Six Flags Great America today dropped a full-ride POV concept video for its upcoming Wrath of Rakshasa roller coaster.
The Bolliger & Mabillard Dive Coaster will set record for that model with a 96-degree drop and five inversions on the 3,239-foot track. The ride is now under construction to debut this year at the Chicago-area amusement park.
Wrath of Rakshasa's track will top out at 180 feet and the ride will reach a top speed of 67 mph.
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I'm just not sold on this. I've ridden a number of B&M Dive Machines, and the best all have some sort of tunnel or other near miss element. For as much backstory as SF has created for this coaster, the track is not themed in any way, and appears very much like the "coaster in a parking lot" that is a consistent trope of SF attractions.
I think the best element is the last inversion, that looks like it has a ton of hangtime. It looks very much like the final inversion on Valkyria at Liseberg, except at the Swedish park, that inversion occurs over a stream, while this one appears to happen over some grass and part of the track.
I'm also concerned with B&M's recent issues with smooth tracking. Iron Menace at Dorney Park is not what I call "rough", but it's not as smooth as older B&M Dive Machines, and is borderline headbanging on it's final inversion when riding on the outside seats. There have been videos circulating of the launch track of Raptera (Kings Dominion) where you can see the train wobbling up and down as it accelerates through the LSMs, so it worries me that B&M's steel manufacturer is not pushing out track segments with the same level of precision as it has in the past, and it could impact the overall ride of this new coaster.
As with any coaster, it's impossible to get a full appreciation of the ride from a POV, but of the B&M Dive Machines in North America that I haven't ridden yet (this one, Yukon Striker, and Emperor), I would much rather ride Yukon Striker than this one.
I guess the one positive that has been announced regarding this coaster is that guests will not be forced to place their loose articles into lockers, as the station will be equipped with a similar conveyor belt system used on Yukon Striker to store loose articles. Here's hoping this bit of Cedar Fair ingenuity (and the free pass-through lockers used around the former chain) will be the preferred method moving forward instead of SF's preference of trying to capitalize on high thrill attractions with empty pocket policies accompanied with pay lockers.
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While I am not a fan of the theme (Indian/South Asian theme at a park themed to America), that aside this looks like a great addition to the park. Its a huge coaster with a good mix of interesting elements, very photogenic, good color scheme, will be reliable, and overall solid addition the park. Also i'm super happy they kept Demon and impressed they could fit such a big full circut ride in DejaVu's spot. With the recent announcement of BTR's queue restoration I think this will be the best season at SFGAm in a long time.