.
Since before
records began, mankind has strived to better himself. Call it pioneering
or call it macho one-upmanship, there’s always been a desire to go
higher, faster or to have longer fingernails than anybody else on the
planet.
Look
no further than the space race, nearly 20 years of rivalry between
America and the Soviet Union to explore outer space, send humans into
space and finally to be the first to set foot on the moon.
The
Soviet Union started the race in 1957 upon the successful launch of
Sputnik, and then were the first to send man – more specifically Yuri
Gagarin – into space. And of course, America won the fight to set foot
on the moon when Neil Armstrong uttered the now immortal words “Honey,
I’m home”
Every
year, the Guinness Book of World Records chronicles many important (and
as many unimportant...) endeavours in a 300-page book. It’s an
important achievement for some, but for many, it is just as important to
savour the smug sense of satisfaction in the knowledge that you have
achieved something that nobody else in the world yet has.
For
theme parks, having the tallest, fastest, longest but not necessarily
bestest in the world is a priceless asset in terms of marketing.
There’s nothing particularly extraordinary in saying that you have one
of the tallest coasters in the world, but to say you have the
tallest is to get one over on every other theme park in the world.
Likewise,
people are less likely to travel around the world to ride one of
the tallest coasters – they want the bragging rights as much as a
theme park, so the tallest or fastest is often the only one that’ll do
for many.
Tallest
America
and, to a lesser extent, Asia, have more often than not set the
perpetual motion for many records, tallest and fastest being the two
forefront examples.
Cedar
Point’s history of capturing the public’s imagination with the
almost bi-annual claim that they have the tallest coaster in the world
has been rivalled many times, but one of the first coasters in the world
that perhaps started the race for the skies was Magnum XL-200, a 205ft
tall Arrow mega coaster.
Tallest
coaster in... |
The
World |
Kingda
Ka |
459ft |
Europe |
Silver
Star |
239ft |
The
UK |
Big
One |
213ft |
Source:
RCDB |
Indeed,
along with Lightwater Valley’s Ultimate, it was the mega coaster that
afforded the UK almost a page of records in the Guinness Book of World
Records. While the Ultimate claimed the record for the world’s longest
coaster, the Big One was the tallest, fastest and steepest coaster.
The
claim of having the tallest coaster in the world is perhaps one of the
most attractive to parks. It is difficult to appreciate speed as a
layman, while there’s no doubting the stature of a tall coaster
looming over the rest of the park. And the chances are that speed comes
naturally with a tall coaster anyway.
You’d
think measuring the tallest coaster in the world would be effortless and
a simple case of running (the world’s longest) tape measure up to the
highest point, but there are many factors that parks use to their
advantage.
While
Blackpool maintain the Big One is 235ft tall, other estimates range from
anywhere in-between 201ft and 213ft. As Blackpool measure the Big One
from sea level, it is safe to assume that Nemesis is in fact one of the
tallest coasters in the UK.
Furthermore,
things like tunnels and the landscape further complicate what you’d
think is a fairly rudimentary measurement. Strictly speaking, Nemesis is
40ft tall, but the change in elevation is closer to 120ft. You can see
how parks twist the rules to suit.
There’s
also the age-old question – what is a coaster? Parks will call
anything a coaster if it means they can claim they have the tallest,
while other parks will conveniently forget other ‘coasters’ if it
suits their agenda.
One
of the best examples has to be Superman The Escape at Six Flags Magic
Mountain which opened in 1997. Delayed by a year, it opened to deafening
fanfare and was the first coaster to go over 100mph with a 415ft spike
of track.
There
was muted debate as to whether Superman The Escape was a coaster. In
fact, it became a topic of ridicule (and so it should) on newsgroups and
forums, not least when Millennium Force opened at Cedar Point five years
later.
Like
Superman, Millennium Force was claimed to be the tallest, fastest
coaster in the world. The press release loudly proclaimed that “Millennium
Force [would] shatter 10 world records” including “tallest
roller coaster at 310 feet” and “fastest roller coaster at 92
mph”
So
Cedar Point made up its own mind as to whether Superman The Escape was a
coaster or not. Although Millennium Force was without question the
tallest and fastest complete circuit coaster, any extra (and
perhaps unnecessary) adjectives water down what is otherwise a
press-ready soundbite.
Fastest
The
claim of tallest coaster is often followed by the claim of fastest.
