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The fastest triple launch roller coaster in the world – 119, 163 and then 193 kilometers per hour, and 128 meters high – bears the signature of an Italian company, Zamperla of Altavilla Vicentina. It’s called Top Thrill 2 and it opened at the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. The attraction marks the debut of Lightning trains for Zamperla roller coasters and represents a huge step forward in the technology of this type of roller coaster, as well as guaranteeing moments of airtime (i.e. the sensation of weightlessness) with each jump.
30 company employees worked on it for two years – 100 million turnover in 2023, 106 expected this year – plus about twenty related companies, mostly Italian, who contributed to the characteristics that make this coaster different from any other on the market: the milled aluminum frame, CNC machined which reduces management costs because it has no welds; the huge 530mm wheels, almost double the standard steel coaster wheels needed due to the high speeds and need to dissipate energy and the carbon fiber produced where race car components are designed, to make the train lighter, but with the aerodynamic design of a racing car.
The project
«This is a unique project in which we have pushed engineering to the limit – explains Adam Sandy, sales and marketing director of Zamperla Roller Coaster – Breaking world records means knowing how to face new challenges».
Alberto Zamperla, who passed away in 2022, was unable to see this realization, but his untimely death did not leave the company unprepared. Already in January 2021, Zamperla Group was preparing for the generational transition with the appointment of Antonio Zamperla, nephew of the founder Antonio Zamperla senior and son of the president Alberto Zamperla, as CEO and Antonio’s brother, Alessandro, as CEO of Central Amusement International Inc , a Zamperla Group company, which manages Coney Island and overseas business.
«This project – comments Antonio Zamperla – means a lot to our 450 employees, enthusiastic about having brought the new generation of technologies in roller coaster design to the global market. Call us carnies, it’s what we’ve been doing for three generations.” Coney Island itself is one of the first “impossible challenges” of the Vicenza company: in 2010, in fact, the oldest and most iconic park in the world was relaunched by Zamperla. It was New York Mayor Bloomberg who called for a competition to relaunch ‘Luna Park’. After less than 100 days Zamperla managed to reopen the park, place the Italian flag on the Cyclone and welcome the first visitors, including Bloomberg. The relaunch of Luna Park made it possible to bring light and fun to a then dangerous and disadvantaged neighborhood, marking its rebirth.