AT: Tim Baldwin
NORTH LOGAN, Utah — Coming off a 2019 Best New Coaster Golden Ticket win, S&S – Sansei Technologies has taken years of innovation and engineered a dramatic new concept in roller coasters. Dubbed Axis, this new genre of steel coasters has hints of previous creations threaded into its core but feels like nothing manufactured to date. Top brass is beaming at the monumental leap in coaster design — and they should be. Axis is impressive in multiple ways.
“It has been part of a concept we’ve had for quite a while. This last development has been going on for about two and a half years,” said Merin Swasey, project development manager, S&S. “Today’s computer-aided design and engineering analysis tools enable us to do something like this particular coaster. It’s a whole new concept.”
A test track of several hundred feet adjacent to company headquarters in Utah has seen the concept come to life, meeting every expectation and validating each calculation. S&S can boast it is now proven.
Using comfortable vest restraints as seen on the company’s 4D Free Spin, seating on Axis places riders on an elevated swivel with feet dangling above the track. Depending on the bank and swoop of the curves, the speed initiates swing, flips or a sensation of flight.
“We have large seats and comfortable restraints. Some people don’t care for over-the-shoulder restraints, but this vest restraint is very free feeling,” said Paul Lattin, engineering director.
“In leveraging existing S&S ride technology, we have learned a lot about magnetic dampening,” said Preston Perkes, executive director of administration. “As we looked at how the passengers would swing left or right or go inverted, it made sense to use that technology to keep the [ride experience] under control and make it enjoyable.”
To attempt to describe Axis’ motion is a challenge, even for those at S&S.
“A ride like this has coaster dynamics that are completely different than any other ride,” Perkes told Amusement Today. “When you think you might be upright and following the track, the vehicle is going to spin you in another direction. It is coaster dynamics reinvented.”
“A main purpose of the R&D was to confirm the track layout reacted as intended,” said Jason Mons, COO. “We can now take this track and add more inversions, take high banks or low banks … now we can extrapolate any number of layouts.”
What distinguishes this ride from anything else on the market is the unpredictable visual with the track. On any other roller coaster, a rider can look at the track ahead and know exactly what will happen. Here, that isn’t the case. Trains soar and swing under, over and around the track making for a surprising ride experience.
On its test track in Utah, S&S has implemented its renowned air-launch system. The sudden burst of speed thrusts riders into the action immediately without the need for great height. At the same time, all the thrilling maneuvers can still be achieved using a taller, traditional lift hill. Because the approach to the ride’s dynamics can vary from park to park, each installation can be customized in numerous directions from family ride to high-profile thrills, lift or launch, varied terrain to flat land.
“When we started developing the concept, we looked at both lift and launch concepts,” said Gerald Ryan, vice president of sales. “Both are very marketable, and both give a different ride experience on the initial part of the ride. Depending on the footprint you could take one launch or multiple launches around a shorter track.”
Interested parties can contact S&S to experience test rides on Axis for themselves.
This article appears in the NOVEMBER II 2019 issue of Amusement Today.
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