You can hear their screams for miles. They hurtle around, sometimes upside down, at a great height on a narrow track, facing a G-force only test pilots should know about. Then, when the ride is finished, they say they want to have another go. These are the roller coaster fans, adrenaline junkies who need a regular fix. Some people have even got married on one! It’s a badge of honor to ride on the latest record-breaking ride, whether it’s the fastest, the tallest or simply the scariest.
Given that millions of people take rollercoaster rides each year, the safety record is pretty impressive. The limits of engineering excellence are being pushed as each new ride promises more thrills than the previous one. There are steel roller coasters and wooden roller coasters. Some fans have a nostalgic fondness for the wooden ones. The very first roller coasters took the form of ice slides and date back to 17th century Russia. The oldest continually operating ride, named The Scenic Railway, was constructed in 1912 and is located at Luna Park in Melbourne, Australia.
There are plenty of rollercoaster rides to choose from, over 2,000 across the world in fact. Many of them are not for the faint hearted. The tallest one is Kingda Ka (built 2005) at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, at a height of 456 feet. Kingda Ka also held the record for speed but this is about to be taken over by a Formula 1 racing themed ride called the German Ring Racer. This new roller coaster is at the Nurburgring Race Track in Nuburg, Germany. It has been built purely for speed, accelerating from 0 – 135 mph in 2.5 seconds, and does not incorporate any inclines or inversions. The ten fastest roller coasters in the world are all steel ones.
Inversions (or turning upside down) are the ultimate thrill for some passengers. Colossus (built 2002) has the record for most inversions. Located at the Thorpe Park amusement park in Surrey, England, it has ten inversions that include five zero G-rolls, a double corkscrew, and a vertical loop. For real heart in the mouth excitement, how about a vertical drop? The first roller coaster in the world to employ this was the Oblivion at Alton Towers amusement park in Staffordshire, England in 1998.
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Roller coasters are part of the enjoyment at many popular
tourist attractions and are usually the top draw of any
amusement park or theme park. They don’t necessarily break any records any more but they are held in fond affection, such as The Cyclone (built 1927) at Coney Island, one of the oldest
wooden roller coasters in the world. Space Mountain is another famous ride. The Disney
roller coaster can be found at its original site from 1975, the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, and also at Disneyland in California, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. The most popular seaside resort in England is Blackpool and tourists head for the Pepsi Big Max
roller coaster.
These rides are here to stay and will probably continue to astonish us. The challenge to engineers and designers is to always go that step further. The fear factor will rise but the passengers will continue to stand patiently in line for their thrill of a lifetime.
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