Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. Frequently, people’s favourite coasters on here are quite long rides. My own favourite coaster is Shambhala, a coaster with over 5,000ft of track, and other common favourites like Steel Vengeance and VelociCoaster are also long rides. But with these being long rides, the length arguably contributes to them being able to be rated so highly and provide so many thrills, and there might be a bit of “padding”, for lack of a better term, in there. With this in mind, as well as many other discussions about short coasters as of late (Hyperia comes to mind…), I’d be intrigued to know; what do people think is the best coaster per unit length? What ride do people feel utilises its track length or duration most effectively?
Personally, I’d nominate a couple of examples.
Firstly, I’d honestly struggle to look past Hyperia at Thorpe Park for this topic. The ride may only be around 30 seconds long, but I’d struggle to think of a more jam packed 30 seconds of roller coaster, with a wide variety of sensations on offer! That first drop is sublime, the Immelmann provides wonderful sustained ejector coming out of it, the outerbank is so wonderful and different, the zero-g stall and final two elements provide some really nice forces, and trim brake aside, I don’t think the ride has a single inch of wasted track!
The second ride I’d nominate isn’t cripplingly short as such, but certainly isn’t insanely long by any stretch, and that’s Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa. The ride is not the longest in the world, but it does so much with the duration it has! There’s so much airtime, with that first drop in particular being insane, there are so many other weird and wonderful negative g sensations on offer like the wave turn and the death roll, and the sense of speed throughout is just absurd! Not an inch of that track is wasted or redundant, in my view; every single element offers something!
But I’d be keen to know; what coaster do you feel utilises its length most effectively?
Personally, I’d nominate a couple of examples.
Firstly, I’d honestly struggle to look past Hyperia at Thorpe Park for this topic. The ride may only be around 30 seconds long, but I’d struggle to think of a more jam packed 30 seconds of roller coaster, with a wide variety of sensations on offer! That first drop is sublime, the Immelmann provides wonderful sustained ejector coming out of it, the outerbank is so wonderful and different, the zero-g stall and final two elements provide some really nice forces, and trim brake aside, I don’t think the ride has a single inch of wasted track!
The second ride I’d nominate isn’t cripplingly short as such, but certainly isn’t insanely long by any stretch, and that’s Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa. The ride is not the longest in the world, but it does so much with the duration it has! There’s so much airtime, with that first drop in particular being insane, there are so many other weird and wonderful negative g sensations on offer like the wave turn and the death roll, and the sense of speed throughout is just absurd! Not an inch of that track is wasted or redundant, in my view; every single element offers something!
But I’d be keen to know; what coaster do you feel utilises its length most effectively?
