Roller coaster inversions
Encyclopedia
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...
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 their feet, but are not considered inversions. The inversions built in the early 1900s, were circular vertical loops that produced massive g-forces, causing stress on riders' necks. In 1975, designers from Arrow Dynamics
Arrow Dynamics
Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster and amusement ride design company based in Clearfield, Utah, United States. In 2002, the company went bankrupt but was quickly bought by fellow amusement ride manufacturer S&S Power to form S&S Arrow. During its peak, Arrow Dynamics was responsible for some of...
developed the corkscrew, and the inversion was revived. Since then, elements have evolved from the simple vertical loop
Loop (roller coaster)
The generic roller coaster vertical loop is the most basic of roller coaster inversions. Specifically, the loop refers to a continuously upward-sloping section of track that eventually results in a complete 360 degree circle. At the top-most piece of the loop, riders are completely inverted.-...
to massive Cobra rolls. With ten inversions, Colossus
Colossus (Thorpe Park)
Colossus is a roller coaster at Thorpe Park in Surrey, England, UK. It was built by Swiss manufacturers Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel as an adaptation of Monte Makaya in Brazil. Tussauds designer John Wardley adapted the project to include an extra two inversions as well as reducing its...
of Thorpe Park
Thorpe Park
Thorpe Park is a theme park located in Chertsey, Surrey, England, UK. It was built in 1979 on the site of a gravel pit which was partially flooded, the intention of creating a water based theme for the park. The park's first large roller coaster, Colossus, was added in 2002...
in Chertsey
Chertsey
Chertsey is a town in Surrey, England, on the River Thames and its tributary rivers such as the River Bourne. It can be accessed by road from junction 11 of the M25 London orbital motorway. It shares borders with Staines, Laleham, Shepperton, Addlestone, Woking, Thorpe and Egham...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
is the record holder for roller coaster with the most track inversions (Tenth Ring Roller Coaster
Tenth Ring Roller Coaster
10 Inversion Roller Coaster is a steel roller coaster at Chime-Long Paradise amusement park in Guangzhou, Guangdong China. Completed in 2006, Tenth Ring is the second roller coaster in the world with 10 inversions, after Colossus in England's Thorpe Park ....
of Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, also holds the record, but is merely a duplicate of Colossus).
Prototypes (1848–1903)
Centrifugal Railway
Centrifugal railway was the name of a number of early looping roller coasters that were built in Western Europe in the middle of the 19th century. The rides were similar in their basic design to many modern day shuttle roller coasters , but with only one lift hill and no launch...
of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, built in 1848. It consisted of a 43-foot (13-meter) sloping track leading into a nearly circular
Circle
A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those points in a plane that are a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any of the points and the centre is called the radius....
vertical loop
Loop (roller coaster)
The generic roller coaster vertical loop is the most basic of roller coaster inversions. Specifically, the loop refers to a continuously upward-sloping section of track that eventually results in a complete 360 degree circle. At the top-most piece of the loop, riders are completely inverted.-...
13 feet (3.9 m) in diameter. During the early 1900s, many rides including vertical loops appeared around the world. These early loops had a major design flaw: the circular structure produced intense g-force
G-force
The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and...
s (hereafter "Gs"). The Flip-Flap Railway, built by an unknown contractor in 1898 on Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, reached 12 Gs and snapped riders' necks. In 1903, the same person built Loop-the-Loops, another looping coaster, in the same park. This time the loops were slightly oval-shaped rather than circular, though not clothoid in shape like modern loops. Although the ride was safe, it had a low capacity, loading four people every five minutes (48 people per hour, compared to 1800 riders per hour on Corkscrew
Corkscrew (Cedar Point)
Corkscrew is a roller coaster at the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. When built in 1976, it was the first roller coaster in the world with 3 inversions....
, an early modern coaster that opened in 1976), and was poorly received after the tragedies of the Flip-Flap Railway. As their novelty wore off and their dangerous reputation spread, compounded with the developing Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, the early looping coasters faded and disappeared.
