Carolina Cyclone

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Carolina Cyclone

A train leaving the second vertical loop

Carowinds
Location	Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Coordinates	35°06′15″N 80°56′37″W / 35.10425°N 80.943607°W / 35.10425; -80.943607
Section	Carolina Boardwalk
Status	Operating since March 22, 1980
Cost	$2,000,000 USD
Rider height	48 inch minimum

Statistics

Manufacturer

Arrow Development

Product

Custom Looping Coaster

Type

Steel

Track layout

Double loop and corkscrew

Riders per train

28

Hourly capacity

1600

Propulsion

Chain lift hill

Height

95 feet

Drop

65 feet

Top speed

41 mph

Length

2100 feet

Inversions

4

Duration

1:30

Carolina Cyclone is a steel roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. Opened on March 22, 1980, it was built by Arrow Development and was the first coaster to feature four inversions,^[1] as well as being the first coaster with the double loop corkscrew layout.

History

Carolina Cyclone opened on March 22, 1980.

The ride was repainted with multiple different colors for the 2010 season.^[2]

In 2020, the outer shells of the trains were replaced with ones from Vortex at Kings Island, which closed in 2019. As Carowinds would not open at all in 2020, the refurbished trains debuted in 2021.^[3]

During the 2021-2022 off-season, Carolina Cyclone was once again repainted.^[4]^[5]

Design

Elements
Chain lift hill Pre-Drop Vertical loop Vertical loop Double corkscrew Helix

Park guests can walk underneath the double corkscrew.

Color scheme

Teal track and white supports. The ride previously featured blue track on the final brake run, first turn and lift hill, with orange track on the rest of the track, and yellow on the inversions, with the supports being blue. The ride's color scheme before that featured blue track and black supports.

Trains

2 trains with 7 cars per train. In each car, riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows, for a total of 28 riders per train.

Images

Carolina Cyclone in 1995
The entrance sign
View from the backstage area

References

↑ Carowinds website information
↑ Stilwell, Andrew (March 3, 2020). "40 Facts to Celebrate 40 Years of Carowinds' Carolina Cyclone". Coaster101. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
↑ "Carolina Re-Cyclone: Creating new trains from an old classic". Carowinds.
↑ Stilwell, Andrew (December 15, 2021). "WinterFest Returns to Carowinds; Here's What We Saw!". Coaster101. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
↑ "Refresh of Carolina Cyclone for the 2022 Season". Carowinds.

External links

Carolina Cyclone on the Roller Coaster DataBase.

Carolina Cyclone on Coaster-Count.
Carolina Cyclone on carowinds.com.

Most inversions on a roller coaster (4) tied with Demon, Demon, and Python March 1980 - May 1982
Preceded by Corkscrew	Most inversions on a roller coaster (4) tied with Demon, Demon, and Python March 1980 - May 1982	Succeeded by Viper

Present

Coasters

Afterburn Carolina Cyclone Carolina Goldrusher Copperhead Strike Flying Cobras Fury 325 Hurler Kiddy Hawk Ricochet Snoopy's Racing Railway Thunder Striker Vortex Wilderness Run Woodstock Express

Former

Coasters

Flying Super Saturator Nighthawk Thunder Road White Lightnin'

[1] Carowinds website information

[Coaster101-2] Stilwell, Andrew (March 3, 2020). "40 Facts to Celebrate 40 Years of Carowinds' Carolina Cyclone". Coaster101. Retrieved February 10, 2022.

[3] "Carolina Re-Cyclone: Creating new trains from an old classic". Carowinds.

[4] Stilwell, Andrew (December 15, 2021). "WinterFest Returns to Carowinds; Here's What We Saw!". Coaster101. Retrieved January 19, 2022.

[5] "Refresh of Carolina Cyclone for the 2022 Season". Carowinds.

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