Speed – The Ride is a

roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

in storage at Akita Plaza on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...

in Nevada. Originally located at the

Sahara Hotel and Casino The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Arctic. The name "Sahara" ...

, it opened to the public on April 28, 2000, and closed on May 1, 2011.

History

NASCAR Café (2000–2012)

Speed – The Ride was constructed during the

's 1999 remodeling, as part of the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Café addition. Original plans called for an

indoor roller coaster An indoor roller coaster or enclosed roller coaster is a roller coaster built inside a structure. The structure may be unrelated to the ride, or it may be intended solely or primarily for the ride. Many indoor coasters are custom made and place ...

with a maximum height of , but the layout was later modified. The ride was designed and manufactured by

Premier Rides Premier Rides is an amusement ride manufacturer based in the United States. The company was the first to use Linear Induction Motors (LIMs) on their roller coasters. Jim Seay has been the sole owner and company president since 1996. The firs ...

and fabricated by Intermountain Lift, Inc. The Sahara casino closed on May 16, 2011. The outdated resort had been suffering from decline and lack of upkeep in prior years. Speed – The Ride ceased operation prior to the hotel's closure on May 1, 2011. Dismantling of the coaster began in April 2012.

Akita Plaza

According to the contractor dismantling the ride, Speed was to be reinstalled at Akita Plaza, a small shopping center across the

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...

from

Mandalay Bay Mandalay Bay is a 43-story luxury resort and casino at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. It was developed by Circus Circus Enterprises and complete ...

, which also planned to add new restaurants and a concert venue. The Akita Plaza development later stalled, and Speed – The Ride remained dismantled and in storage at the site. By 2019, a portion of the ride was recycled for scrap and the rest is still in storage since December 22, 2022.

Ride experience

The ride began with a launch from the inside of the NASCAR Café, accelerating from in two seconds. The train dropped into an underground tunnel in front of the resort and then passed through a vertical loop. Afterwards, a second launch accelerated the train from in two seconds. After a quick snaking turn, the train traveled up a 224-ft (68m) tower before falling and traversing the entire course backwards. On the return trip, the second launch area decelerated the train from before traveling back through the vertical loop and the underground tunnel. The train then reached the final brake run and returned to the station.

References

External links