Full Throttle is a

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

launched

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

located in Six Flags Plaza at

Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...

Valencia, California Valencia is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California. This area, with major commercial and industrial parks, straddles State Route 126 and the Santa Clara River. Development projects continue to be built in ...

. It was designed and manufactured by Premier Rides, and opened on June 22, 2013. The ride featured the world's tallest

vertical loop The generic roller coaster vertical loop, where a section of track causes the riders to complete a 360 degree turn, is the most basic of roller coaster inversions. At the top of the loop, riders are completely inverted. History The vertical ...

at when it opened, a record surpassed on January 1, 2016 when Flash opened at Lewa Adventure in

Xianyang Xianyang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now integrated into the Xi'an metrop ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It is also the first roller coaster to feature a top-hat element on top of a vertical loop.

History

In late 2012

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

-based

manufacturer Premier Rides was announced as the builder of the coaster. Construction of Full Throttle started shortly after the Log Jammer log flume was closed on October 31, 2011. In March 2012, details of a

launched roller coaster The launched roller coaster is a modern form of roller coaster. A launched coaster initiates a ride with high amounts of acceleration via one or a series of linear induction motors (LIM), linear synchronous motors (LSM), catapults, tires, chains ...

named Full Throttle were leaked to the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. On April 4, 2012, Six Flags trademarked the name Full Throttle. On August 28, 2012, Six Flags Magic Mountain officially announced Full Throttle. Along with Full Throttle there would be a new themed section to host the new coaster. In mid-November 2012, construction walls went up, blocking off the construction site in ''Six Flags Plaza''. For the new themed section, ''What the Fried?'' (restaurant) and ''Warner Bros. Kids' Club'' (theater) were demolished before the construction walls went up. By mid-December, the first pieces of Full Throttle's track had arrived on site. In late February, Full Throttle started to become vertical until April 12, 2013 when it was complete. Six Flags Magic Mountain confirmed on

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that Full Throttle would open on June 22, 2013. Later that year in November, seat belts were installed on both Full Throttle and

Goliath Goliath ( ) ''Goləyāṯ''; ar, جُليات ''Ǧulyāt'' (Christian term) or (Quranic term). is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) a ...

. A permanent covering over the loading station was also added during this time.

Ride experience

The

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

is launched from 0 to using one of the three

linear synchronous motor A linear motor is an electric motor that has had its stator and rotor "unrolled", thus, instead of producing a torque (rotation), it produces a linear force along its length. However, linear motors are not necessarily straight. Characteristicall ...

out of the

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

and enters the record-breaking giant

. Riders then enter into a high-banked curve to the right and then another to the left as they approach the second inversion, a

dive loop Roller coaster elements are the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation, such as a track, hill, loop, or turn. Variations in normal track movement that add thrill or excitement to the ride are often called "thrill elements". Comm ...

. This inversion drops down into a tunnel previously used for the park's

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...

system, where the train comes to a halt. The train is then launched backwards out of the tunnel and partially up the dive loop. Once it loses its backward momentum, the train returns forward into the tunnel and is launched out of the tunnel and straight into a high-G turn to the left. Riders then go up the

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally m ...

that is located on top of the loop. Riders drop from the hill and reach the

brake run A brake run on a roller coaster is any section of track meant to slow or stop a roller coaster train. Brake runs may be located anywhere along the circuit of a coaster and may be designed to bring the train to a complete halt or to simply adjust ...

before entering a 180-degree turn to the left back into the station. Duration of the ride is under one minute. SFMM-_Full_Throttle_2

Trains

The train is configured in a 2 trains with 3 cars per train layout. Riders are arranged 2 across in 3 rows for a total of 18 riders per train. The roller coaster configuration makes the capacity of 800 riders per hour.

Plaza and station

Full Throttle's station was once open aired, but shade has since been placed over the station. Its theme is unlike other coasters in the park. In front of the station is a dining area and gift shop in a building with "Full Throttle" badging. There is also a stage where dance parties are often held featuring a DJ, drum player, and "Full Throttle dancers."

Reception

Upon its building, Full Throttle received positive reviews from critics. Brady MacDonald of the ''

'' states, "you ride Full Throttle and there's only one reaction: wow". MacDonald claims the ride starts "silky smooth and whisper quiet" and launches as a "rocket-fast launch". MacDonald criticized the activation of the brakes as the train descends the top hat.

Records

Upon debut, Full Throttle surpassed Superman: Krypton Coaster at

Six Flags Fiesta Texas Six Flags Fiesta Texas, formerly known simply as Fiesta Texas, is a theme park located in Northwest San Antonio. It opened on March 14, 1992, in the La Cantera, San Antonio, La Cantera master-planned development and district as the first busines ...

for the tallest vertical loop on a roller coaster. In January 2016 the record was conceded to Mack-manufactured Flash at Lewa Adventure amusement park located in China. However, Full Throttle's loop remains the tallest loop in North America. It has the first top hat attached directly on top of the vertical loop. no other looping roller-coaster has this type of top hat.

Awards

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Six Flags Magic Mountain Roller coasters introduced in 2013 Roller coasters in California Roller coasters operated by Six Flags 2013 establishments in California