Hybrid roller coaster explained

A hybrid roller coaster is a category of roller coasters where the track is made out of one material, either steel or wood, and the support structure is made from another.[1] [2] Early hybrid coasters include mine train roller coasters from Arrow Development, which feature a steel track with a wooden support structure.[3] Becoming increasingly more common are hybrids with wooden tracks and steel supports, such as The Voyage at Holiday World.[4] [5]

Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) is well-known for their I-Box track design, commonly used to retrofit existing wooden coasters with a new steel track. Such designs provide several benefits, offering smoother rides and reducing maintenance costs.[6] Hybrid coasters can also add inversions, similar to Mean Streak's conversion into Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point in 2018. Newer hybrids also tend to be taller, faster, and feature steeper drops over their wooden coaster counterparts.

History

Two main components of roller coaster design are their track and support structure. In most cases, both are made of the same material – either wood or steel. Occasionally, they are designed to feature a steel track with a wooden structure, or vice versa, in what has become known as a hybrid roller coaster. Hybrid roller coasters have existed for a long time, with one of the oldest being Cyclone at Luna Park, which opened in 1927.[7] Its track is made from wood, while the support structure is made of steel.[8] Arrow Development built a vast amount of mine train roller coasters beginning in the 1960s, featuring tubular steel track and wooden supports.[9] [10] [11] One of their last installations is Adventure Express at Kings Island, which opened in 1991.[12] [13]

Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) and The Gravity Group are at the forefront of modern hybrid coaster construction.[14] RMC entered the industry by refurbishing old wooden roller coasters, converting them into hybrids with steel track, beginning with New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas in 2011. One of their most popular conversions is Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point,[15] which has been consistently ranked as one of the best steel coasters in Amusement Todays Golden Ticket Awards. The Gravity Group designs coasters with wooden track but with a steel support structure, such as Hades 360 at Mount Olympus Theme Park.[16]

Terminology

The term "hybrid roller coaster" started to be used by the coaster community when New Texas Giant opened and Six Flags classified the roller coaster as wood. Six Flags in response of the confusion classified the roller coaster as a "hybrid", which has since been used to include many other Rocky Mountain Construction Coasters of the same style.[17] Coasters are usually still classified as either "steel" or "wood", based on what their track material is.[18] The use of the phrase is controversial.[1]

Examples of hybrid roller coasters

! Name !! Park !! Opened !Country!! Notes
New Texas GiantSix Flags Over Texas2011United StatesFirst RMC conversion[19]
Hades 360Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park2013United States
Steel VengeanceCedar Point2018United StatesFirst hybrid hypercoaster and longest hybrid in the world[20]
ZadraEnergylandia2019Poland
HakugeiNagashima Spa Land2019JapanFirst hybrid roller coaster in Asia[21]
Iron GwaziBusch Gardens Tampa Bay2022United States
Wildcat's RevengeHersheypark2023United StatesWorld's largest underflip inversion[22]

References

  1. Book: 18 . Coasters 101: An Engineer's Guide to Roller Coaster Design . Nick . Weisenberger . 1st . United States . 9781468013559 . 2012 . Paperback . Createspace Independent Publishing. English.
  2. Book: Coasters: United States and Canada . 21, 49, 116, 223, 231 . 4th . Todd H. . Throgmorton . Samantha K. . Throgmorton . 978-1476622118 . April 30, 2016 . E-book . . English.
  3. Web site: What Is A Hybrid Roller Coaster? . April 26, 2021 . coastercritic.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20210620030226/http://coastercritic.com/2018/03/hybrid-roller-coaster/ . June 20, 2021 . dead.
  4. The Voyage . Holiday World & Splashin' Safari . 3231 . July 21, 2023.
  5. Web site: What Is a Hybrid Wooden and Steel Roller Coaster? . April 26, 2021 . TripSavvy. en.
  6. News: Glaser . Susan . Meet the man behind Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point's newest record-breaking roller coaster . September 25, 2023 . Cleveland.com . October 13, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230925151802/https://www.cleveland.com/travel/2017/10/meet_the_man_behind_steel_veng.html . September 25, 2023 . live.
  7. Coney Island Cyclone . Coney Island . 222 . April 26, 2021.
  8. Web site: The Cyclone . July 12, 1988 . . August 24, 2019 . 5 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161223171706/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1636.pdf . December 23, 2016 . live.
  9. Web site: Arrow Dynamics – Coasterforce. Coasterforce. 17 October 2016 .
  10. Web site: Roller Coaster Search Results. 2021-04-27. rcdb.com.
  11. Web site: 2019-04-10. The Coasters of Kings Island. 2021-04-29. Warren County Ohio's Best Vacation Destination. en.
  12. Web site: Adventure Express – Kings Island – Roller Coasters. Ultimate Rollercoaster.com.
  13. Web site: Adventure Express – Kings Island (Mason, Ohio, United States). 2021-04-29. rcdb.com.
  14. News: MacDonald . Brady . Get ready for the next wave of looping wooden coasters . September 26, 2023 . . October 1, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170217171022/https://www.latimes.com/travel/themeparks/la-trb-looping-wooden-coasters-next-wave-20140929-story.html . February 17, 2017 . live.
  15. Web site: Arehart . Mark . State of the Arts: A New Kind of Wooden Coaster Twists and Turns at Cedar Point . Ideastream Public Media . July 21, 2023 . May 4, 2018.
  16. Web site: The Gravity Group – Coasterforce. Coasterforce. 23 October 2016 .
  17. Web site: Roller Coaster Search Results. 2021-04-28. rcdb.com.
  18. Web site: New Texas Giant Roller Coaster. 2021-04-28. Guide to Six Flags over Texas. en-US.
  19. New Texas Giant. 11662. 16 July 2023. Six Flags Over Texas.
  20. Steel Vengenace. 15411. 16 July 2023. Cedar Point.
  21. Hakugei. 15515. 7 February 2024. Nagashima Spa Land.
  22. Wildcat's Revenge. 20462. 16 July 2023. Hershey Park.

Further reading

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hybrid roller coaster".

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