Roller Coaster

Roller coasters are amusement rides developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. During the 16th and 17th centuries, rides consisting of wooden sleds that took riders down large slides made from ice were popular in Russia. The first roller coasters, where the train was attached to a wooden track, first appeared in France in the early 1800s. Although wooden roller coasters are still being produced, steel roller coasters are more common and can be found on every continent except Antarctica.

Ranked by height, speed, length, inversions, and steepness, roller coasters are also rated through public opinion polls. Amusement parks often compete to build the tallest, fastest, and longest rides to attract thrill seekers and boost overall park attendance. However, many records do not usually last long. When Magnum XL-200 opened in 1989, it began a new era of roller coasters and increased competition among parks to set new world records. The Magnum XL–200 was the first complete-circuit roller coaster built over 200 feet (61 m). Other notable roller coasters include Formula Rossa which reaches a top speed of 149 miles per hour (240 km/h), Kingda Ka which stands at 456 feet (139 m) tall, Steel Dragon 2000 which measures 8,133 feet (2,479 m) in length, and Takabisha which has a beyond-vertical drop angle of 121°.

KINGDA KA

Plans to build Kingda Ka were announced on September 10, 2004, at an event held for roller coaster enthusiasts and the media. The event revealed the park's goal to build "the tallest and fastest roller coaster on earth", reaching 456 feet (139 m) and accelerating up to 128 miles per hour (206 km/h) in 3.5 seconds. On January 13, 2005, Kingda Ka's tower construction was completed, and on May 21, 2005, the ride opened to the public. Kingda Ka became the "tallest" and "fastest" roller coaster in the world, taking both world records from Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point. It lost the title of world's fastest when Formula Rossa atFerrari World opened in November 2010. Intamin designed both Kingda Ka and Top Thrill Dragster, and the two share a similar design and layout that differs primarily by the theme and the additional hill featured on Kingda Ka. Both rides were built by Stakotra and installed by Martin & Vleminckx

MAGNUM XL 200

The Magnum XL-200, also known as just Magnum, is a steel roller coaster built by Arrow Dynamics at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. When built in 1989, it was the tallest, fastest, and steepest complete-circuit roller coaster in the world as well as the firsthypercoaster – a roller coaster that exceeds 200 feet (61 m) in height. Some have credited Magnum with starting a period in the industry known as the roller coaster wars, in which amusement parks competed with one another at a rapid pace to build the next tallest and fastest roller coaster. More than 40 million people had ridden Magnum as of 2009.

Magnum XL-200 held the title of tallest roller coaster in the world until 1994 when Pepsi Max Big One opened at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the United Kingdom. Amusement Today presented Magnum with its "Best Steel Roller Coaster" Golden Ticket Award for three consecutive years in a row from 1998 to 2000. As of 2014, it was ranked thirteenth in the world by the same publication.

TAKABISHA

Takabisha is a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter steel roller coaster located at the Fuji-Q Highland theme park in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan. It is famous for having a drop angle of 121° – the steepest coaster in the world. The Japanese name Takabisha translates to "high-handed" or "domineering" in English. The name is a pun, in that the three kanji in the name literally mean "high fly car".

Takabisha is a custom Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter roller coaster. The 1,000-metre (3,300 ft) ride begins with a sudden drop into pitch black darkness before entering a slow heartline roll. In just two seconds, the car is launched by linear motors down a 63-metre (207 ft) long tunnel to a speed of 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph). It then exits out of the station building and directly into a large inverted top hat. Immediately following the exit of this inversion the car goes into a banana roll, corkscrew and then two airtime hills. The ride is slowed on a set of block brakes and returns into the station building. The track then turns a sharp 180° turn to the right before going back out of the building and onto the vertical chain lift hill. This hill takes riders up to a height of 43 metres (141 ft). Once at the top, the car slowly inches towards the record-breaking 121°, beyond-vertical drop. Once the car is released from the top of the hill, it hurtles back down towards the ground and enters a dive loop, an inline loop and finally the seventh inversion, animmelmann loop. The whole ride is over within 2 minutes.

STEEL DRAGON

Steel Dragon 2000 is a roller coaster at Nagashima Spa Land amusement parkin Mie Prefecture, Japan. Built by Morgan Manufacturing, this coaster opened, appropriately, in 2000—"The Year of the Dragon" inAsia. It debuted 3 months after Millennium Force at Cedar Point, and surpassed that as the world's tallest complete-circuit coaster. It lost these records in height in 2003 when Top Thrill Dragster opened at Cedar Point. It also took the record for the longest track length—2,479 metres (8,133 ft)—which it currently holds. The ride is the second fastest coaster in Japan and the sixth fastest in the world.

In August 2003, a sheared axle caused one of the trains to lose a wheel. A passenger suffered a serious back injury and a 28-year-old man swimming in the water park pool was injured when he was hit in the hip with the 32 cm wheel.The ride was "Standing But Not Operating" (SBNO) for almost three years and reopened in 2006.

FORMULA ROSSA 

  Formula Rossa is a launched roller coaster located at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Manufactured by Intamin, Formula Rossa is the world's fastest roller coaster with a top speed of 240 km/h (150 mph).The coaster train accelerates to its top speed in approximately 5 seconds using a hydraulic launch system which generates a release velocity similar to that of steam catapults on an aircraft carrier. The initial acceleration from standstill reaches 100km/h in 2 seconds, beating the best commercially available supercar (as of 2014), while allowing riders to experience 1.7G of force. The roller coaster track is 2.2 km (1.4 mi) in length, ranking it 6th in the world for steel roller coasters. Its shape was inspired by the legendary Italian racetrackAutodromo Nazionale Monza. Due to the high air speeds and thus risk of an impact with airborne particulates or insects, all riders are required to wear protective glasses similar to those used during skydiving. Formula Rossa surpassed Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure as the world's fastest roller coaster with Kingda Ka retaining the record of the tallest roller coaster in the world.In its planning stage it was called F1 Coaster.Immediately following the launch, the train ascends a 52 m (171 ft) hill and eventually completes the course reaching a maximum speed of 239 kilometres per hour (149 mph).

Prepared by : Nor Nazifa Binti Rosli