Switchback (ZDT's Amusement Park)

Roller coaster in the United States
Watch the on-ride POV
Switchback
ZDT's Amusement Park
Location Seguin, Texas, USA
Status Operating since October 17, 2015
Statistics
Builder Gravitykraft Corporation
Designer / calculations The Gravity Group, LLC
Type Wooden - Shuttle
Riders per train 8
Propulsion Chain lift hill
Height 64 feet
Drop 56 feet
Top speed 41 mph
Length 1196 feet
Inversions 0
Drop angle 87°
HELP

Switchback is a wooden roller coaster located at ZDT's Amusement Park in Seguin, Texas, USA. It is the first, and currently only, modern wooden shuttle roller coaster.[1]

History

The ride was announced at IAAPA on November 18, 2014.[1] It opened to the public on October 17, 2015.[2]

Design

Elements

While Switchback has 1,196 feet of track, the train travels over 1,980 feet of track per cycle. The ride has a spike with a maximum angle of 87 degrees. There are nine airtime points and a maximum bank angle of 104 degrees.

Switchback makes two passes through a building, which was formerly a small grocery store.

Ride experience

After rolling out of the station, the train makes a right turn and climbs the chain lift hill, followed by a drop. Riders go past a tunnel, which was a former small grocery store and a 104 degree over-banked curve. The train goes through a second tunnel and an airtime hill. Following a left turn, riders ascend a vertical rollback. The train completes the circuit in reverse, before slowing down on the brakes after the drop. Riders move through a switch track, followed by a left turn that returns to the station.

Trains

2 trains with 4 cars per train. In each car, riders are arranged 2 across in a single row, for a total of 8 riders per train. The front car of Switchback was on show at Gravity Group's IAAPA 2014 booth. The trains have a locomotive theme.

Images

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Switchback at ZDT's Amusement Park". Coaster101.
  2. "ZDT's Amusement Park in Seguin opening world's steepest wooden coaster this weekend". MySA.

External links