Corkscrew (1968–1976)
Arrow Dynamics
Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster and amusement ride design company based in Clearfield, Utah, United States. In 2002, the company went bankrupt but was quickly bought by fellow amusement ride manufacturer S&S Power to form S&S Arrow. During its peak, Arrow Dynamics was responsible for some of...
created a prototype steel roller coaster
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...
with a corkscrew, the first of its kind. The prototyped proved that a tubular steel track, first pioneered by Arrow to create Disneyland's Matterhorn Bobsleds
Matterhorn Bobsleds
The Matterhorn Bobsleds or the Matterhorn is an attraction composed of two intertwining steel roller coasters, which opened in 1959 at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It is modeled after the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Swiss Alps...
in 1959, could execute inversions both safely and reliably. The full model of the prototype, aptly named Corkscrew
Corkscrew (Silverwood)
Corkscrew is the name of an Arrow Dynamics roller coaster formerly located at Knott's Berry Farm and currently located at Silverwood. Developed by Ron Toomer of Arrow Dynamics, a Utah based design firm, the "Corkscrew" was the first steel inverting roller coaster open to the public.Many identical...
, was then installed in Knott's Berry Farm
Knott's Berry Farm
Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park in Buena Park, California, now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, and a line of jams, jellies, preserves, and other specialty food, now part of The J. M. Smucker Company based in Placentia, California....
in Buena Park
Buena Park, California
Buena Park is a city in northwestern Orange County, California. As of Census 2010 the population was 80,530. The city is adjacent to the city of Anaheim and is 12 miles northwest of downtown Santa Ana. The Current OMB metropolitan designation for Buena Park and the Orange County Area is "Santa...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, making history as the world's first modern inverting roller coaster (it was relocated to Silverwood Park
Silverwood
Silverwood Theme Park is an amusement park located in northern Idaho, United States, near the town of Coeur d'Alene, and just 47 miles from Spokane, Washington on U.S. Route 95...
of Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
in 1990). In 1976, the previously disastrous vertical loop was successfully revived when Anton Schwarzkopf
Anton Schwarzkopf
Anton Schwarzkopf was a German engineer of amusement rides, and founder of the Schwarzkopf Industries company, which built numerous rides and large roller coasters for both amusement parks and travelling funfairs....
of Intamin AG
Intamin AG
Intamin Worldwide is a designing and manufacturing company in Wollerau, Switzerland. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The U.S. division of the company is located in Glen Burnie, Maryland, and is headed by Sandor Kernacs. The Intamin brand name is an...
constructed the Great American Revolution
Revolution (roller coaster)
The Revolution, formerly known as Great American Revolution and La Revolución, is a steel roller coaster manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf of Germany and designed by Werner Stengel. The coaster is located in the Baja Ridge area of Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California...
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...
of Valencia, United States, which became the world's first complete circuit looping roller coaster. Another roller coaster named Corkscrew
Corkscrew (Cedar Point)
Corkscrew is a roller coaster at the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. When built in 1976, it was the first roller coaster in the world with 3 inversions....
, built in Cedar Point
Cedar Point
Cedar Point is a 364 acre amusement park located in Sandusky, Ohio, United States on a narrow peninsula jutting into Lake Erie. Cedar Point is the only amusement park with four roller coasters that are taller than...
of Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
in the same year, became the first with three inversions.
Innovations (1977-present)
Shuttle roller coaster
A shuttle roller coaster is any roller coaster that ultimately does not make a complete circuit, but rather reverses at some point throughout its course and traverses the same track backwards...
