Full Throttle's Record Breaking Loop In Place

Marking the high point in Full Throttle's construction, Six Flags Magic Mountain held a topping off event at the park today.  The media was invited to watch as the top piece of the record breaking 160 foot tall vertical loop was carefully lifted into place.

Full Throttle will feature three different launches - two forwards and one backwards - that will initially send the train through the vertical loop after hitting 70 miles per hour.  As with any launched ride the possibility of a rollback exists; I can imagine how fun it would be to creep up to the top of the loop then fall backward (safely of course).  Granted that's not the intended operation of the ride... but for us park fans a rollback can be pretty cool!

Once the trains on Full Throttle clear the vertical loop they soar over the Superman entrance plaza and encounter a large dive loop that takes them into an underground tunnel.  The trains will stop for a moment and then suddenly launch backwards halfway up the dive loop.  As they fall forward the launch again kicks in sending them up over the top of the vertical loop - another first for a coaster.  The steep drop off the side of the loop will lead directly into the brake run.

Six Flags Magic Mountain also released this video of the ride being topped out, including comments from the park's President. Note that the "YOLO" screen was not featured in the animation at the end... I think Full Throttle will still forever have YOLO as a nick name though!

With track and support construction almost complete before you know it we'll be able to watch test runs of Full Throttle and that's sure to be great fun.  For more photos from today's event, check out the Coaster Guy.