Intamin | Guangzhou Sunac land
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
If there was an award given for the most unique roller coaster to open in 2019, “Dueling Dragons” would be in the running. The dual steel coaster features exceptional and distinctive features, making the new ride a standout.
First, the ride is actually two separate coasters, one of them an inverted coaster and the other a sit-down coaster. Next, the tracks are actually joined at several places, not side by side, however, but back to back on an inversion and a vertical spike. Sascha Czibulka, executive vice president of Intamin Amusement Rides, notes the company is well known for all its different variations of high-profile sit-down coasters and has also executed a number of successful inverted coasters. Guangzhou Sunac Land created a unique opportunity for the joining of the two concepts.
Czibulka tells Funworld, “When the client approached us sharing their plans of two major coasters, one of them being inverted, a rather small footprint, and with a demand for something absolutely unique, the idea of a dueling coaster, with one sit-down and the other inverted trains, was born. The joint track sections, such as the loop and the (56-meter-tall) vertical spike, are owed to the desire to create something really unique and, to a certain extent also, to the available space.”
The ride’s green track carries the inverted coaster, and the red track carries the sit-down ride. The two tracks are joined at three locations, and the forward-backward-forward launch experience actually extends the distance of each track’s ride from approximately 800 meters to more than 1,000 meters.
“Utilizing Intamin’s most powerful LSM (linear synchronous motor) drive system, the trains are launched forward into the loop,” Czibulka says. “Stalling by gravity in the loop, the trains move backward into the already-passed LSM section. Launching backward, the trains picks up even more speed, reaching the vertical spike with weightless airtime. Plummeting back down, the trains pass the LSM section for the third time, accelerating right into a stunning adventure.”
Once the tracks separate, Intamin uses a staggered design of several element combinations, again making efficient use of the coaster’s footprint. In one section, two airtime hills are installed above each other, resulting in a never-before-seen airtime experience, where the inverted train flies over the sit-down train.