Maurer Rides and China set an example: In Jiaxing, China’s first spinning coaster with a loop is being built without the passengers going inverted. Upon approaching the loop’s summit, a magnificent view over the Sunac Cultural Tourism City awaits.
The station itself makes visitors soar: the start is at a height of 4.17 m (13.5 feet) and as soon as you get into the four-seater spinning vehicle, you are pulled up a 30° incline to 17.4 m (57.4 feet.) A long right-hand turn takes you to the top. In a long right-hand bend and with a gentle turn of the vehicle, the panoramic view sweeps over the Sunac Cultural Tourism City in the bay of Hangzhou: imaginative buildings, water slides, several lakes, a children’s park, a polar ice world. Next is a steep descent, faster and faster, reaching a top speed of 70km/h (43 mph). The descent ends in a tunnel. Before it can quite get its bearings, the unleashed vehicle spirals up into the loop. But, instead of headlong rushing, riders get another pause to view the city, and in a moment, it’s back to speeding down, turning and exhaling. Along the lake it spins and turns thrillingly through a lying figure eight and directly on into a helix. A short orientation occurs before it gets hot again in a steep Immelmann turn (80° banking). S-curves embedded in the ground once again bring out everything the vehicle can do in regards to turns. With a slight swing, you go up and into the station.
With the Spinning Coaster, SC3000 NIL, the client Sunac and Maurer Rides present a novelty. NIL, which stands for “Non Inverted Loop,” and turns the inversion principle on its head. The target group is fun-loving passengers who do not dare to ride inverted rides but still expect full coaster thrills. Precisely designed track manufacturing make the innovation possible. The ride is 519m (1,703 feet) long. It will be fitted with four vehicles, resulting in an hourly capacity of 630.
The NIL Spinning Coaster will be a monument at Sunac Cultural Tourism City in autumn 2021 and is scheduled to go into operation in spring 2022. The huge leisure city is being built in Jiaxing, about 100 km (62 miles) southwest of Shanghai. It includes a business district, a hotel and four theme parks: amusement park, water park, children’s park and a polar ice world. The water slides in the water park are already being tested and are to be opened to the first guests in July 2021. The planned opening is at the end of 2022.
