Drachen Fire
| Drachen Fire | |
|---|---|
Drachen Fire in 1996
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| Busch Gardens Williamsburg | |
| Park section | Current Festhaus Park |
| Coordinates | 37°13′50″N 76°38′40″W / 37.230636°N 76.644435°WCoordinates: 37°13′50″N 76°38′40″W / 37.230636°N 76.644435°W |
| Status | Closed |
| Opening date | April 4, 1992 |
| Closing date | July 11, 1998 |
| Cost | $4,000,000 USD |
| General statistics | |
| Type | Steel |
| Manufacturer | Arrow Dynamics |
| Designer | Ron Toomer |
| Model | Custom Looping |
| Track layout | custom |
| Lift/launch system | Chain lift hill |
| Height | 150 ft (46 m) |
| Drop | 130 ft (40 m) |
| Length | 3,550 ft (1,080 m) |
| Speed | 60 mph (97 km/h) |
| Inversions | 6 (1992-1994) 5 (1995-July 11, 1998) |
| Duration | 1:46 |
| G-force | 3.7 |
| Height restriction | 48 in (122 cm) |
| Trains | 3 trains with 7 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 28 riders per train. |
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Drachen Fire at RCDB Pictures of Drachen Fire at RCDB |
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Drachen Fire was an Arrow Dynamics roller coaster that operated from 1992 to 1998 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, in Williamsburg, Virginia. It featured electric-blue track and silver supports, and was located in the Oktoberfest portion of the park, behind the Big Bad Wolf and Das Festhaus. The tagline for the ride was "Feel the Heat." The ride had three separate trains, featuring seven cars each, with each car holding passengers arranged two by two. The cars were red, with grey seats, and featured red trim lights illuminated the trains at night. Upon opening, the ride featured a 150 foot tall lift hill, six inversions, and a zero-gravity camel-back hump element. The ride was shut down in the middle of the 1998 season following a history of low ridership, and complaints of roughness.
After leaving the station, the ride made a small dip and turned 180 degrees to the left, where it entered the lift hill. At the top of the 150 foot lift, the ride made a shallow dive of around 50 feet, then entered a wraparound corkscrew which had an apex of 120 feet, before descending the remainder of a curving drop, ending up facing the opposite direction of the lift hill, and achieving a speed of 60 miles per hour. The ride then entered a first of a kind camel back hump hill, which was designed to balance the riders between positive and negative g-forces, giving a feeling of weightlessness. The ride then entered the Batwing element (cobra roll), which featured two inversion in one element. The ride then turned up an ascending hill to the left, and entered a run of Block Brakes. Next, the ride dove down into a corkscrew, then a slight left turn over the park midway into a cutback. The ride then traversed back over the midway, under the first corkscrew and entered a second corkscrew. It then quickly entered a counter-clockwise helix. Exiting the helix, the ride made a right hand turn onto a final brake run, which would then lead straight into the ride station.
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Wikipedia