Maurer Launched X-Car Coaster Set For Germany's Bayern Park In 2011

I do not believe we've ever covered Germany's Bayern Park here on NPN - it is a small, mostly-family oriented park located outside Munich.  The park has given us a reason to be interested in them by announcing Freischutz, a new Maurer launched coaster going into the park in 2011.

The coaster's name is based on a German folk tale that involves "a marksman who, by a contract with the devil, has obtained a certain number of bullets destined to hit without fail whatever object he wishes. As the legend is usually told, six of the Freikugeln, or "free bullets," are subservient to the marksman's will, but the seventh is at the absolute disposal of the devil himself." (from wiki)  That's intense, no?  The coasters train is set to become one of the "magic bullets" in the tale.

The coaster will be the first launched ride in Bavaria, and will have the most inversions of any ride in Germany.  The ride will use the Maurer X-Car, which features unique lap bars that allow for an unrestricted ride even with several inversions present.  The coaster will sit on a hillside and stretch 1,575 feet.  Most of that will be covered quickly, as the ride uses an LMS launch to hit 50 mph out of the station.

Since the ride slops up a hillside, the tallest track is 79 feet from the ground, but 115 feet from the base of the ride at the bottom of hill.  The ride launches into a top hat, then into a vertical loop, followed by many twists that include a heartline roll and an inclined loop.

Another unique feature will be the fact that energy from the braking system will be collected and reused for the ride's launch.  Maurer says that "supercapacitors" will be used to do this, and in the end the ride will have almost loss-free energy storage.  How very green of them!

The ride sounds like a great addition to the park - this is the type of attraction that so very many American parks would benefit greatly from.  I hope they take notice!