Nitro (roller coaster)

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Nitro
Nitro
Location	Six Flags Great Adventure
Park Section	Movietown
Type	Steel
Status	Open
Opened	April 7, 2001
Manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
Model	Mega Coaster
Track layout	L-shaped Out and Back
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	230 feet (70.1 m)
Drop	215 feet (65.5 m)
Length	5,394 feet (1,644.1 m)
Max speed	80 mile per hour (128.7 km/h)
Duration	2:20
Max Vertical Angle	66 degrees
Nitro at RCDB
Pictures of Nitro at RCDB

Nitro is a steel roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. It was opened in the spring 2001 and was the tallest, fastest roller coaster in New Jersey at the time (this title now belongs to Kingda Ka, which can also be found in Six Flags Great Adventure), as well as the tallest on the East Coast of the United States.

[edit] The ride

Nitro's entrance

Nitro lasts approximately 2 minutes and 20 seconds, as the track is over a mile long. Although there are no inversions, the ride features six camelbacks, a hammer head turn and a 540-degree helix. Nitro starts off with a 230 foot climb and then drops 215 feet at 66 degrees, reaching top speeds of 80 mph before shooting up a second hill and then diving down to the left through a 130 foot airtime hill. After that, riders soar into a tight U-turn to the right called the Hammerhead. After that, Nitro goes through another airtime hill before being shot into an S-curve and then a double helix. After the trim/safety block brakes, Nitro goes through four airtime hills before returning to the station. The front row gives an almost unparalleled view and smoothness, but the back row gives you the most airtime throughout the ride, especially at the top of the first drop and the dive off the mid-course brake run. The roller coaster track colors are pink and yellow, with blue support beams. This ride is very similar to Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America and Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens.

Nitro is currently the second steepest lifted (as opposed to launched) roller coaster in the park, behind El Toro's 76 degree first drop.

The coaster used to feature signs up the lift hill which compared points on the hill to other tall structures, such as Niagara Falls; these signs were later removed. The ride continues to be a popular, with long wait times, although the line normally moves quickly because of the trains' high capacity and ease of dispatch. It now has a reputation as the most reliable ride in the park.

[edit] Trains and station

Nitro's test seat, with the restraint in the highest position that will allow the train to be dispatched.

Nitro features open, side-less trains with individual lapbar restraints. There are a total of 3 trains, and each train seats 4 across and has 9 rows for a total of 36 seats.

Nitro's trains can be loaded and checked extremely quickly, resulting in very high capacity with all 3 trains running. There are two main reasons for this:

• There is no "backup restraint" that must be checked. Most roller coasters have some sort of seat belt (either on the rider's lap or holding the main restraint down) that serves as a safety device in case the main restraint unlocks.
• Nothing needs to move out of the way before the train dispatches and after the train advances into the station. This is not the case on most of B&M's other coaster models. For example, on their flying coaster, the floor descends and the seats flip into flying position before the train begins to move. On floorless and inverted coasters, a sort of gate in front of the trains must swing open in addition to the floor moving.

Nitro's queue area consists of a single large switchback area followed by a long path before climbing the stairs into the station. Despite being one of the most popular coasters in the park, the queue rarely stretches all the way back to the switchback, especially if all 3 trains are running.

[edit] Other notes

One of Nitro's differences from other Bolliger & Mabillard coasters is the lack of Bolliger & Mabillard's signature pre-drop, which is used on nearly all of their coasters. This is a short drop onto a flat section of track before the main first drop. It is used to relieve tension on the lift chain, as without a pre-drop, the train will pull on the lift chain as it begins to go down the first drop.

Nitro's on-ride camera was previously located at the bottom of the second drop, but it was recently moved to the bottom of the first drop.