Euro-Fighter

Euro-Fighter

Euro-Fighters are known for their Vertical chain lift
Status	In production
Number built	28
First built	Vild-Svinet (16 May 2003)
Latest built	Drakon (2026)
Rider height	Minimum: 120 cm Min. unaccompanied: 140 cm
Statistics
Manufacturer	Gerstlauer, Germany
Type	Steel
Riders per train	8
Propulsion	Vertical chain lift LSM launch
Top speed	110 km/h
G-Force	5

The Euro-Fighter is a popular steel roller coaster design built by Gerstlauer. The first installation was Vild-Svinet at BonBon-Land in Denmark, and since then many more have been built. It is currently the Gerstlauer coaster model with the most installations. It was originally called the Tsunami Coaster in English.^[1] This was changed in 2005, with the ride now using the German name Euro-Fighter.^[2]

The Euro-Fighter model holds a record for steepest roller coaster in the world with TMNT Shellraiser at Nickelodeon Universe in New Jersey, USA. It features a 121.5 degree drop.

Design

The main characteristic of the model line is its 'beyond vertical' drop, which reaches angles of over 90 degrees. Also, the lift hill is vertical and precedes the drop, forming a tower which is easily recognizable.

The Euro-Fighter can feature a wide variety of inversions, such as the vertical loop, cobra roll, immelman and heartline roll. Some Euro-Fighters also feature LSM launches, the first one debuting on Fluch von Novgorod in 2009. It has since been featured on 2 more installations. Gerstlauer have also introduced new inversions with the Euro-Fighter, such as the banana roll. This model was superseded by the Infinity Coaster in 2013, with the Euro-Fighter becoming a cheaper and compacter alternative to the Infinity.

Cars

5 different types of cars have been used on the Euro-Fighter, with certain small differences between either ones. No official names have been given to these train types, thus they will be refereed to as either an OTSR (over-the-shoulder restraints) or LB (lap bars) to make it easy to differentiatie.

The first cars (OTSR1) featured bulky cars divided in two halves through the middle, making them capable of manouvering tighter turns compared to a solid car. This car seats 8 riders in two rows of four, and this will be true for all revision unless stated otherwise.

The first revision of these cars (OTSR2) came with Saw - The Ride in 2009. These trains where a bit more open compared to the OTSR1, with an open front and no side panels next to the seats.

The third set of cars (OTSR3) are the same cars as those on Gerstlauer's Launch Coaster model, seating 6 riders in three rows of two. They are only found on Huracan which opened in 2010, this is most likely due to the discontinuation of the launch coaster model at the time, with Gerstlauer having some leftover cars in stock.

The first lap bar train (LB1) came only a year later, and premiered on Dare Devil Dive in 2011. It is essentially the same train as OTSR3, but with lap bars instead of over-the-shoulder restraints. It never featured on another coaster apart from Dare Devil Dive.

The second type of lap bar car (LB2) debuted in 2012 on Iron Shark. This design is a combination of the front from OTSR1 and the side of OTSR2 but featuring lap bars instead.

The debut of Hydrus in 2017 saw the premiere of the third type of Lap bar car (LB3). This car is almost completely open and thus features shin-guards to protect riders legs from hitting the track. This car is very similair to the trains on the Infinity Coaster but not identical.

Layouts

All models debuted as a custom layout before ending up in the catalog, allowing other parks to purchase the same layout. This phenomenon happens with every Gerstlauer model. A few of the earlier layouts, such as the 500/8 are not included in this list. This is due to them lacking a 3D render to show off. But these layouts have since been discontinued regardless.

Notes

The + on the 320+ layout refrences the addition of a helix to the otherwise same layout.
The two installations of the 1000m layout both feature a different vertical angle after the vertical lift.
1000m is the only standard layout to feature a launch.

	320m	320+m	380m	410m	440m	600m	1000m

Length	320 metres	361 metres	380 metres	418 metres	440 metres	600 metres	1000 metres
Height	23 metres	22 metres	30 metres	22.7 metres	27 metres	35 metres	43 metres
Speed	72 km/h	70 km/h	83 km/h	70 km/h	80 km/h	95 km/h	100 km/h
No. build	2	5	3	1	1	1	2
Status	In production	Discontinued	In production	Discontinued	In production	Discontinued	In production

