the other hand, debuted in 2006, on the former site of Viper.

The ride is a wooden prefabricated roller coaster, also produced by Intamin.

El Toro is highly rated as one of the world's best wooden roller coasters

due to its incredible amounts of airtime and intense layout.

Compared to Kingda Ka, El toro looks like a small ride.

However, in reality, the wooden coaster is one of the tallest of its kind, measuring 55 meters high.

It was also the steepest wooden roller coaster at the time of its opening

with a maximum verticle angle of 76 degrees.

The two back-to-back large editions of the park marked the end of its rapid thrill coaster growth.

Between the period of 1993 and 2006,

Great Adventure gained a new thrill coaster at least every two years.

This resulted in the addition of eight new thrill based roller coasters,

six of which still operate today.

Between 2006 and 2017,

only three new roller coasters have been installed at the park.

The first being Dark Knight: a Mack Rides Wild Mouse.

This family coaster has been fully enclosed, meaning the ride takes place in the dark.

Various pieces of theming, such as Batman related graphics, can be found throughout the layout.

The second roller coaster constructed within the 11-year period

opened in 2011, under the name of Green Lantern.

The ride is a B&M stand up coaster, formerly located at Kentucky Kingdom.

The final and newest roller coaster addition at Six Flags Great Adventure was the Joker,

an S&S free spin.

The Joker is a 4D roller coaster, meaning the seats of the cars spin vertically as the trains navigate the track.

As stated earlier, Great Adventure has always been home to a large safari park.

However, the way the guests experience the safari has changed drastically over time.

Initially, visitors of the park would drive their own car through the various Safari sections.

This changed in 2012 when the safari park underwent a substantial redesign.

The experience reopened in 2013 with open-air safari vehicles which take guests around the park.

As a result, visitors get much more interaction with the animals living inside the safari.

In recent years, Six Flags Great Adventure have constructed a range of different ride experiences.

In 2014, the park opened Zumajaro: Drop of Doom.

The ride is a huge drop tower which takes place on the structure of Kingda Ka.

This allows for a drop height of 126 meters.

As a result, Zumajaro is currently the world's tallest and fastest drop tower.

A single year later, Great Adventure installed El Diablo: a Larson Superloop.

This was followed by the new for 2017 addition:

Justice League: Battle for Metropolis.

Justice League is a 4D interactive dark ride,

allowing visitors to take part in a superhero adventure.

Towards the end of the operating season,

Six Flags Great Adventure currently hosts two events.

The first, Fright Fest, occurs around Halloween

allowing guests to ride attractions in the dark as well as experience haunted mazes

and interact with a variety of spooky actors.

While the second, Holiday in the Park, occurs around December.

This event allows visitors to taste a mixture of festive foods

as well as watch a stunning light show, and even ride some of the park's roller coasters.

Today, Six Flags Great Adventure is considered one of the greatest parks in the world for thrill seekers.

It currently houses more roller coasters constructed by B&M than any other,

making it a must visit destination for fans of the company.

Because of the wide variety of attractions, Great Adventure is enjoyed by all members of the family,

helping it to be considered one of the best Six Flags parks in the chain.

A big thanks goes to Taylor from Coaster Studios to help me to produce this video.

It currently houses more roller coasters constructed by BnM than any other making it a must visit destination

For more infomation >> Six Flags Great Adventure: Explained - Part 2 - Duration: 6:19.

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INDIA'S MISJUDGEMENT IS RISKY BEIJING MEDIA - Duration: 6:41.

Very few civilians have had the chance to drive the massive Ashok Leyland Stallion used

by the Army.

Lucky them, right?

No, lucky me!

Because I just one-upped them with this, the FAT 6x6.

First things first" the FAT 6x6 isn't called what it's called because of its size.

It's an acronym that stands for Field Artillery Tractor.

That said, it is a very apt acronym.

What is it and what can it do?

The FAT 6x6 is an all-terrain vehicle designed to tow huge artillery guns to almost anywhere

in the battlefield, transport troops and supplies.

It's designed to be used in every kind of terrain" right from the high mountains in

the Himalayas to the blistering deserts of Rajasthan.

Ashok Leyland says that the FAT 6x6 can be used at altitudes of up to 5,500m above sea

level (that's around 140m higher than Khardung La) and -40C, as well as in temperatures of

around 55C.

