This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Amusement Parks: Cedar Fair / Roller Coasters Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Amusement Parks, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Amusement parks on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Amusement ParksWikipedia:WikiProject Amusement ParksTemplate:WikiProject Amusement Parksamusement park Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company task force (assessed as Mid-importance). This article is supported by Roller Coasters task force (assessed as Mid-importance). Michigan Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Michigan, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of Michigan on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MichiganWikipedia:WikiProject MichiganTemplate:WikiProject MichiganMichigan Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

WP:ROCO tag

 Shivering timbers is Michigan's tallest and fastest coaster. Each year the ride has a celebration called timberfest, 

people around the world come to ride this wooden beast. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.107.88.178 (talk) 22:07, 17 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

We should stick with reliable sources for height and speed. Park websites are known to exaggerate statistics. RCDB usually has data from the actual builder. In this case, we know the park website is hyperbole. It is not possible for any coaster to achieve a 65 mph speed with a 122 foot drop — or 125 as the park website claims. A wooden coaster would need at least a 150-foot drop to get to 65 mph. There are fewer than ten wooden coasters in the world that go 65 mph or faster. Despite what the park claims, Shivering Timbers is not one of them.—JlACEer (talk) 23:52, 15 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. Park websites are considered self-published and generally weak primary sources at best. We can cite them for general information about themselves, but for stronger claims such as statistics/specifications, we give secondary sources more weight when there is disagreement. RCDB.com is a secondary source that verifies information in a number of ways: straight from the manufacturer or designer, reliable contributors/researchers that have been on site, etc. RCDB's statistics generally trump park statistics with only some rare exceptions.

As for the height of the drop that's required to achieve 65 mph, a lot of other variables come into play, such as friction. But a general example we can look at is The Beast at Kings Island. It comes close to 65 mph with a 141-foot drop on the second lift hill. So 142 feet is probably the expected minimum on most coasters, maybe slightly less than that on newer woodies with less friction. --GoneIn60 (talk) 18:11, 28 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]