Blue Fire
The Blue Fire Mega Coaster (own spelling bluefire Megacoaster, often only Blue Fire ) at Europa-Park ( Rust, Baden- Württemberg, Germany ) is a steel roller coaster from the model Launched Coaster - Megacoaster the manufacturer Mack Rides, on 4 April was opened in 2009. The train was the first attraction in 2009 also newly built Icelandic theme and is the first roller coaster at Europa-Park with inversions. The trains of Bluefire be accelerated by means of a linear synchronous motor (LSM ) within 2.5 seconds at a top speed of 100 km / hr. The track is 38 meters high and has a total length of 1056 meters.
History
By 2005 a roller coaster inversion as a possible new attraction was excluded in the Europa Park, because it was felt that such a path is to be exciting and daunting for a family park. However, this changed with the announcement of the development of the Black Mamba in Phantasialand. As before, when opened in 2002, Silver Star was commissioned in addition to the quasi Europa-Park company belonging to Mack Rides, which ultimately also won the contract, several foreign manufacturers with the development of a design. After a very long compared to other railways planning phase, the foundation stone was laid on 22 October 2008. In December 2008, the last track piece was used on the loop. Blue Fire was opened on April 4, 2009.
In addition to the main planning of Mack Rides itself several works have been performed by other contractors. The Stengel optimized layout. White engineers from Freiburg drew the support of the railway and the train station and the finished LSM drive comes from the company Intrasys from Munich.
In October 2009, the theme park announced to cooperate with the Russian energy giant Gazprom now as a sponsor. The car of the roller coaster wear since the Group's logo. In 2010, a three-story events and information hall was opened on the site, the parts of the queue for the rail and includes in the company presents itself.
For the 2012 season of the Europa Park was the onboard soundtrack train exchange. The new adapted to the driving history music work dates from the composer Andreas Kübler of music production studios IMAscore. Kübler used more classical orchestral and electronic elements less compared to the previous work. In this way it would fit the roller coaster to the musical since the opening of the wooden roller coaster Wodan - to Timburcoaster from then on mainly mystical mood of the theme Iceland.
Theming
Blue Fire is located in the topic Iceland. This newly built section follows on directly to the Scandinavian. The opening was Iceland from the roller coaster, two restaurants and two shops. 2010, the so-called Gazprom was built adventure world of the eponymous sponsor at the end of the starting section. In the same year opened the adjacent Splash Battle Whale Adventures - Splash Tours. 2012 came the wooden roller coaster Wodan - added Timburcoaster. At the completed already at the opening of the main road, which runs parallel to the firing line and connects the topics Scandinavia and Portugal together, are the catering facilities and shops as Icelandic building, dressed in the manner of a fishing village, attached.
The outer portion of the track should run through the rugged landscape of Iceland. Therefore, throughout the rail sector more artificial rock formations were formed from special shotcrete, with which the web interacts several times. The rocks, in addition to the 48 tons were still built on steel frames, occupy an area of 5000 square meters.
The entrance of the queue was seen from Scandinavia originally behind Bluefire leads since the opening of the world of experience but through the building. Parts of the old queue that is created between the rails are also available for visitors who do not want to drive released as a circuit. Before the entrance and the adventure park is along the acceleration path a rock terrace that serves as a photo point for non-mobile visitors.
The normal queue starts via a pool with several fountains in the Gazprom building with its two 360 -degree cinema, then the driveway of the Horseshoe pass and finally parallel to the acceleration section in the station building. At the entrance to the queue splits into a snake for the first row and one for the rows of two to ten. The station building is designed in the style of an old warehouse or a laboratory or institution. As theming elements are, for example, several machine parts in steel cages. The first part of the ride is supposed to represent the interior of a power plant or the test area of the Institute. Since BlueFire the system of managed space allocation was introduced as a novelty for the park for the first time, there are in addition to the normal queue, a separate single -rider line, which is only intended for individual passengers, and no groups. These individuals are to prevent trips with single empty seats allocated to these seats. The separate line runs parallel to the normal to the station building.
Ride
After the train was loaded with passengers, he drives from the actual station in a left turn into a Dark Ride part. This is designed in the front of the cave with bare stone walls and several dolls as technical staff and in the back of an industrial hall with a massive ventilation system and several incinerators. The rear part of the route within the building is also the first part of the start line. The train is still within the building to a stop and an audible alarm signal in combination with electrical noise of a short circuit. Most often, just before the train even a cloud of smoke that seems to come from ventilation pipes, produced by a fog machine. Before the train is finally accelerated by the linear synchronous motor, the view is visible to the rest of acceleration distance outside the building by the fact that an installed high speed, which serves as a screen is opened.
The train accelerates at 1 G on the 80-meter long straight within about 2.5 seconds to 100 km / h It joins a Horseshoe, one on inclined 180 ° curve in combination with a hill to the left. With a height of 38 meters, the train overcomes there the highest point of the route and reached the trailing end of the web only via gravity. The vehicle comes after a short passage from an applied art rock tunnels in a 32 -meter-high looping. It closes on a Prone right curve in combination with a small hill, which ends in a long right curve and thus forms a further 180 ° turn, at the end of the elevated block brake is found on which the train can be stopped in an emergency.
