| Watch the on-ride POV |
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| Whirlwind in 2008 | |||||||||||
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| Statistics | |||||||||||
| Manufacturer | Maurer Rides | ||||||||||
| Product | Spinning Coaster SC2000 | ||||||||||
| Type | Steel - Spinning | ||||||||||
| Riders per train | 4 | ||||||||||
| Hourly capacity | 930 | ||||||||||
| Propulsion | Chain lift hill | ||||||||||
| Height | 50.8 feet | ||||||||||
| Top speed | 37.3 mph | ||||||||||
| Length | 1391.1 feet | ||||||||||
| Inversions | 0 | ||||||||||
| Drop angle | 50° | ||||||||||
| Duration | 1:10 | ||||||||||
| HELP | |||||||||||
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Whirlwind is a steel spinning roller coaster located at Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester, New York, USA.
History
Whirlwind was manufactured in 2000 and first operated as a travelling roller coaster with showman Frauga. At the time it was called Cyber Space and it operated in Spain. The roller coaster was seized, and later sold to Seabreeze.[1]
In December 2003, park management announced that a Maurer Rides spinning roller coaster would be installed for 2004, the park's 125th season. To make way for the new attraction, the Quantum Loop, a Soquet roller coaster installed in 1994, was removed.[2][3] Quantum Loop has since reopened as Doble Loop at Salitre Magico in Bogota, Colombia. At the time of installation, Whirlwind was the only Maurer Rides SC2000 on the East Coast, and only second in the United States.[2]
Design
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Trains
Single cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows, for a total of 4 riders per car. Each row seats passengers in bucket seats facing back-to-back with riders secured by individual between the leg lap restraints.
S-Cars
The cars are specially designed by Maurer AG and are known as the "S-Car". These cars feature a pivot bearing between the passenger car and undercarriage.[4] The pivot bearing, combined with the weight distribution in the car, allows the car to convert the centrifugal forces that are generated as it maneuvers throughout the curves of the track.[4] This gives the S-Car its unique spinning motions that change with each ride. All cars contain an on board breaking system that ensures riders are not spun at an unsafe level (Whirlwind's threshold is 20 spins per minute[2]). The breaks are released by special track sections to allow the car to freely rotate and will gradually auto engage as needed if the spinning motion approaches dangerous levels, without fully stopping or forcefully jolting riders (riders remain unaware of this feature throughout the ride).[4] The spin break is reactivated fully after the train repositions itself via bumpers at the final break run to allow smooth entrance into the loading and unloading station.[4]
References
- ↑ El caso de la montaña rusa ‘robada’ que acabó en Nueva York - El Pais
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Putting Spin on Roller Coaster". Democrat & Chronicle Newspaper - Rochester, NY.
- ↑ Seabreeze adds Maurer-Sohne Spinning Coaster for 2004 - Amusement Today (Wayback archive)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Maurer Spinning Coasters (MAURER S-Car Coaster) - SC Prospect". Maurer Rides.
External links
- Whirlwind on the Roller Coaster DataBase.