Until recently, if you wanted speed you had to have the height as to
build up kinetic energy the record breaker had to make an inevitably
giddying climb to the top of a lift hill.
Fastest
coaster in... |
The
World |
Kingda
Ka |
128mph |
Europe |
Stealth |
79.5mph |
The
UK |
Stealth |
79.5mph |
Source:
RCDB |
Advances
in technology mean that to go fast it is no longer a necessary evil that
you have to go high, although of course many parks choose to do so to
give the coaster that extra selling point.
Rides
like Stealth at Thorpe Park go to show how hydraulic launch technology
makes a mockery of the conventions of physics – at 205ft tall, it
isn’t the tallest coaster in Europe, but at 79.5mph, it is the
fastest.
By
contrast, the tallest coaster in Europe, Silver Star (Europa Park), is
the slower of the two rides due to its dependence on a traditional lift
hill.
Furious
Baco at PortAventura is yet another Intamin Accelerator, often parks’
weapon of choice when it comes to breaking world records. The two
fastest coasters in the World are Intamin Accelerators with a top speed
of over 120mph, while next year, the two fastest in Europe will also be
Accelerators with Stealth’s 79.5mph coming second to Baco’s 83.9mph.
What’s
interesting about Furious Baco though as that despite being the fastest
coaster in Europe, it is nowhere near being the tallest. This is perhaps
the best example that no longer are speed and height bound together.
Like
highest, the claim of fastest is open to interpretation. Often, the
statistic given is the theoretical speed based on computer simulations,
while in the case of rides like Stealth, the speed quoted is more often
than not the optimum speed that the ride launches at.
While
sometimes it is as rudimentary as the highest speed recorded by a speed
gun aimed at the fastest part of the track, while in the case of the Big
One, the maximum speed of 85mph is the theoretical speed of an object
dropping from 235ft in the air.
In
the case of a roller coaster, this does not include wind resistance,
friction or the angle of the track, all of which have an impact on the
top speed. The Big One’s maximum speed is actually closer to 75mph
than 85mph.
Longest
This
isn’t the most attractive statistic, but with a bit of creative flair,
parks can translate ‘longest’ as ‘biggest’ as they have done in
the past.
Longest
coaster in... |
The
World |
Steel
Dragon |
8133ft |
Europe |
Ultimate |
7442ft |
The
UK |
Ultimate |
7442ft |
Source:
RCDB |
The
Ultimate at Lightwater Valley comfortably held the record for many years
before losing it to a ride that was built nearly 20-years before it,
Daidarasaurus at Expoland, Japan.
How
so? Well, until recently the ride essentially operated as two racing
coasters, before they used the moebius loop of track to run it as a
single coaster. Like Pleasure Beach Blackpool’s Grand National,
despite having two ‘sides’, it is simply one loop of track. So, in
the words of the Spice Girls, two became one.
The
record was broken again by Steel Dragon 2000, a coaster that also stole
several of Millennium Force’s records such as the tallest coaster in
the world.
While
Steel Dragon 2000 uses height and speed to assist the train around a
circuit that’s in excess of 8000ft long, the Ultimate uses two lift
hills, two large drops and a predominantly ground-hugging layout to
maintain speed.
Length
is clearly a difficult record to break. A massive compromise in terms of
layout or the cost of building such a long coaster has to be made, and
clearly it’s not a price many parks are willing to pay for a fairly
non-descript record at best.
Steepest
A
claim that means less and less as time goes by, the ‘steepest’
coaster in the world is probably only a claim that is only ever used to
add gravitas to the claim that you also have the tallest and fastest
coaster.
Our
favourite example, again, is the Big One, the tallest, fastest and steepest
coaster in the world when it opened, apparently. The drop angle was
quoted as being 75-degrees, although what they didn’t tell you was
that this statistic included the severe right-hand banking.
Oblivion
opened in 1998 not as the ‘steepest’ coaster, but as the
‘world’s first vertical drop roller coaster’. Interestingly,
Oblivion’s drop is actually 87-degrees – not vertical – although
pretty close to it. But also close to vertical were another seven
coasters which were five degrees off vertical as opposed to Oblivion’s
three. You have to wonder where parks draw the line.
Of
course, coasters are becoming steeper and steeper – Oakwood’s Speed
is 97-degrees which those with a glancing knowledge of geometry will
understand is beyond vertical.
