Bolliger & Mabillard
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Bolliger and Mabillard (B&M) is a roller coaster manufacturer based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in the late 1980s by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard and produced the first inverted roller coaster in 1992 [1]. Bolliger & Mabillard also features the most steel coasters on the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards for the Top 50 Steel Coasters for 2005, 21/50 coasters are B&M's. [2]
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[edit] History
The company, named after Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, first made a name for themselves in 1990 with the stand-up coaster, "Iron Wolf," located at Six Flags Great America north of Chicago. They became well known for pioneering the "inverted" coaster named "Batman: The Ride" (also located at Six Flags Great America) two years later. (An inverted roller coaster suspends passengers from an upside-down track and sends riders head-over-heels through several inversions.) B&M is also highly renowned by roller coaster enthusiasts for its "glass-smooth" rides [3].
Both Bolliger and Mabillard worked for Giovanola before founding their own company, B&M. During their time at Giovanola they helped the company design their first stand-up coaster as well as contributing to other Giovanola projects such as Z-Force at Six Flags Great America (Now Flashback at Six Flags Magic Mountain) before branching off on their own.
Their rides now include the aforementioned Stand-up and Inverted designs, as well as Hyper coasters (those coasters taller than 200 feet), Floorless coasters (where the passenger car has no floor, allowing riders legs to dangle free), Flying coasters (where riders lie on their stomachs and fly like super heroes) and a “Dive Machine” (where riders plunge from a heights in excess of 200 feet, 90 degrees straight down). Some are now to argue that the newest B&M Dive Machines "SheiKra" (located at Busch Gardens Africa) and "Griffon" (at Busch Gardens Europe) are also considered "Hyper Coasters"
[edit] Operational roller coasters
As of 2007, Bolliger and Mabillard has 67 operating roller coasters worldwide. Their 68th roller coaster, Griffon will open to the public on May 25th at Busch Gardens Europe.
Four of Bolliger and Mabillard's rides are in the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards Top Ten list [4].
See Category:Bolliger & Mabillard roller coasters
[edit] Ride styles
Bolliger and Mabillard has been involved in developing new technologies and concepts in roller coasters, including the first inverted rollercoaster, Batman: The Ride. B&M also works closely with engineers Werner Stengel.
They currently have seven different ride styles to choose from: "stand-up", "inverted", "floorless", "flying", "mega coaster", "dive machine" and "sit-down" coaster.
Bolliger and Mabillard has been renowned for its reliability, low maintenance and near-perfect safety record [citation needed]. Reportedly, when Nemesis ride engineer John Wardley, about to test the roller coaster for the first time, asked Walter Bolliger, "What if the coaster stalls? How will we get the trains back to the station?", Bolliger replied, "Our coasters never stall. They always work perfectly the first time." True to his word, the roller coaster executed its first lap of the track exactly as planned.
[edit] Features
One feature of Bolliger and Mabillard coasters that is almost universal throughout their product line, and almost exclusive to B&M, is an element known as a "pre-drop" (which is known in the industry as a "Kicker"). This is a short drop after the top of the lift hill and before the start of the first drop, designed to reduce tension on the lift chain. The flat section between the pre-drop and the first drop serves as a shelf to carry the weight of the train, reducing related stresses on the chain. By comparison, on most coasters without a pre-drop, the weight of the train as it begins its descent tends to pull on the lift chain, as the latter half of the train is still being lifted by the chain at this point.
Bolliger & Mabillard is also one of the only coaster manufacturers that uses four-abreast seating on their trains. Each car has a single row of four seats, and a train normally consists of seven to nine cars. All of their coaster models except the Diving Machine use this configuration. The Diving Machine uses eight-across seating with two or three rows of seats. However, on one of B&M's newest roller coasters, Griffon, the cars are ten seats wide, a record for a full circuit roller coaster. Most other manufacturers use two-across cars with two or three rows per car.
Another notable feature of Bolliger and Mabillard roller coasters is that they make use of box-section track: the running rails for the coaster are connected to a box-section spine, as opposed to a circular spine used by many other manufacturers. Because of this, when a train travels round the track it creates a distinctive "roar", which is unique to this style of track. Some B&M coasters, such as Talon at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom and Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure, have their track filled with sand to reduce this noise, resulting in an unusually quiet and hollow sound.
B&M generally does not use powered launches on their coasters due to perceived problems with reliability; they prefer gravity-powered rollercoasters. The only B&M launched rollercoaster in existence is The Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure, which has a pinch wheel propelled launch. Even so, this task was given to another company that specializes in powered rollercoasters.
[edit] List of B&M rides
See Category:Bolliger & Mabillard roller coasters
[edit] Overview
Since their first coaster, Iron Wolf, a stand-up coaster at Six Flags Great America, they have designed 64 more rides. They are responsible for groundbreaking rides like Batman The Ride at Six Flags Great America, the worlds first inverted looping coaster. Kumba and Montu at Busch Gardens Africa, Raptor and Mantis at Cedar Point, Top Gun at Paramount's Great America and Carowinds, Hulk Coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure, Nemesis at Alton Towers, Silver Star at Europa Park, Goliath in Montreal's La Ronde and many others. The company also built the trains for Psyclone, a wooden coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Bolliger and Mabillard was the first company to produce a coaster with a vertical drop with Oblivion at Alton Towers, England. In B&M's terms, this type of coaster is called a "dive machine". There are only three dive machines in the world as of 2006; the other two are Diving Machine G5 at Janfusun Fancyworld in Taiwan and SheiKra at Busch Gardens in Tampa. (Bolliger & Mabillard are constructing a fourth dive machine, Griffon at Busch Gardens Europe, which will be the first dive machine with floorless trains and is scheduled to open in spring 2007.)
Bolliger & Mabillard also created their own version of Vekoma's flying coaster with AIR at Alton Towers and Superman: Ultimate Flight at several Six Flags parks. Their latest flying coaster, Tatsu, opened in spring 2006 and has been widely praised.
