Amusement park ride with vehicles pivoting about a common chassis to provide racing and other effects

A racing ride assembly for use in providing amusement park guests a racing experience, comprising:

• a track defining a course for a ride;
• a chassis configured to engage the track;
• a drive mechanism supported by the chassis and including a drive member that is selectively rotatable;
• a support arm positioned on the chassis and linked to the drive member, wherein the support arm rotates about its central axis in response to rotation of the drive member;
• a pair of vehicle bodies, adapted for passenger seating, positioned near opposite ends of the support arm;
• a drive assembly housed in the support arm and configured to rotate with the support arm and to concurrently rotate the vehicle bodies in response to rotation of the support arm, wherein the support arm is positioned in a plurality of positions relative to the track including a first position in which the support arm is substantially parallel to a direction of travel along the track and a second position in which the support arm is transverse to the direction of travel, whereby the vehicle bodies are inline relative to each other in the first position and are side-by-side relative to each other in the second position;
• and
• a control system selectively operating the drive mechanism to rotate the drive member to move the support arm among the plurality of positions, wherein the control system selectively operates the drive mechanism in response to sensed actions of one or more passengers in the vehicle bodies as the chassis travels over the ride track,
• wherein the drive assembly comprises a plurality of gears including a stationary central gear and a pair of driven gears linked to the central gear each attached to one of the vehicle bodies to cause the vehicle bodies to rotate with the driven gears, wherein the driven gears rotate when the support arm is rotated, whereby an orientation of the vehicle bodies relative to the track is maintained during rotation of the support arm.

A racing ride assembly for use in providing amusement park quests a racing experience, comprising:

• a track defining a course for a ride;
• a chassis configured to engage the track;
• a drive mechanism supported by the chassis and including a drive member that is selectively rotatable;
• a support arm positioned on the chassis and linked to the drive member, wherein the support arm rotates about its central axis in response to rotation of the drive member;
• a pair of vehicle bodies, adapted for passenger seating, positioned near opposite ends of the support arm;
• a drive assembly housed in the support arm and configured to rotate with the support arm and to concurrently rotate the vehicle bodies in response to rotation of the support arm, wherein the support arm is positioned in a plurality of positions relative to the track including a first position in which the support arm is substantially parallel to a direction of travel along the track and a second position in which the support arm is transverse to the direction of travel, whereby the vehicle bodies are inline relative to each other in the first position and are side-by-side relative to each other in the second position;
• and
• a control system selectively operating the drive mechanism to rotate the drive member to move the support arm among the plurality of positions, wherein the control system selectively operates the drive mechanism in response to sensed actions of one or more passengers in the vehicle bodies as the chassis travels over the ride track,
• wherein the drive assembly comprises a plurality of pulleys interconnected by belts or chains including a stationary central pulley and a pair of driven pulleys linked by a drive member to the central pulley and wherein each of the driven pulleys is attached to one of the vehicle bodies to cause the vehicle bodies to rotate with the driven gears, whereby a similar orientation of both of the vehicle bodies relative to the track is maintained during rotation of the support arm.

An amusement park ride comprising:

• two or more vehicles with seats for passengers;
• a track defining a course over which the vehicles travel in the amusement park ride;
• a chassis riding on the track;
• a vehicle support pivotably mounted to the chassis, wherein the vehicles are pivotably mounted upon the support;
• and
• a drive assembly operable to pivot the vehicle support and, concurrent with the pivoting of the vehicle support, to pivot one or more of the vehicles,
• wherein the vehicles are alternatively positionable in an inline positions and in a side-by-side position relative to each other and
• wherein the drive assembly is operable to concurrently pivot all of the vehicles in a controlled direction and amount, the direction and amount of pivoting for each of the vehicles being substantially equivalent to maintain a like orientation for each of the vehicles relative to the track.