Afterburn (roller coaster)

Afterburn is a steel inverted roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park. After more than two years of planning and construction, the roller coaster opened on March 20, 1999. The ride previously operated as Top Gun: The Jet Coaster, before it was renamed Afterburn following Cedar Fair's purchase of the park in 2006.

Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, Afterburn stands 113 feet (34 m) tall and reaches speeds of 62 miles per hour (100 km/h). It features a 2,956-foot-long (901 m) track and a nearly three-minute-long ride time. Afterburn has generally been well received, having been featured several times as a top 50 roller coaster in Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards.

History

In early 1997, Paramount's Carowinds began consultations with roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard about adding a new ride to their park. During 18 months of discussions, several designs and themes for the ride were developed, including theming it to the Godzilla franchise. In July 1998, the park announced the addition of Top Gun: The Jet Coaster for the 1999 season. At a cost of $10.5 million, it would be the single biggest investment in the park's history. The announcement followed Paramount Parks adding Top Gun-themed inverted and suspended roller coasters to several of their parks throughout the 1990s, including Paramount's Great America, Paramount Canada's Wonderland, and Paramount's Kings Island. To construct the attraction at Carowinds, the park's Bayern Kurve ride, Wild Bull, had to be removed. The park intended to keep the ride in storage for a potential relocation elsewhere within the park. The removal of Wild Bull shortened construction time because no trees or buildings had to be removed. Construction began in late July 1998, with the first track arriving in August. Testing was completed in January 1999.

Roller coaster

A roller coaster is an amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson obtained a patent regarding roller coasters on January 20, 1885, which were made out of wood, but this patent is considerably later than the "Russian mountains" described below. In essence a specialized railroad system, a roller coaster consists of a track that rises in designed patterns, sometimes with one or more inversions (such as vertical loops) that briefly turn the rider upside down. The track does not necessarily have to be a complete circuit, as shuttle roller coasters demonstrate. Most roller coasters have multiple cars in which passengers sit and are restrained. Two or more cars hooked together are called a train. Some roller coasters, notably wild mouse roller coasters, run with single cars.

History

Russian mountain

The oldest roller coasters are believed to have originated from the so-called "Russian Mountains", which were specially-constructed hills of ice, located in an area that would later become St. Petersburg. Built in the 17th century, the slides were built to a height of between 21 and 24 m (70 and 80 feet), consisted of a 50 degree drop, and were reinforced by wooden supports.

Afterburn

Afterburn may refer to:

Coaster

Coaster or Coasters may refer to:

Roller

The rollers are an Old World family, Coraciidae, of near passerine birds. The group gets its name from the aerial acrobatics some of these birds perform during courtship or territorial flights. Rollers resemble crows in size and build, and share the colourful appearance of kingfishers and bee-eaters, blues and pinkish or cinnamon browns predominating. The two inner front toes are connected, but not the outer one.

They are mainly insect eaters, with Eurystomus species taking their prey on the wing, and those of the genus Coracias diving from a perch to catch food items from on the ground, like giant shrikes.

Although living rollers are birds of warm climates in the Old World, fossil records show that rollers were present in North America during the Eocene. They are monogamous and nest in an unlined hole in a tree or in masonry, and lay 2–4 eggs in the tropics, 3–6 at higher latitudes. The eggs, which are white, hatch after 17–20 days, and the young remain in the nest for approximately another 30 days.