‘Superman’ Ride Boasts Super Speed

Six Flags Magic Mountain has begun construction on the world’s tallest and fastest roller coaster, a ride that will employ state-of-the-art electromagnetic catapults to attain the long-coveted speed of 100 mph.

“Superman: The Escape” is scheduled to open in late May, at the start of the Valencia theme park’s busy season. Six Flags officials refused to disclose the cost of the ride, but said that it represented the largest expenditure in park history, surpassing the $11 million spent on the “Batman” coaster in 1994.

Although the cost probably pales in comparison with the tens of millions that Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood regularly spend on their animatronics-laden rides, Six Flags will not spare a penny when it comes to unadulterated velocity.

“Superman” is designed to race along a flat stretch of track, reaching top speed in a blurry seven seconds. Then it will curve 415 feet straight up, giving riders a sense of weightlessness for 6 1/2 seconds before they plummet backward to the starting point.

“People have been talking about 100-mph roller coasters for the past century,” said Paul L. Ruben, the North American editor for Park World, an international trade magazine. “The roller coaster arms race has been inching skyward, but this is a quantum leap over anything that’s out there.”

The current records for speed and height are held by “the Desperado” coaster in Stateline, Nev. The 2-year-old attraction uses conventional chain lifts to pull its cars to a height of 225 feet, releasing them down a steep drop where they reach speeds of up to 94 mph.

Instead of relying on gravity, “Superman” will employ a synchronous linear motor. This technology--which the U.S. Navy is studying for launching jets from aircraft carriers--makes use of the same forces that cause two magnets to repel each other.

The ride’s six-ton cars are equipped with powerful magnets that pass over electromagnetic elements placed every few feet along the track. The magnets are repelled by each successive element, pushing riders along faster and faster.

“You will be accelerated at approximately 1.5 Gs,” said Harold Hudson, senior vice president of engineering for Time Warner’s Six Flags theme park chain. “So your cheeks will feel like the man on the rocket sled.”

Such velocity leaves no room for turns and loops. The Swiss-built ride--its parallel tracks accommodating one car each--will stretch 900 feet from the center of the park to its northern boundary. The subsequent vertical climb burns off speed while giving riders a floating sensation that coaster enthusiasts call “air time.”

“From a physics point, you’re at 0 Gs,” Hudson said. “You could put a pencil out in front of you and it would stay in front of you as you go up the tower, and stay in front of you all the way down.”

Ruben said: “On most traditional coasters, if you’re lucky you will experience a second or less of air time. This will be an entirely new experience for one’s stomach.”

On the return trip, the effect of the electromagnetic elements is reversed to slow the car as it reenters a starting house designed to look like Superman’s fortress.

In the highly competitive theme park industry, Six Flags will open “Superman” at roughly the same time that parks in other parts of the country unveil significant advances in free-fall and air-powered rides.

“Every park likes to have some sort of bragging rights,” Ruben said. “All those bragging rights pale in comparison to ‘Superman.’ ”