Racing roller coaster

Riders interacting with one-another on Grand National

A racing roller coaster, sometimes referred to as a dual track coaster, consists of one whole track or two separate coasters that travels along parallel or mirrored tracks to simulate a race between the trains. The coaster trains travel along tracks just a few feet apart of one another. They often get close enough for riders to reach out and slap hands with riders on the opposite train, though this is extremely dangerous and can result in ejection from the park.

Some racing roller coasters are Möbius Loop racing coasters. These rides have a single track that traverses the circuit twice. A train leaving the station on one side will return on the other. Currently there are three Möbius coasters in the world: the Grand National at Pleasure Beach Blackpool in the UK, Montaña Rusa at La Feria Chapultepec Mágico in Mexico, and Racer at Kennywood Park in the United States.

Some examples of dual-track racing coasters are Six Flags Great Adventure's Rolling Thunder, American Eagle at Six Flags Great America, PortAventura's Stampida, and Cedar Point's Gemini.

Not all parks choose to operate both sides of their racing coasters; Rolling Thunder and Colossus are two examples of this. Other parks operate one side frontwards and one side backwards. In 2008, Cedar Fair directed the former Paramount Parks racing coasters operate both sides frontwards.

Examples of Racing Coasters

Coaster Name	Park	Location	Type	No. of Tracks	Builder	Year Opened	Notes
American Eagle	Six Flags Great America	Gurnee, Illinois	Wooden	2	Intamin	1981	Tallest, fastest, and longest racing wooden roller coaster in the world
Colossus	Six Flags Magic Mountain	Valencia, California	Wooden	2	International Amusement Devices	1978
Gemini	Cedar Point	Sandusky, Ohio	Steel	2	Arrow Dynamics	1978	With wood supports.
Grand National	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	Blackpool, Lancashire	Wooden	1	Charles Paige	1935	Mobius loop
Joris en de Draak	Efteling	Kaatsheuvel	Wooden	2	Great Coasters International	2010
Lightning Racer	Hersheypark	Hershey, Pennsylvania	Wooden	2	Great Coasters International	2000
Matterhorn Bobsleds	Disneyland	Anaheim, California	Steel	2	Arrow Dynamics	1959	Weaves around and through a replica of the Matterhorn.
Milky Way	Mitsui Greenland	Arao, Kumamoto	Steel, Stand Up	2	Senyo Kogyo Co., Ltd.	1991
Le Monstre	La Ronde	Montréal, Québec	Wooden	2	William Cobb & Associates	1985/86	One track opened in 1985, the other in 1986
Montaña Rusa	La Feria Chapultepec Magico	Mexico City	Wooden	1	National Amusement Device Company	1964	Mobius Loop
The Racer	Kings Island	Mason, Ohio	Wooden	2	Philadelphia Toboggan Company	1972	Credited for starting the "Second Coaster Boom". Worlds fastest (1972-1976)
Racer	Kennywood	West Mifflin, Pennsylvania	Wooden	1	John A. Miller	1927	Mobius Loop
Ramses	Parque de Atracciones de Zaragoza	Zaragoza, Zaragoza	Steel	2	Safeco	2002
Rebel Yell	Kings Dominion	Doswell, Virginia	Wooden	2	Philadelphia Toboggan Company	1975
Rolling Thunder	Six Flags Great Adventure	Jackson, New Jersey	Wooden	2	Don Rosser, William Cobb	1979	Ride has two tracks in a figure 8 pattern, but the hills are arranged differently on each track
Stampida	PortAventura	Salou, Tarragona	Wooden	2	Custom Coasters International	1997
Thunder Road	Carowinds	Charlotte, North Carolina	Wooden	2	Curtis D. Summers	1976	Crosses the North Carolina/South Carolina state line.
Twisted Twins	Kentucky Kingdom	Louisville, Kentucky	Wooden	2	Custom Coasters International	1998	Standing but not operating.
Vertigorama	Parque de la Ciudad	Buenos Aires City	Steel	2	Intamin	1982
Vleermuis	Plopsaland	De Panne, West Flanders	Steel, Suspended	2	Caripro	2000

See also

Duelling roller coaster