Star, a popular roller coaster which once stood at Coney Island in Cincinnati. Charles Dinn – director of the Kings Island's construction, maintenance and engineering division – had recorded measurements of the Shooting Star's layout and dimensions prior to its demolition in 1971. The park later selected an area near The Racer where the replica would be built. Management eventually determined it was in their best interest to shelve the idea and instead push forward with a bigger design. The Shooting Star would later be resurrected in the layout design of Mighty Canadian Minebuster at Canada's Wonderland, which opened in 1981. For the 1979 coaster, Kings Island set its sights on an attraction that would transcend the Shooting Star's nostalgia and appeal to a wider audience. Design and construction A wooded area in the southeast corner of the park spanning was selected as the site for the new project. The area's naturally-occurring, rugged terrain consisted of cliffs, hills and ravines. Utilizing the landscape as opposed to leveling it saved money and allowed for more investment in the layout itself. Beginning in 1976, chief engineer and surveyor Al Collins and his assistant Jeff Gramke spent two years researching and designing the new roller coaster with the help of Dinn and his team, who surveyed major roller coasters across the country. Collins and Gramke would progress through tens of thousands of formulas needed to produce record-breaking results without the assistance of scientific calculators or computers. "Everything had to be calculated by hand", recalled Gramke in 2014. John C. Allen, world-renowned coaster designer behind The Racer, was asked to lead the design but declined due to pending retirement. He shared design formulas, however, and acted as a consultant throughout development. Among his important contributions were the design of several components, including a tire-driven launch system that increased capacity above 1,000 riders per hour. The original plans for the Beast featured an airtime hill after the first tunnel followed by a left turn and a double down. After the second lift hill, passengers would approach a trick track element and a right-handed double helix. This helix is a mirror image of the one that is used today. Primary design and construction was handled internally by Kings Island Engineering and Construction under the direction of Dinn. Part of the design work was subcontracted to Curtis D. Summers, Inc., a structural engineering and architecture firm located