robert capps

I've become obsessed with the world's fastest roller coaster. It’s called the Kinda Ka, and it’s located at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey.It uses hydraulic pressure to launch the cars from a standstill to 128 mph in 3.5 seconds. For reference, the world’s fastest production car, the Veyron, takes 3.8 seconds to reach 60 mph.

Apparently, you get catapulted by a massive hydraulic wench, which slings the cars toward the massive 45-story climb you see here. As you reach the base of this metal mountain, the cars are completely released -- they make the ascent on inertia alone. Then you get a few seconds of weightlessness before you plummet 465 feet straight down. Ok, not exactally straight -- you spiral down in a twist. Jesus.

Wired wrote about the early tech that led to this mega coaster in 9.03. Emily Jenkins rode a prototype ride in Utah, that was a little smaller and a little slower. My favorite bit from that piece:

"The opener boy comes over, locks my bar into position, and tells me to be sure to keep my head back against the seat during launch. Otherwise, the coaster will put it there for me. 'And that,' he laughs, ' will be very, very unpleasant.'"

Then there's the part where she talks about how sometimes the initial launch isn't enough to get the cars over the hill, but she doesn't really explain what happens next in that case. Do you just slide back down backwards?

You can watch a pretty good movie on the coaster here. Who's up for a trip to Jersey this summer?