Olympia Looping

Olympia Looping
Full layout at night
Oktoberfest
Status Operating
Opening date September 17, 1989
General statistics
Type Steel
Manufacturer BHS
Designer Anton Schwarzkopf, Werner Stengel
Lift/launch system Drive tire lift hill
Height 110 ft (34 m)
Drop 99 ft (30 m)
Length 4,101 ft (1,250 m)
Speed 52 mph (84 km/h)
Inversions 5
Duration 1:45
Max vertical angle 52°
G-force 5.2
Height restriction 48 in (122 cm)
Trains 5 trains with 5 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 20 riders per train.
Olympia Looping at RCDB
Pictures of Olympia Looping at RCDB

Olympia Looping, also known as Munich Looping, is a portable steel roller coaster designed by Anton Schwarzkopf and built by BHS. It is the largest portable roller coaster in the world, and the only one with five inversions. It appears at many carnivals in Germany, most notably Oktoberfest, where it made its debut in 1989. It is named for its five vertical loops, which resemble the Olympic rings. Although they are clothoid-shaped, their shape is closer to circular than the ones on most other roller coasters, so they exert unusually high g-forces on the passengers (up to 5.2 g[1]). The entire structure weighs 900 tons and requires a space 85 m wide by 36 m deep. The ride usually runs with five cars per train, though at events such as Oktoberfest and Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, London, it runs with seven to increase throughput in busy periods.

Name

The ride is almost always known as Olympia Looping in reference to its loops being painted to match those of the Olympic rings. However, there are two exceptions to this:

When being designed, the ride was known as Fünfer Looping (Five Loops), continuing a sequence of travelling Schwarzkopf rides that previously included Doppel Looping and Dreier Looping (Double Loop and Triple Loop). This name is occasionally used in trade literature.

From 2016, the ride has appeared at London's Hyde Park Winter Wonderland event, where in order to avoid reference to the Olympics, and to fit in with the Bavarian theme of other sections of the event, the ride appears under the name Munich Looping although branding on the ride itself uses the German München Looping[2].

Incidents

On September 27, 2008, a driving motor failed on the ride, stranding over 20 Oktoberfest attendees at the top of the first hill. They were freed with the help of the Munich Fire Department.[3]

Awards

Olympia Looping's full layout

The ride was ranked in the Steel Roller Coasters Poll 11 Year Results Table awards from 1999 to 2010. Below is the table of the rankings of the traveling roller coaster.

Mitch Hawker's Best Roller Coaster Poll: Best Steel-Tracked Roller Coaster
Year 1999 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Ranking
14[4]
16[4]
43[4]
48[4]
68[4]
56[4]
37[4]
53[4]
46[4]
83[4]
57[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Olympia Looping homepage (in German)". Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  2. ↑ http://hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/rides-and-games/
  3. ↑ "tz-online.de".
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Best Steel Roller Coaster Poll 11 year results table". BestRollerCoasterPoll.com. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
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