Floorless roller coaster
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A floorless roller coaster is a roller coaster with trains that ride above the track and allow the passenger's legs to dangle. It is a fairly new concept in roller coaster design brought forth by manufacturers Bolliger & Mabillard. The first ever floorless coaster debuted in 1999 at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, USA. The coaster, Medusa now named Bizarro, opened to great reviews and continues to earn its place on the Amusement Today Top 50 Steel Coasters list. Recently, B&M have incorporated floorless trains on their dive roller coasters, such as Griffon and SheiKra. Though they contain floorless trains, the coasters are still not considered floorless coasters. Maurer Söhne had designed their own version of the floorless coaster, a variant of their X-Car, but currently do not have any installations.[1]
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[edit] Design
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As of 2007, only Bolliger & Mabillard, who invented the concept, are in the business of designing and manufacturing floorless coasters. Their designs employ a multi-inversion layout (usually four to seven) and high capacity (often two to three trains). These roller coasters are becoming more common with each passing year, ranging in heights of eighty feet or so, up to 168 feet. These coasters are known for their smooth rides, excellent reliability, and usually high cost.
The inversions usually include vertical loops, dive loops, zero gravity rolls, cobra rolls, serpents, heartline rolls, and corkscrews (usually interlocking corkscrews.)
The stations of floorless coasters brought about some new features. Riders would need to walk across the train without their feet getting into the track gutter, so the stations have bi-parting floor sections between the rows that descend and retract to the sides of the station when the train is ready to depart, and it does the opposite when another train rolls in. Another feature incorporated from inverted roller coasters is a gate at the front of the station that swings open when the train leaves, to prevent would-be riders from falling off the edge, as the train has no nose.
[edit] Installations
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| Name | Height | Speed | Inversions | Location | Opened |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bizarro Formerly Medusa |
142 feet (43.3 m) | 61 miles per hour (98.2 km/h) | 7 | Six Flags Great Adventure, United States | 1999 |
| Superman: Krypton Coaster | 168 feet (51.2 m) | 70 miles per hour (112.7 km/h) | 6 | Six Flags Fiesta Texas, United States | 2000 |
| Medusa | 150 feet (45.7 m) | 65 miles per hour (104.6 km/h) | 7 | Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, United States | 2000 |
| Kraken | 149 feet (45.4 m) | 65 miles per hour (104.6 km/h) | 7 | Sea World Orlando, United States | 2000 |
| Insane Speed | 131 feet (39.9 m) | 53.4 miles per hour (85.9 km/h) | 4 | Janfusun Fancyworld, Taiwan | 2001 |
| Superman / la Atracción de Acero | 164 feet (50.0 m) | 62.1 miles per hour (99.9 km/h) | 7 | Parque Warner Madrid, Spain | 2002 |
| Batman – The Dark Knight | 117 feet (35.7 m) | 55 miles per hour (88.5 km/h) | 5 | Six Flags New England, United States | 2002 |
| Scream! | 150 feet (45.7 m) | 63 miles per hour (101.4 km/h) | 7 | Six Flags Magic Mountain, United States | 2003 |
| Dæmonen | 92 feet (28.0 m) | 48 miles per hour (77.2 km/h) | 3 | Tivoli Gardens, Denmark | 2004 |
| Hydra: The Revenge | 95 feet (29.0 m) | 53 miles per hour (85.3 km/h) | 7 | Dorney Park, United States | 2005 |
| Dominator Formerly Batman: Knight Flight |
157 feet (47.9 m) | 65 miles per hour (104.6 km/h) | 5 | Kings Dominion, United States Geauga Lake, United States |
2008 2000 to 2007 |
Note: Although SheiKra and Griffon are dive coasters featuring floorless trains, they are not considered floorless roller coasters [1]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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