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After more than a century of striving to propel screaming riders ever faster, higher, steeper and longer, many roller coasters now hurtle to the limits of human endurance. So where is there left for the tracks to go?
The new attraction at Thorpe Park in Surrey, Saw – The Ride, claims to offer the world’s steepest freefall drop – a beyond-vertical 100-degree descent back under the ride’s 100ft (30m) peak.
It takes about three seconds.
An even steeper 112-degree descent is due to be unveiled in July on a new ride – Mumbo Jumbo – at Flamingo Land in North Yorkshire.
Roller coaster one-upmanship is something of a tradition in the amusement park industry, with rides sometimes designed seemingly with headlines as much in mind as effective frights and thrills.
Coasters now stand hundreds of feet tall, race at speeds nearing 130mph, and turn the rider upside down with multiple inversions. Predictably, the US boasts most of the world’s roller coaster records.
"In America there are so many parks, there are always these coaster wars going on," says Andy Hine, founder and chairman of the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain (RCCGB).
But he adds: "When you get into these coaster wars, you don’t always end up with a good ride."
"A roller coaster represents a really well choreographed sequence of unusual stimuli," says Brendan Walker, director of Thrill Laboratory and a visiting senior research fellow at the University of Nottingham.
The farther a roller coaster can push its dual extremes of fear and pleasure, the more thrilling the ride will be, he argues.
"Thrill as an experience is actually defined as a large, rapid increase in pleasure and arousal together," he says.
"If you can manage to pull somebody towards displeasure through fear, through danger, and then provide a pleasurable release, the margin of change is larger."
Shake, rattle
Most roller coaster fanatics prefer wooden rides, despite them tending to be smaller and slower than steel ones, partly because of the more anxious experience often involved.
The swaying and creaking frame, the deafening rattle of the wheels on the track, and the archaic appearance can suggest that the ride – and consequently the riders too – may not be around that long.
"A wooden roller coaster has a lot more shake, rattle and roll about it," Mr Hine says.
With an estimated 35,000 rides on more than 2,000 of the world’s roller coasters behind him, Mr Hine’s favourite attraction is the wooden Phoenix, in Pennsylvania, US, standing at an unimposing 78ft (24m) and with a top speed of about 45mph.
June 8, 2009
