Tarzan: The Ride

Andrew Casper

Introduction

Suspended roller coasters, with their overhead tracks, wild swinging, and high- speed turns offer incredibly exciting rides without relying on sheer speed or other gimmicks to sell a great experience. Pioneered by in the 1980s and 90s, many of these coasters are considered beloved classics by both casual riders as well as enthusiasts. Since Arrow Dynamics dissolved in 2002, few new suspended coasters have been built, and in recent years many beloved Arrow Coasters have had to shut down as they reach the end of their service lives, often over the protests of fans. The suspended coasters that have been built tend to be low speed, low capacity, and short. Arrow no longer exists, but has some experience with suspended coasters, and has the capability to complete this project. This presents Six Flags with a unique opportunity to exploit this hole in the market. We propose filling that hole by bringing the suspended roller coaster into the 21st century, while preserving the elements that make them great.

Concept

Our roller coaster concept takes from what Arrow built and expands upon it with a longer, taller, and faster experience. It is unique in other ways, including its theming, which aims to evoke the wild adventures of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character Tarzan.

Many Arrow suspended coasters are known for using the terrain of their parks to their advantage, namely hills, water elements, and trees. The unique suspended position of the cars below the tracks allows riders to feel closer to these elements, while also amplifying riders’ perceived speeds.

Eagle Fortress of South Korea’s Everland is one example, hugging the hillside and flying through the trees at up to 55 mph. Big Bad Wolf is another, winding quickly through a European village before plummeting down to the nearby river. Both layouts have fast, wide turns and swing back and forth around each bend.

With all the swinging and flying through trees, the Tarzan theme seems particularly fit for a suspended roller coaster. It just needs the right location.

Location

Of the Six Flags parks we looked at, Six Flags New England appears to present the best location for Tarzan. The park has not had a major roller coaster addition in a decade beyond a Vekoma Boomerang coaster. The park is also home to one of the best-rated coasters in the world, Bizarro. As a suspended coaster, Tarzan would complement the current lineup while being unique.

Ideally we want to build Tarzan in a location that already has lots of trees and foliage, with water and hills presenting additional draws. Six Flags New England contains a site with all three of these elements in the northeast section of the park, between what is currently the kids’ area and a section that appears to be a space for private parties and events. The site has plenty of natural growth that could be complemented with jungle theming, and descends down to a small brook that winds its way down to the nearby river. All these elements will be utilized in the layout of the ride itself.

Ride Layout

The layout of the ride emphasizes fast, highly banked turns around blind corners following fast drops, as well as helix elements and sections that utilize the terrain to unique effect. The ride is divided into two sections by the two lift hills, at the beginning and middle of the ride respectively. A drawing is provided in figure 1 in the appendix.

In the first section, the first takes riders up above the trees from the station. The first drop banks right and drops just below tree level. The coaster then turns left into a fairly gradual but high-speed turn. The coaster then turns right and down to cross under itself in a helix, still at good speed. The turn becomes more gradual, and the coaster again turns right and down to cross under itself in a helix. The next section includes a 180 degree turn to the right, and then a 180 degree turn to the left, under the first lift hill, all with close foliage and some curving right and left. Next is a large helix turn into the second lift hill.

In the second section, the second lift hill takes riders just above the trees once again, before they descend once more, this time to the left and in a tighter turn under the lift hill, before another helix. Traveling along the brook, the riders take a large turn, then a smaller one back into the more dense foliage. The last turn is wide and riders are surrounded by dense trees before the riders emerge back at the brook, where they take a last turn into the station.

Statistics and Calculations

Set parameters:

The maximum height of the coaster is to be 120ft, at the top of the first lift hill. Maximum height here is measured from the tallest point on the coaster to the lowest, as the coaster is on a hill.

We want the maximum positive G-forces to be 4, maximum negative G-forces to be 1, and maximum lateral G-forces to be 0. Note that lateral G-forces should always be zero on the riders assuming that the cars swing freely. However, we still need to consider G-forces on the track.

The station is sized to handle three trains, with seven cars per train and four riders per car. This mimics the classic Arrow setup. Calculations:

To calculate the speed at the bottom of the first drop , we use the following equation:

(1)

Where is acceleration due to gravity 32.2 ft/s and is drop height. If we want a speed at the bottom of the first drop of 55 mph, we calculate from equation (1) that the height of the first drop needs to be 101 ft.

The first turn of our layout has a smaller radius than the second, so we will focus on the second turn for our calculations of minimum radius. To calculate that radius , we use the following equations:

(2)

(3) √

Where is the quantity of G-forces pointing out from the center of the turn, is the quantity of G-forces pointing downward and equals 1 for a flat turn, and

is the total quantity of G-forces. is the speed through the turn (here equal to the speed at the bottom of the first drop 55 mph), is acceleration due to gravity 32.2 ft/s. If we want 4 G’s in this turn, we set equal to 4 and solve equation (3) to calculate a of 3.87. With that value, we use equation (2) and calculate our radius must be 52.2 ft.

To calculate the banking necessary in the second turn , we use the following equation:

(4) ( )

Inputting the values for and we calculated above, we can use equation (4) to calculate a necessary banking angle of 14.49°.

Estimates:

Tarzan has a length of approximately 4200 ft and a speed of about 55 mph (max). To estimate the duration of our ride, we can look at the durations of other suspended coasters with similar speeds, lengths, and features. is a suspended coaster with a speed of 55 mph, a length of 2361 ft. and duration 1:36. Ninja is another suspended coaster with the same speed of 55 mph, a length of 2700 ft. and duration 1:30. Big Bad Wolf is slower, at 48 mph, but is similar to Tarzan in that it has two lift hills. Its length is 2800 ft. and its duration is 3:00.

Taking all three sets of numbers into consideration, we estimate Tarzan’s ride duration at 3:00.

To estimate Tarzan’s capacity, we use the simple calculation below:

(5) ( ) ( )( )

This gives us an estimate of 1680 riders per hour.

Cost Estimate

We can estimate how much Tarzan will cost by again looking at the Arrow Dynamics coasters that preceded it. Iron Dragon at is one such coaster, and cost an estimated $4 million in 1987, which is about $8.32 million today. Tarzan is about 1.5 times Iron Dragon’s length and height, and is slightly faster. Tarzan also has stronger theming. As such, we would estimate Tarzan’s cost at around $20 million.

One additional factor that can contribute to costs of poorly designed suspended coasters is inadequate attention to track banking. This banking needs to be looked at carefully, as free-swinging cars can mean high stresses on track that is not banked correctly, and lead to high maintenance costs.

Conclusion

The time is now to build a great new suspended roller coaster in Six Flags New England. With more great suspended roller coasters retiring every year, and Arrow no longer around to make more, a hole has developed in the market that park owners should rush to fill. We have here presented a proposal for Tarzan: the Ride, which would be the fastest, longest, and we believe best suspended roller coaster ever built. Riders would find themselves transported to the savage jungle, flying through the trees and swinging from branch to branch in a journey as thrilling as it is liberating. Only a suspended coaster can provide this kind of experience. Such a coaster has huge appeal both to the casual visitor as well as the enthusiast, and appeals to fond memories of the past even as it points to the future.

Appendix

Figure 1: Tarzan Layout

Figure 2: Selected Site Location at Six Flags New England

Figure 3: View of Site

Figure 4: Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens (no longer operating)