Page 32 - Best of 2019 English

Whether breathtaking climbs and plunges or panoramic views from soaring heights: steel is the material that helps Ferris wheels and roller
The steel roller coaster “Taron” at Phantasialand Brühl travels at speeds of up to 117 km/h, making it the world’s fastest eight-seater roller coaster with multiple catapult launch
Icoasters set new records
f you climb into the carriage of a roller coaster or the gondola of a Ferris wheel, you are essentially placing your trust in steel as a ma- terial. At that moment you are putting your
life in its hands – a few minutes later you will be speeding downhill at speeds of over 100 km/h or hovering more than 50 meters in the air. Com- ponents made of steel keep you on the rails and stop you from crashing. You can simply sit back and enjoy the ride, rightly unconcerned about the safety of the structures.
And if you wish to plunge to the depths or hover at high altitudes outside Germany, a whole dif- ferent dimension of speed and height is available. Carriages on the “Formula Rossa” roller coaster in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) travel at speeds of up to 240 km/h. The “London Eye” Ferris wheel is 235 meters high, while the “Ain Dubai” scheduled for completion in the UAE next year is expected to measure 260 meters.
Without steel, this type of record would not be possible. The “Steel Dragon 2000” roller coaster at the Japanese amusement park “Nagashima Spa Land” is not just the longest roller coaster in the world at almost 2,500 meters, it is also extremely high at 97 meters: yet despite its dimensions, the Steel Dragon is deemed to be earthquake-proof thanks to its sophisticated reinforced steelwork structure.
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The records were set in Paris back in 1900 were rather different. Like the Eiffel Tower eleven years previously, another steel structure was to symbol- ize progress at the world fair: “La Grande Roue”
– a 400-ton Ferris wheel measuring 100 meters in diameter. But unlike the Eiffel Tower, this building did not survive for long: the dismantling process started in 1922, and the gondolas were used as sales stands at was later the “Village Suisse”.
Roller coasters and Ferris wheels on this scale are built all over the world nowadays, and Salzgit- ter AG supplies the steel for many of them. The “Mystic” roller coaster has just opened at the Walibi Rhône-Alpes amusement park in France. Here, Salzgitter Mannesmann Stahlhandel contrib- uted the material for the supports, rail crossbars and struts. The fastest, highest and coolest “Triple Launch Coaster” – a roller coaster with triple catapult acceleration – is currently under construc- tion at the Belgian amusement park Bobbejaan- land, while other railroad rides are being built in Finland and Germany using steel processed and supplied by the Salzgitter Group.
The same has applied for decades to a host of other well-known rides – such as the "Ghost Rickshaw", for instance, an almost 40-year-old ghost train roller coaster at Phantasialand in Brühl which runs partly underground: it was likewise built from steel supplied by a Salzgitter Group company.
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Photo: Thomas Henrichs