Sierra Sidewinder 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...

 spinning

Spinning roller coaster

A spinning roller coaster is a roller coaster with cars that rotate on a vertical axis.- Virginia Reel :The first spinning roller coaster was the Virginia Reel, first built in 1908 by Henry Riehl. Instead of trains, the ride had "tubs" with seats built around the perimeter facing inward...

 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...

 located in the Camp Snoopy section of 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....

. It is the first ever roller coaster to feature multiple free spinning cars on a train, rather than several individual spinning cars. The only other spinning train coaster is Euro-Mir

Euro-Mir

Euro-Mir is a spinning roller coaster located at Europa-Park in Rust, Germany. Unlike most spinning coasters, however, the cars do not spin freely, but are rotated by motors at set points during the ride. It was designed by Franz Mack and opened in 1997....

 at Europa-Park

Europa-Park

Europa-Park is the largest theme park in Germany and third most popular theme park resort in Europe. Having over 4.2 million visitors in 2009, it is the second most popular seasonal theme park in the world and is only behind the Tivoli Gardens and Disneyland Paris. Europa-Park is located in Rust,...

in Germany, however the spinning of the trains is controlled throughout the ride. It is also one of the first roller coasters to feature on-ride video recordings, as opposed to the traditional still on-ride photograph.

Trains

Sierra Sidewinder features two trains with four cars with two rows each, seating two per row back-to-back. The Ride structure is unique because the train storage is beneath the ride as opposed to being next to the ride. The on-ride video recording that was present on the trains when opened have been removed as of the 2011 season. Small holes on the fronts and rears of each car indicate where the video cameras were once mounted.