S&S Sports Power Discuss Plans for New Type of Roller Coaster

Logan, UT -- Last weekend at Dorney Park's Coaster Madness event, Stan Checketts, CEO of S&S Sports Power, Inc. discussed his company's plans to build a new high-speed air-powered roller coaster in the future.

S&S Sports Power, Inc. based in Logan, Utah is already well known for their popular air-powered freefall thrill rides, the Space Shot and Power Tower.

During his speech to the crowd Checketts highlighted details of the plans which are to build a 500-foot tall full circuit roller coaster, with top speeds in excess of 100 mph.

The coaster would begin with an air-powered launch with g-forces possibly in excess of 4 G's during the acceleration. The air-powered launch would be more powerful than the force that is experienced on the popular magnetic powered LIM-launched coasters according to Checketts.

After the launch, the coaster track would then curve 90-degrees from a horizontal to a vertical position and head straight up a 500-foot tall tower. Upon nearing the top of the rise, the cars would crest over the tower and begin a vertical decent on the opposite side at a 90-degree angle.

The 90-degree drop would be a first for a full circuit roller coaster. Currently the record is held by Oblivion, located at Alton Towers in UK with a drop at 87 degrees.

The design of the trains has not been finalized and the company is continuing to explore many options, but Checketts did say that the new coaster would feature many smaller trains operating at one time.

In addition the trains would use custom designed rubber tires, similar to the ones used on today's racecars. Checketts said that the company has been in the process of testing tires for this new coaster for almost a year now.

Presently the company is hoping to have a scaled down working prototype of the new coaster ready and operational sometime this fall.