First Launched Shuttle Coasters
The first two launched shuttle coaster designs were introduced in 1977 by competitors Arrow Development and Anton Schwarzkopf. Arrow built and opened three that year including Black Widow (now defunct) at Six Flags New England, Screamin' Demon (also defunct) at Kings Island, and Zoomerang at Circus World (now located to Fun Spot Amusement Park & Zoo). Arrow's models used an electric motor to launch the train. Anton Schwarzkopf went with a different design using a dropped weight as a launch mechanism. This design was known as the Shuttle Loop. The first three built by that company were King Kobra at Kings Dominion (now located at Hopi Hari in Brazil), White Lightnin' at Carowinds (now located at Gold Reef City in South Africa), and Tidal Wave at Marriott's Great America in California.
Schwarzkopf later upgraded its launch mechanism to a flywheel design. The first two roller coasters based on this new design were both released in 1978 - Montezooma's Revenge at Knott's Berry Farm and Greezed Lightnin' at AstroWorld, currently in storage in Plainview, Texas for Cliff's Amusement Park in New Mexico. The first flywheel launched roller coaster that opened in Europe was Turbine at Walibi Wavre in 1982.
Read more about this topic: Shuttle Roller Coaster
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