(non-complete circuit) was invented by Schwarzkopf in 1977 and realized at Kings Island
Kings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Opened in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting Company and now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Kings Island is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S...
with the Screamin Demon coaster. These early incarnations used the weight-drop mechanism (as opposed to the later Flywheel
Flywheel energy storage
Flywheel energy storage works by accelerating a rotor to a very high speed and maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy...
methods) to launch the trains. Built in 1978, the Loch Ness Monster
Loch Ness Monster (roller coaster)
The Loch Ness Monster is a roller coaster located of Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Designed by Ron Toomer of Arrow Dynamics, the Loch Ness Monster was the world's tallest roller coaster when it opened in 1978. It was the first continuous circuit coaster and is a coaster to contain interlocking loops...
in Busch Gardens Europe
Busch Gardens Europe
Busch Gardens Williamsburg is a 383 acre theme park located in James City County, Virginia about 3 miles southeast of Williamsburg, originally developed by Anheuser-Busch and currently owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of The Blackstone Group...
became the first coaster with interlocking loops. It is still the only coaster with this feature, as the only other coasters containing interlocking loops are now defunct: Lightnin' Loops, built by Arrow in Six Flags Great Adventure
Six Flags Great Adventure
Six Flags Great Adventure is a theme park in Jackson Township, New Jersey, owned by Six Flags Entertainment Corp., the world's largest amusement park corporation...
, was sold in 1992, and Orient Express of Worlds of Fun
Worlds of Fun
Worlds of Fun is an amusement park in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The park opened in 1973 and was originally built by Lamar Hunt and Jack Steadman . In 1995 Hunt-Midwest sold Worlds of Fun to Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., which currently owns the park...
was demolished in 2003. The first Schwarzkopf shuttle loops with a flywheel launch also first appeared in 1978. Arrow's Irn Bru Revolution
Irn Bru Revolution
Revolution is an Arrow Dynamics shuttle roller coaster at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool. It was Europe's first fully looping roller coaster. The ride consists of two raised sections of track with a vertical loop in the centre. The train is launched off the first raised platform, into the loop, and up...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
's first looping coaster, was built in 1979 at Pleasure Beach Blackpool
Pleasure Beach Blackpool
Pleasure Beach Blackpool is a family owned amusement park and resort situated along the Fylde coast in Blackpool, England. It is the most visited amusement park in the United Kingdom, and one of the top twenty most-visited amusement parks in the world with an estimate of 5.5 million visitors in...
of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. In 1980, Carolina Cyclone
Carolina Cyclone
The Carolina Cyclone is a roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina and Fort Mill, South Carolina. The Carolina Cyclone, built in 1980 by world renowned coaster builders Arrow Dynamics, was the first ride featuring 4 inversions, two loops and two corkscrews.The Carolina...
opened at Carowinds as the first roller coaster with four inversions. The Orient Express opened at Worlds of Fun
Worlds of Fun
Worlds of Fun is an amusement park in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The park opened in 1973 and was originally built by Lamar Hunt and Jack Steadman . In 1995 Hunt-Midwest sold Worlds of Fun to Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., which currently owns the park...
of Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in 1980, with the newly invented boomerang (also referred to as a batwing or Kamikaze Kurve), a single track element with two inversions.
In 1981, Vekoma
Vekoma
Vekoma Rides Manufacturing B.V. is a roller coaster and thrill ride designer with its facilities based in the Netherlands. The company was founded in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld under the name "Veld Koning Machinefabriek" and had first manufactured agricultural machinery and mining equipment...
invented the Boomerang
Boomerang (roller coaster)
Boomerang is a model of roller coaster built by Vekoma, and named after the hunting implement based on the traditions of the Indigenous Australians...
coaster model, which became the most duplicated roller coaster ever. The first Boomerang was built at Reino Aventura
Reino Aventura
Reino Aventura was an amusement park located in Tlalpan in the south-western part of Mexico City. It opened to the public in March 1982 as the biggest amusement park in Latin America.-History:...
(now Six Flags México
Six Flags México
Six Flags México is an amusement park owned by Six Flags Inc. and the only Six Flags park operating in Latin America. It is located in the Tlalpan forest and borough, on the southern edge of Mexico City, Mexico. Six Flags México has become one of the most important theme parks in Mexico and the...
