Ride Profile
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What a backdrop! The new ride makes its debut in the Swiss city of Lucerne
New coaster concept entertains European fair-goers
It's 20 years since Reverchon unleashed its Spinning Coaster on the world, and now the French ride manufacturer has a new compact coaster with a novel movement that it wants you to know about
footprint (42 x 19m) and track length (420m) as Reverchon's hit Spinning Coaster, the Wild Mouse style attraction it has supplied to more than 60 parks and travelling showmen (not to mention the 50 or so cloned versions of the ride produced by other manufacturers).
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ntertaining tens if not hundreds of thousands of fair- goers this summer in Switzerland and Germany, the TÜV-approved Drifting Coaster boasts both the same
The prototype made its debut in late April in the Swiss
city of Lucerne. German owner Mike Ahrend, whose wife is Swiss, has since travelled the ride to a further four locations in both countries including Düren, Winterhur, Bad Kreuznach and St Gallen, with a confirmed appearance planned in Basel at the end of this month. The attraction features a total of 10 four-seater cars (2+2 back-to-back), providing a theoretical hourly capacity of 850. Originally Reverchon tried out the ride vehicles on a Spinning Coaster at a park in France, but the Drifting Coaster features a new track layout specifically designed to make the most of the cars' side-to-side swinging movements, which vary according to the weight distribution of the riders. During their 120-second ride, passengers navigate a series of deep slopes, air time sections, slalom zones and 180° hairpin curves. Different layouts are available, with maximum flexibility afforded to park operators. The closest thing on the market from any other
manufacturer is the swinging coaster ride vehicle produced by Vekoma for Disney's two (Orlando and Shanghai) Seven Dwarfs Mine Train rides. Yet whilst they are primarily family rides, with a longer and completely different type of track layout, anecdotal evidence suggests the Drifting Coaster is, at least for the time being, more of a thrill ride. Certainly it delivers something of a “kick” as the cars navigate the slalom sections and, in particular, the hairpin turns. With their full co-operation, representatives from Reverchon visited Mike and Lothar Ahrend at every location on their tour this summer in order to fine tune the ride's movements.
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The
Drifting Coaster features a new track layout specifically designed to make the most of the cars' side-to- side swinging movements, which vary according to the weight distribution of the riders
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