Word: rollering
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From the crest of the first towering hill on the new Texas Giant roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas, riders can enjoy a glittering view of the Dallas skyline 16 miles distant. But few manage to look at it. They are staring down in horror at the gaping 14-story plunge awaiting them. As the red, white and blue cars slide slowly over the edge and then barrel down the $ 137-ft. incline at 62 m.p.h., the screaming riders begin 90 seconds of tightly orchestrated horror...
...Giant is one of a new class of faster, higher and wilder roller coasters roaring onto the amusement-park scene this summer. Far more terrifying than rides of old, the megacoasters, with names like Viper, Iron Wolf and Georgia Cyclone, employ computer technology, ultramodern materials and aerobatics to deliver a plexus punch to those brave enough to step aboard. Park operators are also souping up old coasters and bringing others out of mothballs in a race to produce the terrifying rides. A total of 176 coasters are running in the U.S., up from 147 in 1978 and the most since...
...build in every bit of fright imaginable. Riders want it," explains coaster designer Ronald Toomer. Most of the new roller coasters are constructed with tubular steel, which lends itself to loops and corkscrew twists. But a number of coaster builders are putting modern tracks and cars within a traditional latticework of wood, which provides the sense of ricketiness, danger and nostalgia that riders love. In fact, roller coasters are safer than ever. Unlike old coasters, which speed out and back over often predictable sets of hills, today's rides careen through tight turns, 60 degrees plunges and dark tunnels, sometimes...
...achieve these extremes, designers create computer-simulation models that show the effects of high speed and sudden force on the riders, the cars and the structure. This enables engineers to build roller coasters with the steepest possible inclines and most sharply banked curves to create the illusion of breakneck speed. All roller-coaster trains are actually gravity propelled after the initial chain-drawn ascent and thus steadily slow down from the first big hill onward...
...wind was blowing hard and it was raining the night that Houston bureau chief Richard Woodbury arrived at Cedar Point park in Sandusky, Ohio, for a test spin in the Magnum XL-200, the world's highest (205 ft.) and fastest (72 m.p.h.) roller coaster. Since the weather was expected to worsen, park officials insisted that they crank up Magnum for a ride right away. "Suddenly the gigantic structure was ablaze with lights," recalls Woodbury. "There was no way to argue, and so, as the wind whipped off Lake Erie, I was harnessed into the front seat of a soaking...