Euro-Fighter

This article is about the product by Gerstlauer. For the roller coaster at Zoosafari Fasanolandia, see Eurofighter.

Typhoon at Bobbejaanland

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 another 22 have been built. The majority of Euro-Fighters are custom designed for the park, but there are also pre-designed models.

The longest and steepest Euro-Fighter to date is TMNT Shellraiser at Nickelodeon Universe in New Jersey, USA, which is also the steepest roller coaster in the world, with 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 (pictured right) which is easily recognizable.

Riders sit in single cars, seating 8 riders in two rows of four. Two exceptions are Huracan at Belantis and Dare Devil Dive at Six Flags Over Georgia, which use cars similar to Gerstlauer's launched roller coasters, searing 6 riders in three rows of two. The cars use over-the-shoulder restraints, and may be themed (to an extent) to a customer's needs. Dare Devil Dive is the first Euro-Fighter to use the new lap-bar restraints.

The Euro-Fighter can feature a wide variety of inversions, such as the vertical loop, cobra roll, immelman and heartline roll. Some recent Euro-Fighters also feature LSM launches. 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 This model was superseded by the Infinity Coaster in 2013, but Gerstlauer still sells some stock models, like the 320+ and the 1000. They even designed a new stock model named the 320, the first of which (Hydrus at Casino Pier) opened in 2017.

Variants

• 

  320+

• 

  410

• 

  600

• 

  1000

• 

  Dare Devil Dive

Installations

Name	Amusement park	Country	Model	Steepest drop	Opened	Status
Abyss	Adventure World	Australia	Custom	100°	November 1, 2013	Operating
Adrenaline Peak	Oaks Amusement Park	USA	320	97°	March 24, 2018	Operating
Dare Devil Dive	Six Flags Over Georgia	USA	Custom	95°	May 28, 2011	Operating
Eurofighter	Zoosafari Fasanolandia	Italy	Custom	97°	August 6, 2011	Operating
Falcon	Duinrell	Netherlands	320+	97°	May 14, 2009	Operating
Fluch von Novgorod	Hansa-Park	Germany	Custom	97°	April 9, 2009	Operating
Huracan	Belantis	Germany	Custom	97°	June 26, 2010	Operating
Hydrus	Casino Pier	USA	320	97°	May 6, 2017	Operating
Iron Shark	Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier	USA	380	95°	June 1, 2012	Operating
Krater	Parque del Café	Colombia	380	97°	December 19, 2014	Operating
Mystery Mine	Dollywood	USA	Custom	95°	April 13, 2007	Operating
Predator	IMG Worlds of Adventure	United Arab Emirates	320+	97°	August 31, 2016	Operating
Rage	Adventure Island	UK	320+	97°	February 10, 2007	Operating
Saw - The Ride	Thorpe Park	UK	Custom	100°	March 14, 2009	Operating
Serpent	Sindibad	Morocco	320+	97°	2015	Operating
Speed	Oakwood Theme Park	UK	Custom	97°	April 13, 2006	Operating
SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge	Nickelodeon Universe (Minnesota)	USA	Custom	Unknown	March 15, 2008	Operating
Takabisha	Fuji-Q Highland	Japan	1000	121°	July 16, 2011	Operating
Tantrum	Six Flags Darien Lake	USA	380	95°	May 25, 2018	Operating
TMNT Shellraiser	Nickelodeon Universe (New Jersey)	USA	1000	121.5°	October 25, 2019	Operating
Typhoon	Bobbejaanland	Belgium	670/8	97°	April 10, 2004	Operating
Untamed	Canobie Lake Park	USA	320+	97°	June 11, 2011	Operating
Vild-Svinet	BonBon-Land	Denmark	500/8	97°	May 16, 2003	Operating