) of Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
in 1982. The Boomerang has had over 50 clones built worldwide from Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
, Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
. 1982 also brought the first five-inversion coaster, Arrow's Viper at Darien Lake in Darien, New York.
The record for number of inversions was broken quickly in the following years. Arrow's Vortex at Kings Island
Kings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Opened in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting Company and now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Kings Island is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S...
, built in 1987, was the first to have six. The next year, Shockwave
Shockwave (Six Flags Great America)
Shockwave was a large roller coaster manufactured by Arrow Dynamics at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois...
at Six Flags Great America
Six Flags Great America
Six Flags Great America is a Six Flags theme park in the Chicago metropolitan area, located in Gurnee, Illinois. It first opened in 1976 as Marriott's Great America. Six Flags purchased the park from the Marriott Corporation in 1984, making it the seventh park in the chain...
broke that record with seven inversions. In 1995, Dragon Khan
Dragon Khan
Dragon Khan is a steel sit-down roller coaster located in the PortAventura theme park in Salou, Catalonia, Spain. Dragon Khan boasts eight inversions; which was a world record until the opening of the ten-loop Colossus in Thorpe Park, United Kingdom in 2002...
in Spain's
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
PortAventura
PortAventura
PortAventura is a theme park and a resort in Salou, Catalonia, Spain; on the Costa Daurada , approximately an hour drive south of Barcelona. It attracts around 3 million visitors per year making it the most visited theme park in Spain. PortAventura Park is also the 6th most visited theme park in...
became the first to have eight.
Wooden roller coaster
A wooden roller coaster is most often classified as a roller coaster with laminated steel running rails overlaid upon a wooden track. Occasionally, the structure may be made out of a steel lattice or truss, but the ride remains classified as a wooden roller coaster due to the track design...
with a vertical loop. Until then, all roller coasters with any inversions at all were steel. In December 2006, however, the loop was removed to make it possible to use lighter trains. This occurred after structural problems caused an incident in July 2006 that injured several riders.
In 2001, X, designed by Arrow, opened in 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...
. It is marketed as the world's first Fourth dimension roller coaster
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...
, capable of rotating riders upside-down independently of any track elements. This adds difficulty in delineating the number of inversions such rides have. As the riders physically rotate 360
Circle
A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those points in a plane that are a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any of the points and the centre is called the radius....
degrees
Degree (angle)
A degree , usually denoted by ° , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1⁄360 of a full rotation; one degree is equivalent to π/180 radians...
forward and backwards, proponents insist the number of inversions should not include only track elements. According to Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
, the roller coaster with the most inversions counted this way is Eejanaika
Eejanaika (roller coaster)
is a steel 4th Dimension roller coaster at Fuji-Q Highland in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan. The ride is the world's second 4th Dimension coaster, the first being X at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, United States...
, essentially a clone of X, in 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...
of 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...
, 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...
, which rotates riders 14 times. Counting only track elements, however, Colossus
Colossus (Thorpe Park)
Colossus is a roller coaster at Thorpe Park in Surrey, England, UK. It was built by Swiss manufacturers Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel as an adaptation of Monte Makaya in Brazil. Tussauds designer John Wardley adapted the project to include an extra two inversions as well as reducing its...
of Thorpe Park
Thorpe Park
Thorpe Park is a theme park located in Chertsey, Surrey, England, UK. It was built in 1979 on the site of a gravel pit which was partially flooded, the intention of creating a water based theme for the park. The park's first large roller coaster, Colossus, was added in 2002...
in Chertsey
Chertsey
Chertsey is a town in Surrey, England, on the River Thames and its tributary rivers such as the River Bourne. It can be accessed by road from junction 11 of the M25 London orbital motorway. It shares borders with Staines, Laleham, Shepperton, Addlestone, Woking, Thorpe and Egham...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, built in 2002, holds the record as the first with ten inversions.
External links
- Element Cross Reference at Roller Coaster DatabaseRoller Coaster DataBaseThe 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...