New wooden roller coaster Goliath will set records as steepest, fastest By Chicago Tribune, adapted by Newsela staff on 05.14.14 Word Count 630 Level 850L Curtis Clark works high up on the new Goliath roller coaster under construction at Six Flags Great America in Gurneee, Ill., on April 30, 2014. Stacey Westcott/Chicago Tribune/MCT CHICAGO — A huge new roller coaster will open at Six Flags Great America in May. The ride, which is being called Goliath, will set three new world records. Goliath will be the fastest, as well as the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world. It will also have the longest drop. It will rocket riders into tight curves and two upside-down twists. There's even a point in the ride where passengers experience zero-gravity, making them feel weightless for a moment. The roller coaster is still a few weeks from being finished but it is due for its public opening on May 31. Season ticket holders can ride it a day early. Roller coaster lovers are already planning group outings. “We are definitely excited to ride this thing,” said Scott Heck, a spokesman for American Coaster Enthusiasts. “I know a lot of people across the country want to come. I can’t wait.” This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Alan Schilke is the roller coaster designer. He said Goliath is being built in a small space. “We had to make a crazy ride just to get it to fit,” he said. A Better Wooden Roller Coaster The coaster is being built by Rocky Mountain Construction Group from Idaho. Before launching the business, owner Fred Grubb built coasters at Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho. In that job, he often had to repair old wooden coasters. So Grubb and his engineers decided there must be a better way. Traditional wooden roller coasters have simple steel plates lining the track where the wheels go. Rocky Mountain instead built a steel trap around the wood track. That makes it much stronger. The company also built the wooden roller coasters differently. The workers don't build the tracks at the theme park. Instead, they build them in their shop. That way they can bend the track better. Goliath’s wheels will ride on a metal covering. That will make the ride stronger and quieter. It is important that the ride be quiet so it doesn't disturb people who live near Great America. The construction crew of about 35 men is from Idaho. They are used to winter temperatures there that often drop below zero. Still, even for them, the latest Chicago winter was cold. A Cold Job, But Fun Since September, they’ve worked 11-hour days, six days a week, through the snow and cold. They've missed only two full days of work because of weather. But the wind chill and snow numbed workers’ hands. Climbing on the tracks to work was dangerous. So the crew members had to stop often and warm up in warming shelters. Crews still must finish building the track. They also must put in the chain that lifts the cars and the magnetic brakes that stop it. Then will come hundreds of test runs with crash-test dummies. The test runs are to make sure that riders can handle forces more than three times the pull of gravity. Crew members say building roller coasters is a lot more fun than building an office. “It’s better,” builder Matt Whiteman said, “because when you’re done, you get to ride what you’re working on.” The Goliath will make Great America the wooden roller coaster capital of the world, park officials say. It will have more feet of wooden track than anywhere else. When finished, the 3,100-foot ride is expected to last about a minute and a half. Steel coasters at the park can bend crazily and go faster and higher, but traditionalists love the look and ride of wooden coasters, which are increasingly rare. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Schilke, the designer, says wooden coasters feel faster in a tight space. “It’s a different feel,” he said. “Everybody knows the difference. If you closed your eyes, you’d say, ‘I’m on a wooden coaster here.’” This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com..