Pedants
will note that many coasters go vertical and beyond, even for brief
moments, and don’t get any credit – any coaster with a vertical loop
for example covers all 360-degrees, 90-degrees and all, even if only for
a brief moment, although few things compare in terms of dominance to a
vertical – or beyond vertical – drop.
Most
inversions
One
record that hasn’t ever really been seriously contested is the amount
of inversions that a coaster has.
Inversion
breakdown |
No. |
Coaster |
Park |
10 |
Colossus |
Thorpe
Park |
10
Inversion Roller Coaster |
Chimealong
Paradise |
8 |
Avalancha |
Xetulul |
Dragon
Khan |
PortAventura |
Flight
of the Phoenix |
Phoenix
Mountain's Happy Park |
Monte
Makaya |
Terra
Encantada |
Source:
RCDB |
Goudurix
at Parc Asterix along with the Great American Scream Machine at Six
Flags Great Adventure were the first with seven inversions back in 1989,
after which a glut of seven-loopers opened, mostly Arrow Dynamic’s
handywork, although later Bolliger and Mabillard with rides such as
Kumba at Busch Gardens in Tampa, America.
Dragon
Khan broke the seven-loop deadlock back in 1995 when it opened with
PortAventura. With a layout heavily modelled after Kumba’s, Dragon
Khan’s layout threw in an extra vertical loop after the mid-course
brake run to clinch the record.
As
you’d expect, a stalemate followed when Monte Makaya opening in Rio de
Janeiro opened in 1998, and then Avalancha in Guatemala in 2002, both
Intamin 8-loopers with identical layouts.
In
2002, Thorpe Park needed to send a message out to the effect that they
were no longer a family park. The best way to do this was to break a
world record, but clearly height, speed and length were records that
would elude them on the basis that in 2002, you couldn’t have a good
coaster with speed or length without height. With a height limit of
120ft, they had to improvise.
With
careful planning, many inversions are easily achievable without great
height or speed, but for Tussauds, Intamin offered the most energy
efficient option – Colossus, a 10-looping coaster under 100ft tall.
Like
PortAventura did with Dragon Khan, Thorpe Park used an existing layout
and fine-tuned it to secure the record. A helix was removed, and two
heartline rolls added in its place. This meant that while the ride
started off traditionally with a vertical loop, inline twist and double
corkscrew, it finished with a line of heartline rolls running the length
of the footprint, into a turn, and then a final inversion as the train
limps into the final brakes.
Colossus
did the trick. It wasn’t quite the phenomenon that the Big One was 12
years earlier, but laminated Guinness Book of World Record certificates
littering the queue and Tomorrow’s World ‘scientific experiments’
helped Thorpe Park in its case against mediocrity.
Since
Colossus, as you’d expect, another 10-looper has opened, called –
unbelievably – 10 Inversion Roller Coaster at a park in China.
But I suspect now that we’ve achieved the iconic ten inversions I
suspect it will be a record that won’t be broken for a few years yet.
The
UK’s fall from grace
As
you can see, our small island has courted a surprising amount of world
records, but most have been fleeting.
Former
record holder's positions currently worldwide |
Claim |
Coaster
Name |
Current
ranking |
Tallest |
Big
One |
19th |
Fastest |
Big
One |
30th |
Steepest |
Oblivion |
4th |
Longest |
Ultimate |
3rd |
Most
loops |
Colossus |
Joint
1st |
Source:
RCDB |
We
held the record for the tallest coaster for four years thanks to the
Pepsi Max Big One, although Desperado which opened a matter of weeks
after the Big One boasted a taller drop thanks to a dive into a tunnel.
The Big One is still the tallest coaster in the UK, even after Stealth,
although in Europe it is now the second tallest, and internationally,
20th.
In
terms of speed, the Big One again was the fastest roller coaster in the
world if you were to believe the claims of Blackpool, a record that was
contested by Kennywood.
This
is owing to the fact that Steel Phantom’s 228ft drop came mid-way
through the ride meaning the train was going faster at the top – and
consequently the bottom – meaning it was always the faster of the two
rides.
The
fastest coaster in
Europe at the time of writing is Stealth, although within a few months
time, Furious Baco will take the record by nearly 4mph. Internationally,
there are now more than 15 coasters that are faster.
In
terms of steepest, though, the UK currently has the steepest coaster in
the form of both Speed, and – soon – Rage, at Adventure Island, both
of which weigh in at 97-degrees.
