Drachen Fire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Drachen Fire was a roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Opened in 1992, it stood 150 feet tall and had a top speed of 60 mph.
| Drachen Fire | |
| Location | Busch Gardens Williamsburg |
|---|---|
| Park Section | Current Black Forest site |
| Type | Steel - Sit down |
| Status | Demolished |
| Opened | April 4, 1992 |
| Closed | July 11, 1998 |
| Manufacturer | Arrow Dynamics |
| Designer | Ron Toomer |
| Model | Custom Looping |
| Lift/launch system | Chain lift hill |
| Height | 150 feet (45.7 m) |
| Drop | 140 feet (42.7 m) |
| Length | 3,550 feet (1,082 m) |
| Max speed | 60 mile per hour (96.6 km/h) |
| Inversions | 6 (1992-1994) 5 (1994-July 11,1998) |
| Cost | $4,000,000 USD |
| Drachen Fire at RCDB | |
| Pictures of Drachen Fire at RCDB | |
[edit] History
Rumors suggest that initially, Drachen Fire was to be a Bolliger and Mabillard creation, although verification of this has never been established by the park itself. It is said that Busch Entertainment had contacted the young company to build two sit-down coasters at its Busch Gardens parks in Virginia and Florida. However, B&M was busy creating two stand-up coasters for Paramount Parks (one at Great America and the other at Carowinds) and preparing to debut its first inverted coaster, Batman: the Ride at Six Flags Great America. They could deliver on their coaster for Busch Gardens Tampa (that coaster, Kumba, opened in 1993), but not for its Williamsburg sister park. Busch understood and instead handed the contract for the Williamsburg coaster to Arrow Dynamics; the concept given to the company by B&M was unlike anything Arrow had done to date. This, however, could have just been attributed to the design evolution of Arrow Dynamics. One particular problem the company faced was designing the vertical loop to wrap around the lift hill (as B&M would do for Kumba). Also, the layout proposed by Arrow was much too large and therefore they tried to incorporate everything into it in a smaller layout design. When Drachen Fire was completed it had six inversions, including several unique elements: a wraparound corkscrew midway into the first hill (first), a Batwing (more commonly referred to as a cobra roll [1] -- second and third), and a cutback (fifth). Two corkscrews, the fourth and sixth inversions, completed the inversion count.
Officially, Arrow Dynamics was contracted to build a multi-inversion coaster that featured many inversions and elements unique to anything they've done in the past. Whether or not this was due to a supposed previous contract with B&M that resulted in that company performing much of the design work or just the result of a long standing design/fabrication firm attempting something new is at this point unknown for sure. However, one thing that may tip this coaster off as originally being a design for B&M is the use of the cobra roll inversion. Drachen Fire was the only Arrow Dynamics roller coaster to feature this inversion that is seen on many B&M coasters, most notably Kumba at Busch Gardens Africa.
[edit] The Problems
From day one, Drachen Fire had numerous problems that resulted in low ridership. First, its trains were a new, more streamlined body style that made for a more uncomfortable ride than the older, standard trains. Instead of giving riders freedom of movement, the new trains boxed them in as tightly as possible. Second, Arrow designed the coaster using the center of the train as the center of gravity. In sharp contrast, B & M coasters placed the center of gravity on the riders’ hearts. Also, the coaster was placed in the back of the park with few attractions to lead people to it.
Because of complaints of roughness, the first corkscrew (inversion #4), which immediately followed the block brake, was removed after the 1994 season. Drachen Fire continued to operate without incident until it mysteriously closed July 11, 1998. According to Larry Giles, Head Engineer of the park, Drachen Fire continually failed to pass their standards on G-force limits, thus leading to the ride's ultimate closure. For the remainder of that season and for the next three seasons, it lay dormant as the park attempted—without success—to sell the coaster. A train was traveling on the track on Opening Day of 2001, testing the ride to decide whether or not to re-open it for the 2002 season. It was never re-opened. In February 2002, the coaster was torn down and its steel melted. The area where the ride was is still empty and there are rumors that say something might eventually be built in its place. Drachen Fire's loading station is still used today for Howl-O-Scream as a haunted house. It was located behind Fest Haus in the Oktoberfest section of the park.
