It’s a theme park ride with not only attitude – but altitude. So it was with some trepidation that thrill seekers embarked on the first public test of the terrifyingly Takabisha, the world’s steepest roller coaster.
Screams of delight and fright echoed though Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park, in the shadow of Mount Fuji in Japan, as riders plummeted 141ft in a single vertical drop. But there is little time to enjoy the view of snow-capped mountain as the ride lasts just 112 seconds. The nerve-jangling plunge comes amid seven stomach-flipping twists over nearly two miles of track.
The ride’s designers have called in adjudicators from the Guinness Book of World Records, which ratified that the drop, involving a 121-degree freefall, is the steepest on any attraction anywhere in the world.
Takabisha, which translates as ‘dominant’ in English, relies on a combination of gravity and a set of linear motors on the cars. These accelerate the coaster to speeds of 100kmph. Riders experience weightlessness as they ‘nosedive’ down the sharp incline, before later being plunged into darkness.
Costing an eye-watering 3billion yen (around £23million) to build, Takabisha will grab the title of ‘ride with the steepest incline’ from a British attraction, Mumbo Jumbo at Flamingoland in the UK. The popular Yorkshire theme park has held the record since July 2009.
Mumbo Jumbo, which cost £5million to design and build, has an incline of 112 degrees and puts riders under a force of 4Gs, similar to those experienced by fighter pilots.
Fuji-Q is no stranger to records – this will be the 14th Guinness recognised mark set by the park.
However, when it comes to speed, the world’s fastest rollercoaster is still Formula Rossa, which can be found at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi.
