| SheiKra | |
| Sheikra Roller Coaster | |
| Location | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay |
|---|---|
| Park section | Stanleyville |
| Status | Operating |
| Opened | May 21, 2005 |
| Cost | US$13,500,000 |
| Type | Steel - Dive Coaster - Floorless |
| Manufacturer | Bolliger & Mabillard |
| Model | Dive Coaster |
| Lift/launch system | Chain lift hill |
| Height | 200 ft (61 m) |
| Drop | 200 ft (61 m) |
| Length | 3,188 ft (972 m) |
| Max speed | 70 mph (110 km/h) |
| Inversions | 1 |
| Duration | 2:20 |
| Max vertical angle | 90° |
| Max G force | 5.0 |
| Height restriction | 4 ft 6 in (137 cm) |
| SheiKra at RCDB | |
| Pictures of SheiKra at RCDB | |
| Amusement Parks Portal | |
SheiKra ( /ˈʃiːkrə/) is a Bolliger and Mabillard diving machine roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. It is situated in the Stanleyville section of the park. SheiKra was the first dive machine roller coaster in North America. It is tied with Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia as the second tallest roller coaster in the southeast. SheiKra first opened in May 2005 and was converted to a floorless roller coaster two years later on June 16, 2007, following the opening of its sister coaster Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg that year. The name SheiKra is derived from a shikra, an Asian-African hawk that is known to dive straight down for its prey.
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After passengers leave the station, they climb a 47-degree 200-foot lift hill. The train then makes a U-turn and approaches the holding brake, which suspends the train for about 6 seconds on the precipice of the sheer 90-degree drop before releasing it to plummet down and into an Immelmann loop. After the Immelmann, the train takes an upward turn into the mid-course brake run before the second drop, which is at 81 degrees. The train then navigates a wide turnaround and swoops down into a water brake-splashdown area before heading up through a final helix into the brake run.
SheiKra is the first vertical-drop Bolliger and Mabillard (B&M) diving machine in the United States, and the first roller coaster with a true 90-degree vertical drop, a feature made possible with the use of specially developed spring-loaded wheels to ensure the train's fixture to the track during its descent. The previous two B&M diving machines (Oblivion at Alton Towers and Diving Machine G5 at Janfusun Fancyworld) utilized standard wheel designs and therefore have only near-vertical drops of 88.8 degrees, despite being marketed as vertical-drop roller coasters. SheiKra is also the first diving machine to include an inversion (in this case, an Immelmann Loop).
The other six B&M diving machines are Oblivion at Alton Towers in the UK, Diving Machine G5 at Janfusun Fancyworld in Taiwan, Griffon at its sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Dive Coaster at Chimelong Paradise and Diving Coaster at Happy Valley Shanghai, both in China, and Krake at Heide Park in Germany.
At 10:30 am Wednesday, January 31, 2007, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Executive Vice President and General Manager Dan Brown, Vice President of Design and Engineering Mark Rose, and Busch Entertainment Corporation Corporate Vice President of Sales & Marketing Joe Couceiro officially announced on a webcast teleconference with media outlets the floorless conversion of SheiKra and details about the conversion.
According to the press release and teleconference, the last day to experience SheiKra before the conversion would be Memorial Day, May 28, 2007. On May 29, SheiKra closed until June 16, 2007, when it reopened with new floorless hardware.[1][2]
This conversion was most likely sparked by August Busch III explaining to coaster enthusiasts about "looking at engineering taking that floor out" of SheiKra and asking if it would make the ride better, worse, or the same. Everyone who was asked replied saying it would make the ride better. Video of this event can be seen on YouTube [1], and is dated back to August 2006.
The area most affected by the conversion is the station. In the weeks leading up to the May 29 closure, the drop-out floor hardware was installed. The installation occurred at night, leaving the ride to operate normally throughout the day.
During the three weeks that the ride was closed, the trains received their floorless upgrade. The new trains make use of original hardware already used on the existing trains. The wheels, bogies, seats, and harnesses were removed and then reinstalled on new floorless chassis. This time was also used for loading new programs into the ride's computer systems for floorless operation as well as extensive testing to make sure all of the ride's safety systems were working correctly, and training of employees on ride operation and what to do in an emergency situation should the ride come to a stop and guests needed to be escorted off the ride.[2]
On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Executive Vice President and General Manager Dan Brown announced and unveiled the first converted train for SheiKra, [2] alongside Vice President of Design and Engineering Mark Rose and Director of Park Operations Mike Patrick, as well as various marketing personnel. Included was the unveiling of a countdown clock displaying the "Countdown to America's First Dive Coaster going Floorless June 16th."
On June 15, 2007, SheiKra opened to invited media outlets and special VIPs, mostly radio winners, that were allowed to be "the first to ride floorless SheiKra". The media event was followed by a special party that was thrown for the media and VIPs in SheiKra's honor to welcome the new version of the ride to Busch Gardens. The floorless version of SheiKra was met with wide praise.
On Saturday, June 16, 2007, SheiKra reopened to pass holders for a preview hour between 8 am and 9 am. At 9 am, SheiKra opened to all the public. Within the hour the queue line was full, causing ride employees to set up a temporary queue out of barricades outside the main queue line.
| Golden Ticket Awards: Best Steel Coaster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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At sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg, there is another dive coaster, Griffon, a B&M diving machine coaster which features a 205-foot vertical drop, the second tallest dive coaster in the world behind the Dive Coaster at Happy Valley (213 feet). Griffon also features two separate Immelmann inversions, a second 87-degree 130-ft drop, and a splashdown. It is the first diving machine that utilizes a floorless train with three rows of 10 seats each. On the park's website, three videos that introduce the details of the ride are available.
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