Golden Loop

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Golden Loop

Gold Reef City Location Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa Status Operating since 1989
Carowinds Location Charlotte, North Carolina, USA Operated May 14, 1977 to October 16, 1988
Statistics
Manufacturer	Schwarzkopf
Product	Shuttle Loop (Weight Drop)
Type	Steel - Launched - Shuttle
Riders per train	28
Propulsion	Weight drop launch
Height	137.8 feet
Top speed	57 mph
Length	863 feet
Track inversions	1
Rider inversions	2
Drop angle	70°
Duration	0:30
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Golden Loop is a Schwarzkopf launched shuttle roller coaster located at Gold Reef City in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.

The vertical loop features a triangular lattice of steel pipe. The only other operating roller coasters that use this type of Schwarzkopf loop are Katapul at Hopi Hari in São Paulo, Brazil, Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, USA, and SooperDooperLooper at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA. Later Schwarzkopf loops feature a box frame construction for the track backbone.

History

White Lightnin' opened at Carowinds on 14 May 1977. It closed on 16 October 1988. The park cited high maintenance costs and decreasing ridership as the reasons for closure. The land was used for the park's new water park. It was relocated to its current location at Gold Reef City, where it opened in 1989 as Golden Loop.

Design

Elements
Weight drop launch from 0-57 mph in 6.0 seconds Vertical loop Vertical rollback Vertical rollback

Golden Loop launches out of the station straight into a vertical loop and up a 70-degree spike. The train falls back down backwards through the loop, past the station, and up a second spike. Finally, the ride falls back down and is stopped in the station.

The trains on Golden Loop are painted the colours of the South African flag. The track was originally painted aqua but is now yellow.

Color scheme

Carowinds

White track and supports.

Gold Reef City

Yellow track and supports, used to be aqua track and supports.

Trains

Single train with 7 cars. In each car, riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows, for a total of 28 riders per train. Riders are secured by lap-bars.

Images

• 

  The rear vertical rollback

External links

• 
  Golden Loop on the Roller Coaster DataBase.

Tallest roller coaster tied with King Kobra Tidal Wave 1977 - 1978
Preceded by Giant Coaster	Tallest roller coaster tied with King Kobra Tidal Wave 1977 - 1978	Succeeded by Montezooma's Revenge

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