EAS 2010 - Maurer Söhne: innovations and new markets!

During our visit to the Euro Attractions Show, we have visited the booth of the German roller coasters manufacturer Maurer Söhne. This company has literally invested in the market since the early 2000s with original attractions and quality, especially with its products "S-Coaster Spinning Coaster" (Winja's at Phantasialand, Tarantula at Parque de Atracciones Madrid) and "X -Car Coaster" (G Force at Drayton Manor, Formule X at Drievliet Amusement Park).

Maurer Söhne at the EAS 2010 in Roma (click to enlarge)

 
We have talked to several persons in charge with whom we discussed existing and future achievements of the company, in Europe and worldwide.

2010, and opening up new markets 

Maurer Söhne is very active in new markets, these countries are beginning to develop a range of theme parks increasingly important, and that investors are now very attractive to manufacturers.The company is very proud of the double Launched Coaster (LSM) conducted on behalf of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, UAE. Named Fiorano GT Challenge, the attraction will offer, from 27 October, to visitors to experience a ride on Ferrari cars, simulating accelerations (3 total) and braking over a distance of 1,000 meters. The X-Car trains (3x4 passengers) are lifelike replicas of Ferrari F430 Spider. And as they see it big there, each passenger will receive a pair of glasses before the ride!

Fiorano GT Challenge's train model  (with a different car design) (click to enlarge)

Besides this major project in the UAE, Maurer Söhne has announced this year having built a X-Car Coaster similar to G Force (Drayton Manor, UK) in Iraq, a country undergoing reconstruction!

Finally, this is on the side of the giant Chinese that the company is watching, as much as 3 projects are underway in this country. This year, a standard SkyLoop (model XT-150) will open at Knight Valley in the province of Shenzhen. This roller coaster ride, designed on the basis of X-Car Coaster has a run in a loop with a vertical lift, a reversal and an inversion (Sky Loop) to 46 meters in height.

SkyLoop (XT-150) model (click to enlarge)

 
In 2011, a "XL 100" X-Car Coaster (similar to Formula X at Drievliet) will also be open at Knight Valley, while another SkyLoop XT-150 (called Mystery of Clouds) will be built at World Joyland, a park located in the Wujin District.

2011 Innovations

Maurer Söhne has presented three new "product concepts" in its booth:

X-Car FlyingLaunch: the first GreenCoaster© concept 

The small German Bayern Park has created a surprise by announcing the purchase of an X-Car FlyingLaunch custom built, whose layout includes an inverted top hat, a figure never seen at Maurer Söhne.

The FlyingLaunch will use its linear synchronous motor as both drive and brakes. Its means the possibility of sending passengers into another run without slowdown or stopping. With common roller coasters, all of the energy not consumed by friction is finally lost in the brakes. But Maurer's new technology is able to recover 50% of the expended energy and store it in super capacitors, only to use it again in the next start. This ingenious system will be a world first, and will make the Flying launch probably the greenest launch coaster available on the market.

Model of the world first X-Car FlyingLaunch of Bayern Park, the GreenCoaster© concept (click to enlarge)
LEDs wheel

What caught the attention of all who passed on the booth, is this coaster wheel in which LEDs have been embedded. In keeping with the green spirit, the electric power needed to operate these LEDs is supplied by the wheel itself, which acts as a generator during friction with the rail. This innovation could make its appearance at Bayern Park ... but it's not confirmed yet!

LEDs are embedded on the right one (click to enlarge)

The X-Train

Until now, trains of X-Car Coaster consisted of one or two cars of 3 rows of 2 seats, not to mention the version to 3 cars with 2 rows of 2 seats on Fiorano GT Challenge.

Maurer Söhne now offers a large train consisting of rows of 4 seats, up to 9 total (for 36 people). The central seats are advanced compared with those at the extremities which are floorless, giving their passengers more thrills!

Of course, this train still proposes a beautifully executed design and an incredible comfort thanks to lapbars specifically designed by Maurer.



A X-train model (with 6 rows, for 24 passengers) (click ton enlarge)

Rainbow MagicLand

Maurer Söhne is also very pleased to have been chosen by the Italian group AlfaPark to build two roller coaster at Rainbow Magicland, their second theme park which will open next spring in Valmonte, Italy.

The first coaster is undoubtedly the future symbol of the park. It is an X-Car Launch Coaster, custom built, which is themed on "energy", trains symbolizing a sudden discharge of energy. This will once again a magnetic launch that will reach 95 km / h in 2.5 seconds.

The coaster will be composed, over a length of 750 meters, of a huge camelback, the "Not Inverted Loop", several curves, helix, and an Heartline Roll. The run lasts about 80 seconds to a maximum flow of 1,000 people per hour.




  Pictures from EAS tour, last 8th of October (click to enlarge) 

The second is a custom built indoor Spinning Coaster (model Xtended SC-3000) that Maurer Söhne qualifies as its "most aggressive spinning" The reasons, although the interior theme is not yet defined, are that AlfaPark wants to do something very dark, chaotic and disorienting. The boarding station is in hight, the track has two lifts (a little above the station, and a bigger one at the end), a horseshoe inclined at 80°, a 50° first drop, is 17 meters high and a have a very short passage to the outside, to enable future visitors to see what lurks inside the building.

Like all of the Maurer Spinning Coasters, each car includes a brake within the structure to limit rotation so they do not become too intense. There will be a total of 7 vehicles, 4 on the track and 3 at the station for a theoretical flow of 850 persons per hour.

Pictures from EAS tour, last 8th of October (click to enlarge)
During the construction site tour held on October 8, NewsParcs had the opportunity to see the ride in action, what we have immortalized on video.

Two other projects in Europe for 2011

Furthermore Bayern Park and Rainbow MagicLand, the orders book of Maurer Söhne has grown from two other European projects for next year.

The first will be a custom built Spinning Coaster for Bobbejaanland in Belgium, property of Parque Reunidos.

The second, a standard Sky Loop XT-150, will be built at Linnanmäki in Finland, and named Ukko

According to what we see, we are sure that Maurer Söhne will still impress us in the future!