is a steel

Steel roller coaster

A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world...

 4th Dimension

4th Dimension roller coaster

A 4th Dimension roller coaster is a type of steel roller coaster whereby riders are rotated independently of the orientation of the track, generally about a horizontal axis that is perpendicular to the track. The cars do not necessarily need to be fixed to an angle.-History:John F...

 roller coaster

Roller coaster

The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...

 at Fuji-Q Highland

Fuji-Q Highland

Fuji-Q Highland is an amusement park in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan.The theme park is near the base of Mount Fuji. It has a number of roller coasters, as well as The Haunted Hospital, the world's second largest haunted attraction, and Thomas Land, a children's area with a Thomas the Tank Engine...

 in Fujiyoshida

Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi

is a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū.-Geography:It is considered a high-elevation city in Japan, at 2,140 to 2,800 feet above sea level. The city is also located between two of the five Fuji Lakes.-Geology:Fujiyoshida was founded on...

, Yamanashi

Yamanashi Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Kōfu.-Pre-history to the 14th century:People have been living in the Yamanashi area for about 30,000 years...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The ride is the world's second 4th Dimension coaster, the first being X (now X²) at Six Flags Magic Mountain

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Six Flags Magic Mountain is a theme park located in Valencia, California north of Los Angeles. It opened on Memorial Day weekend on May 30, 1971 as Magic Mountain, by the Newhall Land and Farming Company. In 1979, Six Flags purchased the park and added the name Six Flags to the park's title. In...

 in Valencia, California

Valencia, California

Valencia is an affluent planned community located in the City of Santa Clarita, California and Los Angeles County, California, U.S. in the northwestern corner of the Santa Clarita Valley, adjacent to Interstate 5. In 1987, it was one of the four unincorporated communities that merged to create the...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Eejanaika is the taller, faster, and longer of the two.

Eejanaika, designed by S&S Arrow, is a "4th Dimension" coaster, a design in which the seats can rotate forward or backward 360 degrees in a controlled spin. This is achieved by having four rails on the track: two of these are running rails while the other two are for spin control. The two rails that control the spin of the seats move up and down relative to the track and spin the seats using a rack and pinion

Rack and pinion

A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a pair of gears which convert rotational motion into linear motion. A circular gear called "the pinion" engages teeth on a linear "gear" bar called "the rack"; rotational motion applied to the pinion causes the rack to move, thereby...

 gear

Gear

A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....

 mechanism.

Eejanaika is pronounced "Ee ja nai ka

Ee ja nai ka

was a complex of carnivalesque religious celebrations and communal activities which occurred in many parts of Japan from June 1867 to May 1868, at the end of the Edo period and the start of the Meiji restoration. In West Japan, it appeared at first in the form of dancing festivals, often related to...

" and written in Japanese as "ええじゃないか", but the roller coaster's official spelling turns the second "え" upside down. Eejanaika has several meanings, but means "Ain't it great!"
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Eejanaika is the roller coaster with the most inversion

Roller coaster inversions

A roller coaster inversion is an element of a roller coaster track that turns riders upside-down and then rights them. The degree to which it must invert riders is nebulous and a point of contention when it comes to elements like overbanked turns, which turn riders such that their heads are below...

s in the world. Throughout the ride, the riders go through 14 inversions. However, most of these inversions are accomplished by spinning the seats rather than actually inverting the track.

The track itself only inverts five times -

• Inside raven turn (½)
• full-full/zero-g roll (1)
• fly to lie (½)
• outside raven turn (½)
• half camelback twist (½)

This has led to some controversy in the roller coaster enthusiast community concerning the legitimacy of Eejanaika's claim. The Roller Coaster DataBase

Roller Coaster DataBase

The Roller Coaster DataBase is an extensive roller coaster and amusement park database. RCDB was started in 1996 by Duane Marden, who still operates the site...

 does not acknowledge these seat inversions for the purpose of record-holding.http://rcdb.com/id3254.htm

External links

Fuji-Q Eejanaika (official site)

• Eejanaika at the Roller Coaster DataBase
  Roller Coaster DataBase
  The Roller Coaster DataBase is an extensive roller coaster and amusement park database. RCDB was started in 1996 by Duane Marden, who still operates the site...