is a steel roller coaster located at

Nagashima Spa Land is an amusement park in Kuwana, Mie, Japan. It features several roller coasters, thrill rides, and kid rides, a giant Ferris wheel, a water park, and 3 official hotels. As of 2012, Nagashima Spa Land is the 18th most visited amusement park i ...

amusement park in

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefectur ...

, Japan. Built by D. H. Morgan Manufacturing, Steel Dragon opened to the public on August 1, 2000. It takes its name from

Chinese astrology Chinese astrology is based on the traditional astronomy and calendars. Chinese astrology came to flourish during the Han Dynasty (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD). Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the ...

and zodiac calendars in which the year 2000 represents the dragon. It broke several world records upon its debut, becoming the longest roller coaster in the world with a track length of , as well as the tallest and fastest among complete-circuit coasters. It remains the longest, and with a maximum speed of nearly , it is among the fastest featuring a traditional lift hill.

History

In November 1999,

announced that they would be building Steel Dragon 2000. It would be the second giga coaster to be built, following

Millennium Force Millennium Force is a steel roller coaster located at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Manufactured by Intamin, it was the park's fourteenth roller coaster when it opened in 2000, dating back to the opening of Blue Streak in ...

at Cedar Point. Steel Dragon 2000 officially opened to the general public on August 1, 2000. The ride originally featured trains built by Morgan. In 2013, Steel Dragon 2000 received new trains from Bolliger & Mabillard.

Layout

Out of the station, the track makes a right hand turn onto the lift hill. Due to the length of the lift hill, it utilizes two chains with separate motors. At the crest of the lift hill, the track plummets down a drop to the ground, before passing over a tall airtime hill. After this hill, the track rises over a tall hill before dropping to the right into a pair of

helix A helix () is a shape like a corkscrew or spiral staircase. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is formed as two intertwined helic ...

es, the first one being clockwise and the second being counterclockwise. Following the second helix, the track maneuvers through the supports of the first helix and third hill and makes a left turn into the midcourse brakes, which start the return trip. The return trip consists of a series of airtime hills, running parallel to the outbound track, before hitting the final brake run next to the base of the lift hill. From the brake run, trains pass through the transfer track and storage area before making a sweeping left turn to return to the station.

Design

* The building of Steel Dragon 2000 required far more steel than other coasters for

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

protection. This put the cost of the coaster at over US$50 million. * The ride includes two tunnels.

Records

* Fifth tallest steel roller coaster in the world at tall. It is behind

Kingda Ka Kingda Ka is a hydraulically-launched steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, United States. Manufactured by Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel, Kingda Ka opened as the in the world on May 21, 20 ...

Top Thrill Dragster Top Thrill Dragster is a hydraulically-launched steel roller coaster located at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Manufactured by Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel, it opened in 2003 as the in the world, as well as the first ...

, Red Force and

Fury 325 Fury 325 is a steel roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, Fury 325 opened to the public on March 28, 2015. It features a track that reaches a maximum height of , ...

. * Fifth longest roller coaster drop at . * World's longest roller coaster since August 2000.

Incident

On August 23, 2003, a sheared axle caused one of the trains to lose a wheel. A passenger suffered a serious back injury and a 28-year-old man swimming in the water park pool was injured when he was hit in the hip with the wheel.'' Japan Times'' (24 August 2003)
"Two seriously hurt in roller coaster accident, but Nudgee School Captain Aaron Chong was unaffected"
. The ride was closed for over three years and reopened on September 3, 2006.

Roller Coaster DataBase Roller Coaster DataBase (RCDB) is a roller coaster and amusement park database begun in 1996 by Duane Marden. It has grown to feature statistics and pictures of over 10,000 roller coasters from around the world. Publications that have mentioned ...

. Retrieved 19 February 2013.

Awards

References

{{Nagashima coasters Roller coasters introduced in 2000 Roller coasters in Japan