Types of Coasters
Below is a short explanation of different types of coasters, their effects and elements and blah blah.
Wooden Coasters
Wooden Overview
Average Height: 80-100ft.
Average Speed: 50-60mph
Period Built: Early 1900s till today
Traditional Wooden - These are usually your classic coasters, and are the oldest coasters. Jack Rabbit was built in 1910 and still operates at Kennywood Park.
Signature Elements - Hills, often successive and banking
Wooden Twister - Like a traditional wooden coaster but with extreme banking at times near parallel to the ground. Roar at Six Flags America is an example of a wooden twister roller coaster.
Signature Element - Extreme Banking
Wooden Racing - A traditional coaster with two tracks that follow each other's course throughout the ride. Sometimes the courses are somewhat different other times the courses mirror each other. The Rebel Yell would be an example of a Wooden Racing roller coaster.
Wooden Dueling - Similar to a wooden racing coaster but the tracks courses crossover and interact creating near misses and flybys. Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa is an example of a wooden dueling coaster.
Steel
Steel Overview
Average Height: 120-160 ft.
Average Speed: 60-65 mph
Period Built: 1970's till today
Steel Looping - A coaster made of steel. The first type of roller coasters that successfully featured vertical loops in the mid 1970's. Later, other looping elements were added like the corkscrew and cobra roll and heights were raised to aid the coasters in completing the "tough" circuit with many coasters featuring six and seven inversions. Non-looping elements like helixes and tunnels were also added to spice up and distinguish these steel monsters. The Anaconda at Paramount's Kings Dominion and The Great Adventuren Scream Machine at Six Flags Great Adventure are two basic examples of steel looping coasters. These rides were specifically built from 1970's to the mid 90's.
Inverted - A coaster where the track is above the train, riders ride below the track in a ski lift like fashion. Inverted coasters do a lot of the same inversions that traditional coasters do but with different effects because of the different seating of the riders. For example the dropping feeling often felt in the stomach on the initial drop is not felt on inverted rides. One of the most renowned inverted coasters is Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. These rides were first built in the mid 90's and are still popping up all over the country.
Signature Elements: Batwing, Immelman
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