West Coast Racers Fuels Guests’ Excitement at Six Flags Magic Mountain

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originally posted on 1/3/2020

Photo: Tom Zeliff. View full-sized image.

Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, recently introduced its latest coaster, West Coast Racers. Though announced to open in the summer of 2019, significant delays pushed the official opening to January 9, 2020. Member previews began on December 21, 2019, giving a select few a chance to ride before it opens to the general public.

Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.

Premier Rides partnered with auto body shop West Coast Customs to create the racing launch coaster. Cyclone Bay, the area in between the DC Universe and Samurai Summit, was closed for approximately one year while West Coast Racers began construction and nearby Apocalypse (Great Coasters International) underwent retracking. Now named “The Underground,” the area’s new theming includes painted asphalt streets with new gift shops, a candy store, a snack and refill station, restrooms and a taco restaurant. The white and yellow of West Coast Racers wraps around the area with 4,000 feet of track. The station for the coaster resembles the West Coast Customs auto shop in Burbank, California, featuring the shell of a sports car inside.

The famous West Coast Customs adds a fun vibe to the car theme.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.

Riders climb stairs to arrive at the station.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.

West Coast Racers includes a Möbius strip design, in which riders get two laps around the layout instead of one. The white and yellow twin tracks interact with each other 30 times with 14 crossings. A pit stop located next to the load station marks the halfway point of the ride. To begin, trains roll out from both sides and encounter a linear synchronous motor (LSM) launch, sending them into a high-five element. Although riders aren’t close enough to touch each other’s hands, the element is a strong moment of lateral ejector airtime. The white side then encounters a zero-G stall, as seen on multiple coasters by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC), including Twisted Colossus, while the yellow side turns and goes over a small airtime hill. Side by side, the trains are launched with an LSM boost and then rise through interlocking corkscrews. The white track forcefully twists and turns with a few minor pops of airtime before entering the pit stop where riders prepare to experience the yellow side. The yellow side goes through a similar spaghetti bowl but includes another corkscrew.

Photo: Tom Zeliff. View full-sized image.

Having just completed both tracks, riders transition back from yellow to the white track.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.

West Coast Racers features four inversions.
Photo: Tom Zeliff. View full-sized image.

Ryan Friedlinghaus, the CEO of West Coast Customs, helped design the trains which look like custom sports cars. Each train features two cars with three rows of two seats. The restraints consist of both lap bars and the rather unpopular comfort collars, seen on other coasters by Premier Rides such as some of the Sky Rocket II models.

The Southern California theme park already features a roller coaster with a Möbius strip design, Twisted Colossus by RMC, and a multi-launch coaster, Full Throttle by Premier Rides. Twisted Colossus, a hybrid revamp of the original Colossus is praised for its long duration, strong airtime and a plethora of elements. Full Throttle’s 160-foot loop with a top hat boldly lines the park and draws in crowds right by the entrance. West Coast Racers seems to combine the two coasters’ famous elements, yet it brings a different experience to the park’s coaster lineup. Twisted Colossus is admired for hitting all of the marks of a good coaster: lots of airtime, a long duration, inversions and a great drop. However, West Coast Racers, which is mainly based on the interaction between the two sides of the track, has more of a fun and relatively family-friendly feeling when compared with Twisted Colossus. At a maximum height of only 67 feet, the coaster stays relatively close to the ground to give riders the feeling of racing on a street.

Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.

Both trains align before the second half begins.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.

For fans of the park’s more extreme coasters, West Coast Racers may not crack Six Flags Magic Mountain’s impressive group of top tier coasters. Still, it is a unique addition to the park’s lineup with a great appeal to people of all ages. Six Flags Magic Mountain holds the record for the most roller coasters at one park, with an astounding 19. The park continues to add world-class attractions year after year, and the originality of West Coast Racers reassures fans that the park will continue to think outside the box when planning new rides for years to come.

— Maddie Glenn