The new roller coaster planned for the Plopsaland amusement park at De Panne on the coast will carry pleasure-seekers at speeds of up to 95 km/h and a height of 35m, turning upside down five times along the way. Sound exciting? Well, add to that the fact that each will be spinning independently along the way – and there are no shoulder restraints.
Studio 100, the multimedia owners of the Plopsaland parks, promise that the new ride, to be named Robospinner, will be faster and more exciting than the current top attraction, Anubis the Ride.
The ride is designed by the German roller coaster specialist Mack Rides, who explain that each car is fitted with special speed and balance regulators governed by the weight distribution within each car, which means that no two cars will be spinning at the same rate at the same time.
The first Xtreme Spinning Coaster, to give it its proper name, was installed by Mack Rides at the Silver Dollar City amusement park in Missouri in the US. The park’s website has a video showing the ride on what they call Time Traveller from a passenger’s point of view. The ride has been developed further since then, with the Robospinner climbing five metres higher and travelling 14km/h faster. Only two have ever been developed.
All of Mack Rides’ roller coasters are constructed at the base in Waldkirch in Baden-Württemberg in Germany and transported worldwide. The Plopsaland ride will travel to de Panne and be open to the public in 2021.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
