MAURER Söhne about to build its third X-Car Coaster for Parques Reunidos in Madrid
Munich/Madrid. The new coaster destined for Parques Reunidos is partly modelled on an installation in the alpine region Allgäu in Southern Germany, a popular coaster and shining example having had effects as far-reaching as Madrid. In March, this coaster - named SkyWheel - was opened to the public in Bad Wörishofen: It is the world's first inverted ride where passengers can do without shoulder restraints, offering the highest inversion worldwide. Now, MAURER Söhne is building the second "SkyWheel" for Parques Reunidos in Madrid, whereby the Munich-based roller coaster experts have far more on offer than a replica. Apart from the sensational Wheel with inversion, "SkyWheel + Extension" comprises quite a series of further attractive ride elements and can be extended even more.
It is not the first cooperation between the Munich and the Madrilenian company. On 13th May, the new ride "Tarantula" is set to open at the leisure park "Parque de Atracciones", owned by the Spanish group Parques Reunidos S.A.. While the first guests enjoy themselves in the new Spinning Coaster, the plannings for the Extension Wheel are running at full speed. A visit to the SkyWheel at Bad Wörishofen finally helped the Madrilenians in their decision to go for the MAURER coaster, as the SkyWheel's appearance and the ride experience were too convincing!
The new attention-attracting ride is based on the innovative MAURER X-Car, the world's first roller coaster car to allow inverted ride elements without shoulder restraints. In Madrid, the X-Car is going to race along the tracks as tandem, each with six seats.
Vertical Lift with Reverse Loop
The SkyWheel experience equates a concentration of great fun within the shortest time: Right after the station, the X-Car-Tandem leaves for a vertical ascent to a height of 46 m where it performs a gut-wrenchingly slow quarter loop backwards, inspired by the aerobatics figure "humpty bump lift". Subjected to a force of –1g, the passengers hang upside down at a dizzying height, secured only by a hip restraint. The humpty bump is followed instantly by a 360° corkscrew (heart roll) and a plummeting vertical drop at 105 km/h.
Now, the station becomes visible. However, in contrast to the ride at Allgäu Skyline Park, in Madrid the passengers will race past the station, right into the extensions which offer more exciting ride elements. Once more, the riders' sense of orientation is challenged by an inverted ride element ("half cuban eight"), followed by an extremely high and steep camelback, with an airtime of more than 2 seconds to relish, as well as lifting forces of up to –1g. Remember, all that happens in the X-Car which means without shoulder restraints, only secured by a hip bar. This is followed by an immelmann turn with 127° banking, laid out as inversion. Just before the station, riders can once more enjoy a half Camelback with 1 sec. airtime.
Even the entry into the station is not as simple as one might think: first of all, the X-Car-Tandem rushes through the station, enters the lift again, makes its way up and comes to a standstill during the vertical ascent. For a short time, the car is blocked by a catch brake, before it finally travels back to the station via the chain lift.
The SkyWheel + Extension combines the extraordinary height of the SkyWheel ("highest inversion worldwide") with unique and eventful ride elements, resulting in a thrill coaster which satisfies any desires in view of the ride experience. Another remarkable aspect is the ride's relatively small footprint which saves a lot of space and costs. Another extension has been taken into account: With extension 2, the coaster can be expanded by including further ride elements, up to a capacity of more than 1000 pph and a track length of more than 1000 m.
Technical Data