It runs an 8.0-litre turbo-diesel from Ashok Leyland's Neptune series engines, and produces

360PS of power and a massive 1,400Nm of torque at 1,300rpm.

It's got an 8-speed manual gearbox (with the option for an automatic), a 2-speed transfer

case, full-time 6-wheel drive and will hit a top speed of 90kmph.

That's pretty impressive considering this truck weighs a hefty 21 tonnes.

It's also got a 350-litre fuel tank, which gives it a 700km range.

Ashok Leyland is the only company selling a 6x6 to the Indian Army with an engine made

in India.

All three axles are live with differential locks for each one, which will help this mammoth

get out of the stickiest of situations.

But even if that doesn't work, it's got a 10-tonne winch to pull itself out.

It's got a parabolic bogey suspension which is essentially a leaf spring set-up.

The FAT 6x6's towing capacity is rated at 8 tonnes, which means it can tow a Stallion

and then some more!

Apart from the driver's cabin, which can hold around four people, there's also a crew cabin

just behind it which can hold at least six people comfortably.

There's also a crane in the cargo bay which can lift weights of up to 2.7 tonnes, to help

load ammunition and supplies for transport.

Speaking of transport, the FAT 6x6 can be transported across the country either by air

or rail.

Coming to the safety systems, the truck has a fire and smoke detection unit, a bead lock

in the tyres to prevent them from slipping off the rim in case of a puncture, an infrared

rear-view camera and an optional emergency steering system.

What this does is provide hydraulic support to the steering in case the engine-pump driven

power-steering unit fails.

Its biggest USP, however, are its self-inflating tyres" like in the Mercedes-AMG G63 6x6, except

the tyres are twice as big.

If the truck needs to travel across the sand, the driver can drop tyre pressures to around

35PSI with the press of a button.

Back on tarmac?

No problem.

All he has to do is press another button to get the pressure back to around 85PSI.

Of course, he does have to take into account that reinflating the tyres fully will cost

him around half an hour.

What's it like to drive?

Surprisingly easy!

When you get into a vehicle this large, you'd expect everything to be tough and hard to

use, but no, not in this one.

Almost everything is hydraulically assisted right from the clutch and brake pedals, to

the gearbox.

Why the gearbox, you ask?

Like I mentioned earlier, the FAT 6x6 has a 2-speed transfer case.

What that means is that the first four gears have a very low ratio set-up just to get the

truck moving from a standstill.

Then you nudge the gear stick further right and the hydraulic system engages the second

set of gears which have a high ratio set-up to help pick up the pace

As you'd expect, it won't throw you back in your seat under hard acceleration, but if

it did, you'd probably drive it straight into a wall.

So, good thing it doesn't.

Instead, speed picks up very gradually as you shift through the gears 1-2-3-4, before

you're in the high ratio gears and doing around 50kmph.

My first couple of minutes behind the wheel were a bit unnerving because I'd never driven

anything larger than a pickup truck.

The steering was angled in such a way that it was almost parallel to the ground, and

quite simply, it was like nothing I've ever driven before.

But pretty soon I got the hang of it and then eventually began enjoying it.

Sitting that high up showed me what a commanding driving position really is" a Toyota Innova

looked like it could be squashed from there.

Even the HVAC system was super effective, as began feeling cold in the cabin despite

the dreadful Chennai heat.

Now I'm going to nitpick a little, but keep in mind, I come from a background of testing

road cars.

So in the world of trucks these things might even go unnoticed.

To begin with, the steering is as vague as it can get.

I had no idea what was going on down there but I guess that's still better than having

to do all the work of turning those big heavy wheels.

The gear changes can be a bit of a forearm workout too, with you having

to arm-wrestle the gear stick every now and then.

But all this is easily forgiven and forgotten the second you see it climb up a 30-degree

slope like it was mild incline.

30 degrees might not sound like a lot on paper, but only when you walk up the slope do you

realise how steep it actually is.

I know, because I tried.

Oh, and it also has a water wading rating of one metre.

Would I buy one?

Well, if Ashok Leyland would sell it to me and I had a large enough bank balance, yes!

Why?

Firstly, I'd like to show up at every off-roading event in a FAT 6x6, just to see the look on

everyone's faces.

Secondly, there are very few things I enjoy more on the road than intimidating people.

With this, I don't even have to try.

But jokes apart, Ashok Leyland has made a truly impressive machine that has the capability

to tackle almost everything the Indian Army can throw at it.

Except bombs and bullets, of course.