Hypersonic XLC was a roller coaster located at
Kings Dominion
Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, north of Richmond and south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, and features more than 60 rides, shows and att ...
in
Doswell, Virginia
Doswell is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Hanover County, Virginia, Hanover County in the Central Region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. Originally called Hanover Junction, it was located on t ...
. Hypersonic was built by
S&S Worldwide S&S may refer to:
*''Sense and Sensibility'', a novel by Jane Austen
*'' Salt and Sanctuary'', a video game
* Sword and sorcery, a subgenre of fantasy and historical fantasy
*Simon & Schuster, a publisher
*S&S Cycle
S&S Cycle is an American motorcy ...
(now S&S – Sansei Technologies), a company specializing in air-powered rides, and was the first compressed air launch coaster in the world. Hypersonic was S&S Worldwide's actual prototype for an air-launched coaster, called ''
Thrust Air 2000''.
The ride was originally fabricated by Intermountain Lift, Inc. It was reconstructed at Kings Dominion after being moved from its original location in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
. S&S Worldwide also greatly modified the section following the 90° drop to accommodate Kings Dominion's landscape and to properly bank the turn.
In 2007, Hypersonic XLC was closed and later dismantled.
History
In 1999,
S&S Worldwide S&S may refer to:
*''Sense and Sensibility'', a novel by Jane Austen
*'' Salt and Sanctuary'', a video game
* Sword and sorcery, a subgenre of fantasy and historical fantasy
*Simon & Schuster, a publisher
*S&S Cycle
S&S Cycle is an American motorcy ...
built a prototype roller coaster at their testing facility in
Logan, Utah. It was called the Thrust Air 2000 and featured a unique one-of-a-kind launch system known as a compressed air launch. The prototype featured an oval layout with a top hat. The trains featured over-the-shoulder restraints and rubber tires instead of polyurethane wheels. The polyurethane wheels would cause a lot of noise during the launch. Originally, the coaster was supposed to be built at
California's Great America, but those plans were scrapped.
On August 1, 2000, it was announced that Hypersonic XLC would be coming to Kings Dominion for the 2001 season. It would be one of the park's three launched roller coasters, with the others being
Flight of Fear
Flight of Fear is the name of two identical enclosed roller coasters located at Kings Island and Kings Dominion amusement parks. Built and designed by Premier Rides, they were the world's first launched roller coasters to feature linear inducti ...
and
Volcano: The Blast Coaster. To save on costs, the park decided to buy the Thrust Air 2000 prototype from the S&S Worldwide testing facility. The ride would have some differences from when it was originally built. These changes included lap bar restraints and a longer layout. Over 60 trucks carried the track and other components on a journey across the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
Construction of Hypersonic XLC began in October 2000 when track pieces arrived at Kings Dominion.
Hypersonic XLC officially opened to the general public on time on March 24, the first day of the 2001 season.
The attraction suffered from constant downtime, since it was a prototype. Hypersonic XLC was closed for three months during the 2002 season to undergo modifications. On June 20, 2002, the ride reopened with a few minor changes.
During the 2006-2007 off-season, Kings Dominion put Hypersonic XLC up for sale. The attraction would operate for the final time in 2007. In January 2008, the park removed Hypersonic from its web site.
On the park's opening day on March 22, 2008, Hypersonic XLC had been disassembled and was placed in its current laydown yard, along part of the park's back road.
In 2009, El Dorado took the spot of where Hypersonic XLC once stood. After its removal two years later,
WindSeeker
WindSeeker (known as SteelHawk at Worlds of Fun) is a swing ride at several Cedar Fair parks. The rides are Wind Seeker models manufactured by Mondial. They opened for the 2011 season at Canada's Wonderland in Ontario, Cedar Point and Kings ...
opened in its place in 2012.
The platform is all that remains at the ride's former location between
Grizzly
The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...
and
Twisted Timbers
Twisted Timbers is a steel roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. It originally opened as a wooden coaster named Hurler in 1994, designed and manufactured by International Coasters, Inc., with a name and layout that matc ...
.
Ride experience
After a launch from 0 to in 1.8 seconds up a 90° incline, the ride crested a hill, and without fully slowing, plummeted down a 90° dive. Next, the coaster performed a banked left turn, went through a smaller banked right turn, and skirted a small hill before heading into the brake run.
Launch system
Hypersonic XLC's launch system was comparatively new technology utilizing compressed air to launch the ride train. It is very similar to the launch system used to launch
Space Shot rides, also developed by S&S – Sansei Technologies. Characteristics of compressed air launches are shorter runways and quicker acceleration, when compared to hydraulic and
LIM/
LSM
In molecular biology, LSm proteins are a family of RNA-binding proteins found in virtually every cellular organism. LSm is a contraction of 'like Sm', because the first identified members of the LSm protein family were the Sm proteins. LSm pr ...
launch platforms.
The compressed air launch system is used on the world's fastest-accelerating ride,
Do-Dodonpa, which accelerates to in just 1.56 seconds. It was also used on
Ring Racer
Ring Racer, stylized as Ring°racer, is a Formula One-themed roller coaster which was due to open on August 15, 2009 at the Nürburgring race course as part of the Nürburgring 2009 project.
It was originally planned to accelerate from 0 to in ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hypersonic Xlc
Thrust Air 2000
Roller coasters operated by Cedar Fair
2001 establishments in Virginia
2007 disestablishments in Virginia
Former roller coasters in Virginia