Afterburn (Carowinds)

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Afterburn
Afterburn's logo
Location	Carowinds
Park section	County Fair
Type	Steel - Inverted
Status	Open
Opened	March 20, 1999
Manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
Designer	Werner Stengel
Model	Inverted Custom
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	113 ft (34 m)
Drop	115 ft (35 m)
Length	2,956 ft (901 m)
Max speed	62 mph (100 km/h)
Inversions	6
Capacity	1,380 riders per hour
Cost	$10,500,000 USD
Height restriction	4 ft 6 in (140 cm)
Afterburn at RCDB Pictures of Afterburn at RCDB
Amusement Parks Portal

Afterburn (formerly Top Gun: The Jet Coaster) is a roller coaster at Carowinds near Charlotte, North Carolina & California's Great America. Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, it is one of three inverted coasters to open in 1999. It is 113 feet tall and has a track length of 2,956 feet, a top speed of 62 mph and six inversions. Carowinds originally planned to theme the ride to Godzilla as a promotion of the 1998 movie, but due to said movie's lack of success, it was instead themed to the film Top Gun, but had to drop the name after Paramount's names were dropped after the 2007 season. It was then named Flight Deck but that name was discarded roughly at the beginning of February in favor of Afterburn.

[edit] Ride layout

Riders exit the station onto the immediate lift hill. After the 113 foot tall ascent a small dip, characteristic of all Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) rides, exists before the space dive drop. A very large vertical loop immediately follows the drop then a short straight-away and the riders are catapulted into an Immelmann loop. Without any time to rest the ride twists over in a Zero G roll and then quickly rolls into a Batwing (2 inversions) element. The train flies over the beginning of the lift and over a park walkway before twisting riders a final time in the Corkscrew/Wingover element. A small helix follows and then the brake run.

[edit] Awards

• 29th Best Steel Coaster for 2005 (Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards)
• 32nd Best Steel Coaster for 2006.

[edit] Ride Elements

• Vertical loop
• Immelmann
• Zero G roll
• Batwing
• Wingover

Previous Top Gun signage.	Afterburn's full layout	Afterburn's loop	Afterburn's Immelmann
Afterburn's zero-g roll	The first half of Afterburn's batwing	The second half of Afterburn's batwing	Afterburn's final turn

[edit] External links

• Official Page From Carowinds