Six Flags Over Texas at Arlington is a theme park featuring shows, games, food and over 45 rides.
File photo / The Shorthorn staff
The Tormenta Rampaging Run, the world’s first giga-dive coaster, according to a Six Flags press release, is set to break multiple records, and opened to guests Thursday.
Tony Clark, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation regional manager of public relations, said a giga coaster is any roller coaster that is 300-399 feet, combine that with the classic dive coaster, and a giga-dive coaster is born.
The Tormenta, while a feat in itself, isn’t the park’s first foray into record-breaking coasters.
In 1990, Six Flags opened one of its first record-breaking coasters, The Texas Giant.
The Texas Giant was the world’s tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster, according to Six Flags Over Texas Source, the park’s online guide.
Boasting 900,000 feet of lumber, 1,200 concrete piers, 10 tons of nails and 81,270 bolts, the $5.5 million dollar attraction became one of the most popular roller coasters of the decade.
In 1998 and 1999, the coaster won Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Award for “Best Wooden Coaster,” though the coaster’s popularity would soon wane in the 2000s, according to the guide.
The coaster was temporarily closed in 2009 as Six Flags Over Texas decided it was time for the ride to be given new life.
The ride reopened in 2011 as a new hybrid rollercoaster with a 10-foot increase to its lift hill and donning the name The New Texas Giant.
Eleven years after the original Texas Giant entered Arlington’s skyline, Six Flags opened its second record-breaking coaster — Titan.
In November 2000, during an interview with Ultimate Rollercoaster, Timothy L. Baldwin, at the time south central regional representative for the American Coaster Enthusiasts, said The Texas Giant gained worldwide attention for its unprecedented heights in wooden coasters.
“To have a steel coaster tower 100 feet taller than the Giant is a massive undertaking that will have coaster fans counting the days until its premier,” Baldwin said.
When first built, Titan became the state’s tallest roller coaster, reaching heights of 245 feet, according to Six Flags Over Texas Source. Even with its tremendous height, the ride’s largest drop would go further, measuring 255 feet due to an underground tunnel.
Reaching speeds up to 90 mph, the ride installed a misting system to ensure the wheels didn’t melt, ensuring safe operations for those seeking the high-speed thriller.
The $25 million dollar ride was part of the park’s 40 year anniversary season, much like its descendant, Tormenta.
In celebration of the park’s 65 year anniversary season, Tormenta will stretch Arlington’s skyline.
The ride has broken six world records; tallest dive coaster at 309 feet, highest 95 degree beyond vertical drop at 285 feet, fastest dive coaster at 87 mph, highest immelmann inversion at 218 feet, tallest vertical coaster loop at 179 feet and longest dive coaster at 4,199 feet.
“The technology of this ride is really about building the dive coaster, but building at a higher height,” Clark said.
As if the height itself wasn’t enough of a thrill, the ride pauses for three seconds after reaching the top of the 285-foot, 95 degree beyond vertical drop, giving riders a view of the far reaching ground below.
“Tormenta Rampaging Run is just the beginning of the investments and changes we’re making to Six Flags Over Texas,” Clark said. “This is just the start.”
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