Blue Fire

"There is no courage without fear" Icelandic saying

Europa-Park is turning upside-down. What had been mostly the utopian imagination of fans has become reality. A new looping roller coaster complete with its new themed area was being built in Germany's largest amusement park during the period of six months. Once again the skyline of the local village Rust has changed dramatically. Alongside the recently relocated access road to the park one can now watch the new steel maze in its marine-blue colour rising out of the cliffy rock formations of Iceland. In the middle of this volcanic landscape stands the 32 meters high looping which sticks out like an erupting geyser. Whoever overcomes his fear and dares a ride with the new mega coaster is about to experience Europa-Park from a whole new perspective. Will Blue Fire turn your world upside-down as well?

Europe is moving closer together. The new themed area of Iceland occupies an area of about two hectares and is located directly behind the Scandinavian area. The broad path leads slightly downwards across a new wooden bridge and under the Fjord-Rafting rapids ride. As soon as you clear the rock-themed underpass you can enjoy an impressive panoramic view of Blue Fire. A contemplative fishing village with gastronomy and shopping opportunities is inviting visitors to linger around and take a break, for example in the "Kaffi Hus" with its cosy lounge furniture. Or you can head to the terrace seats and enjoy the view of Blue Fire. Continuing on through the village you can spot several small details on the colourful houses which help for the authentic flair. Nothing has been left to chance in the area around the new Megacoaster, either. Over 70.000 bushes, 45 full-grown pine, fir and birch trees as well as 1000 square meters artificial turf and picturesque rock formations provide for the right setting and background for the roller coaster. Once you have entered the queue you can get good views into the maze of roller coaster tracks. The path winds its way between rocks and steel tracks up to a warehouse. Located inside is the station with loading and unloading areas as well as the storage tracks of the ride. A few large crates in a corner are collecting dust and canoes are hanging from the ceiling. The members of staff greeting us are all wrapped into Parkas with fur collar. We ask ourselves on what kind of expedition they might want to go before it is our turn to take a seat inside one of the modern trains.

Five trains with seats for 20 riders each provide for a considerable capacity of 1720 persons per hour. Therefore Blue Fire easily manages to reach an equally high throughput as the park's B&M roller coaster Silver Star. The five cars (with a so-called zero car at the beginning of each train) have two rows with two seats each where the back row of each car is slightly elevated in a stadium seating style to provide riders with a better view. The train as a whole has been designed very openly without any bothersome restrictions or unnecessary decorations. A sleek lap bar is the only thing that holds us firmly inside the very comfortable seats. This provides not only for a terrific sensation of freedom during the ride but also for a very fast and comfortable boarding procedure. Roller coaster enthusiasts above all others will be happy to hear that this ride has no over-the-shoulder restraints of any kind. The trains do have some additional features: Besides an on-board sound system there are also on-board cameras as well as pulse monitors inside each lap bar. After their ride guests can purchase a DVD that includes not only a video showing their happy or pale faces during the ride but also providing the respective pulse rate with it. Riders have to be at least 7 years old and 1,30 meters tall to take a trip through Iceland on the trains of Blue Fire.

Once you have taken a seat in one of the five trains the lap bar is closed and checked - the journey begins. The train slowly rolls through a small gate at the end of the station and disappears behind a left turn. A tunnel leads to a strange laboratory. Scientists are sitting in front of their computer screens and conducting weird experiments. Where did we end up here? - is the first thing everyone is thinking. The train comes to a stop inside a long and straight corridor. The walls are flooded with a frightening shimmering red light and out of the pipes all around is leaking steam in short intervals. That is the moment! All riders are taking their breath, some are firmly holding on to their lap bars. What comes next? Without any warning the train sprints down the 80 meter long launch track and thereby escapes from the strange cave inside the rock.

The maximum speed of 100 km/h is reached in about 2.5 seconds and the wind blows us the drops of sweat from our forehead. Effortless the train climbs the first hill which continues in a left turn towards the sky. The horizon is tilted for the first time on the top of this almost 40 meter high banked turn - a glimpse of what's to come during the following meters of track. It goes down as the train dives into the Icelandic rocky landscape in front of us. The ever faster approaching tunnel seems to be way to tight for the train and the sharp rock formations seem to be within our grasp. We dive into the darkness only to shoot out of it the moment after and climb the 32 meter tall looping. The track almost disappears in the blue sky until the skyline of Europa-Park gets into our sight - standing upside-down. The horizon continues to tilt until the train flies through the rough geology of Iceland once again. The next right-hand turn is banked up to 120 degrees and the horizon tilts once more. The next steep uphill climb leads to the mid-course block brake. Only a tiny moment remains to relax as the train plunges down already into a slight right turn. As if we have to evade the rocks on the ground the train throws itself to the left and into the first corkscrew-like inversion which winds itself through an opening of the rock formation. The village Rust is upside-down again for a short time while the train rushes through this element. The next right turn leads through a canyon close to the ground before the next inversion is about to spin the horizon again. The ride continues on over a hill through the looping and into a 270 degrees long left turn. With considerable speed left we speed right through the fourth and final inversion - a heartline roll spins the train clockwise around its own axis and we escape with a last 180 degrees right turn into the final brakes. The train slowly rolls into the station again. Many of the riders clap and cheer while others are still speechless. We leave the station building back into the fishing village for a short break and to join the queue for one more ride.

Alongside the launch track many visitors are squeezing themselves in front of the fence and admiring the launch of the Blue Fire trains. But how exactly does Germany's first LSM (Linear Synchronous Motor) roller coaster work?

The secret is hidden inside the white blocks which are installed in regular intervals in the middle of the launch track. Inside these so-called stators a moving magnetic field is created through electric energy. Permanent magnets are mounted under each train that dive between the stators. The permanent magnet then moves synchronously with the magnet field created in the stators - that's where the term "Synchronous Motor" comes from. There are similarities to an electric motor only that the created energy isn't transformed into a circular but a linear movement. The speed of the train can be controlled directly by the frequency of the electric current - the speed by that the magnetic field moves through the stators. What may sound easy here is very complex at the installation on location and needs a huge amount of energy. After all, each train has a weight of about 10 tons which has to be set in motion. One advantage is that the system works without any form of contact and friction and therefore requires very little maintenance from wear and tear. On the mid course brakes after the looping stators are used as well to slow down or accelerate the train as needed. On the final brakes before the station the permanent magnets under the train are used with two metal swords on the track to generate an eddy-current field which slows down the train to an almost complete stop. No electric currents, no friction, self-adjusting and fail-safe.

It took a long time but the wait was worth it: Finally there is a roller coaster with inversions at Europa-Park which not only supplements the ride line-up but also extends the portfolio of Mack Rides with a remarkable product. What the roller coaster manufacturer from Waldkirch, Germany has delivered here can best be described as a great success. Blue Fire is dynamic and diversified without testing the limits of physical endurance. The G-forces in every direction are harmonically balanced throughout the whole ride. Only during the launch you might want the train to accelerate a tad more forcefully. The trains run over the steel track absolutely smoothly and speed through every turn and every inversion without any jolts. The themed area of Iceland supplements the attraction and the quality and design continues the line that you can already admire in the new part of the England area of the park. There is a lot of attention to detail with several elements that everyone instantly recognizes as typical Icelandic. The new Iceland area with the Blue Fire roller coaster is a satisfying and complete concept. The roller coaster itself as the first launched coaster made in Waldkirch does not only show what is possible with state of the art technology but also serves as an intriguing teaser about future projects from Mack Rides.