originally posted on 3/19/2021
Rendering Courtesy S&S-Sansei. View full-sized image.
As the world slowly begins to unwind from the global health crisis, delayed projects are starting to wrap up. Following the announcement of the pandemic, workers from S&S-Sansei were unable to return to China to complete the company’s latest Air Launch Coaster.
Window of the World (Changsha, Hunan) is the largest theme park in central China and attracts year-round visitors. The park’s offerings are multifaceted, and the ride area has seen recent renovation. The final component to be completed is the area’s most dramatic. Management sought out S&S-Sansei after seeing the company’s other Air Launch Coasters in the country. While this won’t be the largest of this breed, it will be the first to feature inversions — three.
Courtesy S&S-Sansei. View full-sized image.
The name of the new ride is still unknown. It takes the place of a previous looping coaster. High Altitude Rolling Sliding Coaster was closed in 2016. It was supplied by a company not familiar to most ACEers, Hebei Zhongye Metallurgical Equipment Manufacturing Co. Having seen the excitement of other launched coasters by S&S, management wanted that thrill for this park. The challenge? The former ride was relatively compact and there wasn’t a large expanse of real estate for an extensive launch. Inversions are sure to make up for slightly lower speeds. While most of the other S&S launched installations in China reach about 83 mph, this new project is expected to hit 62 mph.
That isn’t necessarily a shortcoming. The launch is still expected to pack a powerful punch, but the coaster does things the others don’t. It was designed by Joe Draves, whose maneuvers were seen on The Steel Curtain at Kennywood (West Mifflin, Pennsylvania) and Maxx Force at Six Flags Great America (Gurnee, Illinois). The limitations of the ride’s site became the catalyst to make the ride that much more creative.
Shared supports and low-to-the-ground elements should emphasize a sense of speed.
Courtesy S&S-Sansei. View full-sized image.
“The entire ride is a spaghetti bowl in the old footprint of the looping coaster that used to be there. They wanted it to fit that space, and we told them this is the length of launch we can give you, but we can jumble up everything else on the footers. There is significant structure sharing on it,” Draves said.
Within that shared space are 10 elements, three of which are inversions: a dive loop and two zero-G rolls. The other maneuvers are a top hat element, airtime hills and wildly banked turns — many of which are taken close to the ground — all snarled together. From what enthusiasts love, this ride stands far superior to the loop-and-corkscrew ride that existed in the space before.
It will be the fifth Air Launch Coaster from S&S in China. Two trains will seat 20 on this project.
The S&S team was permitted to return this month so that the half-finished installation can be completed, hopefully by the end of the summer.
— Tim Baldwin, ACE News Editor
The new coaster replaces this previous loop-and-corkscrew coaster at the park.
Photo: Lisa Scheinin. View full-sized image.
@#$%&!
#ACENews