This silly thought dropped into my mind the other day, and I figured it'd be a pretty decent topic for a, well, topic.
Anyway, coasters. Most of them seem to have some sort of design idea behind them. Something that makes the coaster stand out, or at least something coherent the coaster is trying to do. Eurofighters have their drop, Colossus is all about inversions, the Strata coasters are all about speed and height, etc. For every ride out there, there seems to be some central theme it's trying to play with.
The concepts may at times be poorly executed. I bet the guy behind the Pinfari loopers once thought he had a decent concept to work off of. Somebody once had a look at Walibi Belgium's Vertigo and thought "This will draw the guests for years!". The designer of the first SLC might have felt a sting of pride for his creation. This topic makes no attempt to differentiate those from the guy who once drew El Toro and said "Guys! Airtime!". The idea is what counts, and some coasters have pretty interesting ones behind them.
What are your favourites?
Me, well, I've always had a soft spot for the bog-standard Vekoma Boomerang. A coaster smaller than a football field, yet it offers riders six inversions over the course of the ride. That's an amazingly compact roller coaster, when you think about it, and the added touch of sending riders backwards is actually quite clever. True enough, in its execution it might have failed somewhat, but I daresay the idea itself is very good. Lots of inversions and backwards riding on a very small footprint. And the layout translates flawlessly (sort of) to an inverted model.
Maverick is another one I've always admired. In a time when coasters were all about doing one thing, yet doing that thing "to the max", it was a quite refreshing ride to hit the market. It isn't trying to have the most inversions, or being the tallest, or having the fastest launch. It's far from being the biggest coaster in the world, or for that matter in the park. Yet many argue it's one of the best. It was as if the designers had a bunch of gimmicky concepts to pick from (the tallest loop, the steepest drop, the most consecutive corkscrews, or what have you), but pushed all the drawings off the table and decided to just make a good coaster. The result is a coaster with no discernible gimmick. Yeah, it launches, twice, but that is not the focus of the ride. It has a mightily steep drop, but that's hardly the centrepiece either. It does invert, but only twice (three times in its initial conception, but that isn't much either). It has a few good airtime hills, ground-swooping turns, and even a fountain, yet it isn't trying to exploit any of those or market them as its One Defining Feature And Number One Reason You Should Ride It (TM). It's simply a coaster without a gimmick, which is a welcome touch in a time and place where the motto for everything seems to be "The Place's Adjectivest Noun". Drop the focus on one element, but pick and mix a little, add a sprinkle of quality, and the result is a very admirable ride.
Anyway, coasters. Most of them seem to have some sort of design idea behind them. Something that makes the coaster stand out, or at least something coherent the coaster is trying to do. Eurofighters have their drop, Colossus is all about inversions, the Strata coasters are all about speed and height, etc. For every ride out there, there seems to be some central theme it's trying to play with.
The concepts may at times be poorly executed. I bet the guy behind the Pinfari loopers once thought he had a decent concept to work off of. Somebody once had a look at Walibi Belgium's Vertigo and thought "This will draw the guests for years!". The designer of the first SLC might have felt a sting of pride for his creation. This topic makes no attempt to differentiate those from the guy who once drew El Toro and said "Guys! Airtime!". The idea is what counts, and some coasters have pretty interesting ones behind them.
What are your favourites?
Me, well, I've always had a soft spot for the bog-standard Vekoma Boomerang. A coaster smaller than a football field, yet it offers riders six inversions over the course of the ride. That's an amazingly compact roller coaster, when you think about it, and the added touch of sending riders backwards is actually quite clever. True enough, in its execution it might have failed somewhat, but I daresay the idea itself is very good. Lots of inversions and backwards riding on a very small footprint. And the layout translates flawlessly (sort of) to an inverted model.
Maverick is another one I've always admired. In a time when coasters were all about doing one thing, yet doing that thing "to the max", it was a quite refreshing ride to hit the market. It isn't trying to have the most inversions, or being the tallest, or having the fastest launch. It's far from being the biggest coaster in the world, or for that matter in the park. Yet many argue it's one of the best. It was as if the designers had a bunch of gimmicky concepts to pick from (the tallest loop, the steepest drop, the most consecutive corkscrews, or what have you), but pushed all the drawings off the table and decided to just make a good coaster. The result is a coaster with no discernible gimmick. Yeah, it launches, twice, but that is not the focus of the ride. It has a mightily steep drop, but that's hardly the centrepiece either. It does invert, but only twice (three times in its initial conception, but that isn't much either). It has a few good airtime hills, ground-swooping turns, and even a fountain, yet it isn't trying to exploit any of those or market them as its One Defining Feature And Number One Reason You Should Ride It (TM). It's simply a coaster without a gimmick, which is a welcome touch in a time and place where the motto for everything seems to be "The Place's Adjectivest Noun". Drop the focus on one element, but pick and mix a little, add a sprinkle of quality, and the result is a very admirable ride.