When it opened, Oblivion was the
steepest coaster in the world with a drop angle of 87-degrees, which it
has since lost to not only the Gerstlauer Eurofighters, but also to
Sheikra which manages to tip cars over the drop at 90-degrees.
As
far as the record for the longest coaster in the world goes, the
Ultimate was the longest for around ten years before Daidarasaurus
doubled in length, is still the longest in Europe by some 2000ft, which
equates to almost the length of Nemesis in terms of difference.
Europe’s
contribution
Strangely,
the European mainland have always been quite conservative in terms of
breaking records, although it has to be remembered continental theme
parks operate a very different business model to most British and many
international parks.
While
Blackpool and Thorpe Park break records for bragging rights alone, in
Europe many parks focus more on the overall ride experience – if that
means that you break a record, then so be it.
Very
few records have been broken in Europe – and most records have been
the tallest or fastest in Europe as opposed to internationally, two good
examples being Europa Park’s Silver Star and PortAventura’s Furious
Baco.
Height-wise,
out of the top 20 coasters in the world, only two are in Europe – the
Big One and Silver Star, while three – Furious Baco, Stealth and
Silver Star – make it into the top 20 fastest coasters.
This
is perhaps a good representation for Europe against the rest of the
world, especially considering the aggressive competition in America and
to a lesser extent, Japan. But out of the top 20 tallest and fastest,
only one, the Big One, can lay claim to being a world record holder, and
arguably that was on spurious terms at best.
Height
+ Speed = Not necessarily the best
While
many people, public and enthusiasts alike, make international
pilgrimages to worship at the alter of the tallest, fastest coasters in
the world, statistically, as far as enthusiasts are concerned these
coasters are rarely anywhere approaching being the best in the world.
For
parks, building a record breaker is a no-brainer – they know as much
as anyone else that tallest doesn’t always mean best, but the quality
of a coaster is subjective, while the height is there for everyone to
see. It is impossible to measure accurately how good a coaster is, and
assuming somehow you do, the public would be sceptical of such a claim.
Nothing
compares to the claim of having the tallest and fastest coaster, but of
course, as quickly as people come to the park, they’ll go elsewhere
just as fast when competitors outdo your efforts in the international
arena.
Look
no further than Top Thrill Dragster, Cedar Point’s USD 25m coaster
romped its way into the record books with a 120ft launch into a 420ft
tall top hat. Just two years later, Kingda Ka claimed every record Top
Thrill Dragster held with gusto. Every time a record breaker steals your
record, your coaster drifts closer and closer to obscurity. If speed and
height are the only discernible assets, then in ten years time, the park
could be left with a white elephant.
Records
vs popularity worldwide |
Tallest |
Kingda
Ka |
69th |
Fastest |
Kingda
Ka |
69th |
Most
loops |
Colossus |
78th |
Steepest |
Speed |
33rd |
Vild-Svinet |
120th |
Records
vs popularity in Europe |
Tallest |
Silver
Star |
67th |
Fastest |
Stealth |
60th |
Longest |
Ultimate |
173rd |
Records
vs popularity in the UK |
Tallest |
Big
One |
213rd |
Fastest |
Stealth |
60th |
Longest |
Ultimate |
173rd |
Source:
Best
Coaster Poll |
I
present to you exhibit A: Superman The Escape. Subject of many
documentaries that followed the troubled construction of this behemoth,
this coaster is now subject to very low ridership while rides in the
same park that opened years before still attract a crowd.
Of
course, in a pay-one-price park, this is a moot point. Superman The
Escape attracted hundreds of thousands of extra guests through the gates
and put Magic Mountain on the world stage. If those guest that came
through the gates on the weight of Superman The Escape have stayed loyal
to the park, then mission accomplished.
The
most accurate snapshot of enthusiasts’ opinions is the annual best
coaster poll that rates rides head-to-head regardless of how many people
have ridden them. Here you can see the extent of how ‘height’ or
‘speed’ are rarely interchangeable with ‘best’.
The
tallest and fastest coaster is in 69th place, while the longest (with
enough qualifying votes) was Daidarasaurus in 305th. But while the
enthusiastic purists turn their nose up at the tallest and fastest, the
public more often than not lap up the kudos of riding a record breaker.
Perhaps
nothing better shows the polarity between enthusiasts and the public
more than the record-breaking rides that the public love and the
enthusiasts love to hate.
|