After a descent that the letter S only slightly to the right and in the lower section performs similarly to the left, the train passes through a twisted horseshoe roll. This element is a combination of two corkscrew -like inversion, which are connected to each other by a 180 ° bend to the right. This is followed by a 90 ° right turn on a small hill, with transit through the interior of the loop. The train passes by a further 270 ° left turn with a Heartline Roll, a roll around the heart line, the fourth and final inversion of the web. Before the train pulls into the final brakes, nor is followed by a 180 ° right turn, which also includes the ride photo is taken, which can acquire the guest.
A driving run takes about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. It work a maximum of 3.8 G on the passengers.
Technology
Rail
The railway line made of steel is 1056 meters long and has its highest point at the apex of the Horseshoes at 38 meters. The rails are light blue and silver supports. When the rail is a Dreigurtschiene. This means that in addition to the two main tubes, on which the vehicle travels along, in addition, a third tube was added for stabilization. These main pipes are arranged in a triangle and connected together by welded steel bars. For the entire track structure, which consists of 130 pillars and 120 rail segments, about 600 tons of steel were used.
In addition to the main line there are three sidings which run parallel to the actual station in the station building, on the trains can be pushed by a movable platform in the final brakes.
The Blue Fire Mega Coaster has five trains with five cars for a total of 20 passengers. In each car four people can (two rows of two people) take place. The specially designed low-floor cars are designed so that they do not restricting panels up to a front boundary and complete almost continuously with the edge of the station, so easy getting in and out is guaranteed.
In the car, the seats are firmly screwed by massive steel beams mounted, wherein a compound in the middle of the car secured two seats each and a number. That is attached to this seat support steel construction consists of two parts: the seat and the backrest. The ergonomically shaped seat shell has on the stabilization of the thighs on the sides upwardly projecting wing, while leaning slightly back so that the passenger sits in a hollow. The backrest also encloses by laterally forwardly projecting parts of the arms of the passenger and has due to the launch acceleration yet a flat headrest.
At the level of the neck of the rest of the lap bar is mounted with its hydraulic cylinders on the paneled back, which can only move when power is supplied in the station. When open, the bracket is folded by 90 ° upwards, so that it is possible for passengers to sit facing forward in the seat. If the bracket is closed, it prevents the passengers through its special shape from falling out of the vehicle by fixing the thigh on the seat. Here, the fixed end of the headband design cushion makes a negative of the profile of the thighs of the passenger. The arrangement of the seat, the backrest of the bracket and Beug and stretching ability of human joints, it is impossible to get out of the seat bracket in the closed position. In the lap bars also a heart rate monitor and an LED display is integrated, indicating the current pulse while driving. Each individual seat has at head height, two stereo speakers, which play a special composed music while driving. On the respective central design of the previous row or the front boundary of the car each cameras are installed, record the journey. The passenger can purchase the video after the journey on DVD. The rear row of each car is to ensure a better visibility, increased slightly.
Each train has fully occupied a mass of about 10 tons. At the bottom there is a counterpart to the LSM and the eddy current brakes permanent magnets. The cars are painted blue and white. In each car, the logo of the sponsor Gazprom is painted on the side cover. The seats themselves are red, with the back side and technical panel is held every seat silver. The wheels are also red.
Drive
The trains of Blue Fire to accelerate the company Intrasys over a distance of about 80 meters from the state with about a G to 100 km / h through the use of a linear synchronous motor ( LSM). This is possible because acceleration along the lines, a number of stators is fixed. This form of acceleration on the sequence in the part in which the train is located, a traveling magnetic field which acts on the formed by the permanent magnets attached to the underside of the magnetic coating. Since different magnetic poles attract and repel same, the train travels at when synchronized with the trained traveling magnetic field and is thereby accelerated. Therefore, a very accurate system is needed to determine the position of the train in order to tune the magnetic field on the train. Even at a few millimeters difference, the acceleration is out of sync and the transmitted power is lost.
All stators that just are not within the scope of the train are shorted by default. Thus they are in a false start of the train at the same time as emergency brakes, as can be induced without the traveling magnetic field as in an eddy current brake, eddy currents, the brake the train. This ensures that the train should he not overcome the first hill, in reverse, gradually slows down and comes to a halt in the shooting house. Since the LSM modules heated by the electrical power loss converted into heat, they must be cooled by fans.
The block brake after the first part of the journey is, in contrast to other roller coasters, rather than also equipped with mechanical friction brakes or hydraulically lowered eddy current brakes with wear-free stators. By default, these are short-circuited and stop the car by the above principle of eddy current brake on when the next block system should be occupied. If the next block is free, however, a current is created as the start and the car passes through the section without loss of speed. Only two friction brakes are installed to secure the arrest of the train at the end of the braking section, as an eddy current brake alone only brake the train, but can not hold it in position.
The train is decelerated at the end of the ride in the final brakes by normal eddy current brakes.
Reception
Blue Fire was recorded mostly by the audience. In particular the new bracket system has been highlighted due to the associated freedom of the passenger. Often, however, criticized in return that the intensity or liveliness would have declined by directing the drive to family friendliness.
Due to the success in its own park Mack Rides built now two copies of Blue Fire in Sochi Park Adventureland named Dragon and the Qihe Happy World, both of which are scheduled to open in 2014.
Importance for the park
BlueFire is currently one of eleven roller coasters Europa Park. There are Wodan with only one built for her train. Due to the mix of family -friendliness and thrill is the web, which is also the only track with an inversion in the Europa Park, one of the main attractions of the park. In the opening year, 2009, the Europa Park increased its visitor numbers by 6.3 % to 4.25 million visitors. In 2010 this number was maintained, although the number of visitors fell by 1.8 % on average of the 20 most visited theme park in Europe.