Thursday, December 19, 2013

A Close Look at Kentucky Kingdom's New Coaster



Chance Rides has provided us a really good look at Lightning Run, the new coaster being built at Kentucky Kingdom for the 2014 season.  The manufacturer has updated their promotional page for their line of Hyper GT-X coasters, the first of which is Lightning Run, and included some great images and video of the premier model.

When Kentucky Kingdom announced the coaster a video was shown, giving a general idea of the ride's layout and specifics, however this really lets us see all the details.  Lightning Run starts with a 100 foot tall lift and a first drop at 80 degrees, getting the the 20 passenger trains moving at 55 miles per hour.

After a sharp curve at the bottom of the drop a large airtime hill takes place, followed by a dive into an elevated overbank turn.  The 2,500 feet of track then does a series of highly banked curves mixed with pops of airtime as it traces under itself.  There's two extreme S-curves before the finale which includes three traditional airtime hills.  The ride's being marketed for its "extreme banked turns and negative G-force camel-back hills," which is pretty much music to coaster fans' ears.

Along with the close view of the layout, Chance also released this movie which includes off-ride and point-of-view sections:

Looks pretty good, no?  I like the fast pacing of the ride, and hope that element remains in true life.  A smaller, yet still wild, coaster experience is one that many seek out, so Kentucky Kingdom could have a big winner on their hands with Lightning Run.  Now we just need to get the ride built and the fans will take it from there!


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