Installations

Name	Amusement park	Country	Model	Angle	Cars	Opened	Status
Vild-Svinet	BonBon-Land	Denmark	500/8	97°	OTSR1	May 16, 2003	Operating
Typhoon	Bobbejaanland	Belgium	670/8	97°	OTSR1	April 10, 2004	Operating
Speed: No Limits	Oakwood Theme Park	UK	600	97°	OTSR1	April 13, 2006	Standing but not operating
Rage	Adventure Island	UK	320+	97°	OTSR1	February 10, 2007	Operating
Mystery Mine	Dollywood	USA	Custom	95°	OTSR1	April 13, 2007	Operating
SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge	Nickelodeon Universe Mall of America	USA	410	97°	OTSR1	March 15, 2008	Operating
Saw - The Ride	Thorpe Park	UK	Custom	100°	OTSR2	March 14, 2009	Operating
Flucht von Novgorod	Hansa-Park	Germany	Custom	97°	OTSR2	April 9, 2009	Operating
Falcon	Duinrell	Netherlands	320+	97°	OTSR1	May 14, 2009	Operating
Huracan	Belantis	Germany	Custom	97°	OTSR3	June 26, 2010	Operating
Dare Devil Dive	Six Flags Over Georgia	USA	Custom	95°	LB1	May 28, 2011	Operating
Untamed	Canobie Lake Park	USA	320+	97°	OTSR1	June 11, 2011	Operating
Takabisha	Fuji-Q Highland	Japan	1000	121°	OTSR1	July 16, 2011	Operating
Eurofigther	Zoosafari Fasanolandia	Italy	Custom	97°	OTSR1	August 6, 2011	Operating
Iron Shark	Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier	USA	380	95°	LB2	June 1, 2012	Operating
Abyss	Adventure World	Australia	Custom	100°	OTSR2	November 1, 2013	Operating
Krater	Parque del Café	Colombia	380	97°	LB2	December 19, 2014	Operating
Serpent	Sindibad	Morocco	320+	97°	OTSR1	2015	Operating
Predator	IMG Worlds of Adventure	UAE	320+	97°	OTSR1	August 31, 2016	Operating
Hydrus	Casino Pier	USA	320	97°	LB3	May 6, 2017	Operating
Adrenaline Peak	Oaks Amusement Park	USA	320	97°	LB3	March 24, 2018	Operating
Tantrum	Six Flags Darien Lake	USA	380	95°	LB3	May 25, 2018	Operating
TMNT Shellraiser	Nickelodeon Universe American Dream	USA	1000	121.5°	OTSR1	2019	Standing but not operating
Vertika	La Recre de 3 Cures	France	440	91°	OTSR1	June 6, 2020	Operating
Defiance	Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park	USA	Custom	102.3°	OTSR2	July 1, 2022	Operating
Vindfald	Tivoli Friheden	Denmark	Custom	97°	OTSR1	May 18, 2024	Operating
Zéphyr	Parc Ange Michel	France	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	2025	Under construction
Drakon	Paultons Park	UK	Custom	Unknown	OTSR1	2026	Under construction

Records

These are the records for just operating Euro-Fighters in a vacuum. It will only show the top 3.

Height

Rank	Height	Name	Amusement park	Location	Record Held
1st	43 metres	Takabisha	Fuji-Q Highland	Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan	2011-Present
2nd	40 metres	Flucht von Novgorod	Hansa-Park	Sierksdorf, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany	2009-2011
3rd	32 metres	Huracan	Belantis	Leipzig, Saxony, Germany	N/A

Length

Rank	Length	Name	Amusement park	Location	Record held
1st	1000 metres	Takabisha	Fuji-Q Highland	Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan	2011-Present
2nd	750 metres	Flucht von Novgorod	Hansa-Park	Sierksdorf, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany	April 2009-2011
3rd	680 metres	Saw - The Ride	Thorpe Park	Chertsey, Surrey, England, UK	March 2009-April 2009

Speed

Rank	Top speed	Name	Park	Location	Record held
1st	100 km/h	Flucht von Novgorod	Hansa-Park	Sierksdorf, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany	April 2009-Present
1st	100 km/h	Takabisha	Fuji-Q Highland	Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan	N/A
2nd	90 km/h	Defiance	Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park	Glenwood Springs, Colorado, USA	N/A
3rd	88.5 km/h	Saw - The Ride	Thorpe Park	Chertsey, Surrey, England, UK	March 2009-April 2009

Inversions

Rank	Amount	Name	Park	Location	Record held
1st	7	Takabisha	Fuji-Q Highland	Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan	2011-Present
2nd	5	Huracan	Belantis	Leipzig, Saxony, Germany	2010-2011
3rd	4	Typhoon	Bobbejaanland	Lichtaart, Antwerp, Flemish Region, Belgium	2004-2010