Tsunami (Isla San Marcos Parque Temático)
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| Manufacturer | Schwarzkopf | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Designer / calculations | Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type | Steel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Riders per train | 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hourly capacity | 720 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Propulsion | Booster wheel lift hill | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 34 metres | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Drop | 30 metres | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed | 95 km/h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Inversions | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Drop angle | 70° | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tsunami is a steel roller coaster located at Isla San Marcos Parque Temático in Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico.
History
The ride was purchased by German showman Oscar Bruch. It debuted as the Thriller on 17 May 1986 at a fairground in Freiburg, Germany.
The ride traveled the German fair circuit, and operated at Gröna Lund on loan in 1996 before being purchased by Six Flags and sent to Six Flags AstroWorld in Houston, Texas, USA. It opened as Taz's Texas Tornado on March 14, 1998, named after the Looney Tunes character Tasmanian Devil.[1] The ride was built on the former site of SkyScreamer, which closed the previous year.
In 1999, the name was shortened to Texas Tornado. The maximum number of trains was reduced from five to four and new anti-rollbacks were installed.[2]
In November 2000, new trains for the coaster were displayed at the IAAPA Expo in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.[3]
When Six Flags AstroWorld opened for the 2001 season on 10 March, the ride closed after less than a day due to widespread complaints about the shoulder restraints on the new trains.[3]
After being left standing but not operating during the rest of the 2001 season and all of the 2002 season, the ride was dismantled and removed from the park.[4] Swat and Diablo Falls were installed on its former site in 2003 to celebrate Six Flags AstroWorld's 35th anniversary.[5]
Various modifications were made to the roller coaster by Premier Rides, the most significant of which was increasing the elevation of the first two loops. This reduced both the g-force experienced in the first two inversions and the top speed of the ride. The ride was then constructed by Valley Iron[6] and opened at Six Flags Marine World on 25 April 2003 on a former car park. It was called Zonga, which is Swahili for coil or loop. It closed in August 2004 after again experiencing issues, and sat standing but not operating until May 2006, when it was disassembled and stored in the park's parking lot, being put up for sale.
In December 2006, the ride was sold to Isla San Marcos Parque Temático in Mexico with the pieces removed from the park's parking lot by January 2007.[7] It reopened in Mexico on 27 April 2008 as Tsunami, operating until around 2013-2014. Back at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, the former Zonga station was reused for an extended queue area and an electrical room for Pandemonium and its successor Superman Ultimate Flight.[8]
Tsunami was not believed to have operated during the 2015 season and the ride began to be removed in February 2016.
In late 2013, it was announced that the ride had been sold to Skyline Park in Germany and was planned to reopen in 2016 after a refurbishment.[9] These plans were cancelled after upgrades to the ride, necessary for meeting German safety regulations, were deemed too expensive.[10] The coaster sat in storage until being scrapped in 2021.
Design
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Trains
Single train with 5 cars. In each car, riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows, for a total of 20 riders per train. When it was first built, the ride has five trains.
References
- ↑ Stansbury, Robin (1998-03-15). "New rides for the strong of stomach". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on 2021-07-08. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
- ↑ "Timeline". Six Flags Houston.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Astroworld News and Rumors". Six Flags Houston.
- ↑ "Six Flags Parks A-E". Screamscape.
- ↑ "Two New Thrill Rides Announced For Six Flags Astroworld". Ultimate Roller Coaster.
- ↑ Projects - Valley Iron
- ↑ "Six Flags Discovery Kingdom". Screamscape.
- ↑ "Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Opens for 2012". NewsPlusNotes. 2012-03-19.
- ↑ Skyline Park remains the largest extension - Augsburger Allgemeine (German)
- ↑ Schwarzkopf Coaster Net
External links
- Tsunami on the Roller Coaster DataBase.
