The Magic Ringdom: themepark planned for the Nrburgring
Some trends in the automotive industry worry us. Seriously. The emergence of car theme parks, however, does not. In fact, it makes us giddy as schoolkids. At Disneyland. With ice cream.
Following the plans for a Ferrari theme park in Abu Dhabi, the F1 theme park in neighboring Dubai (with other locations to follow) and the Cars-themed section of Disney's California Adventure comes the news that developers are planning to turn Europe's most famous racetrack into a theme park, as well. The plans, according to a report from AutoBild, will be centered around a new type of high-speed roller coaster that boards next to the start/finish line, accelerates down a 480-meter straight in parallel to the race track, takes a sharp left turn and runs along "the boulevard" back to the station. It doesn't appear to do any loops, just shoot down the straightaway at time-warping speeds: accelerated by compressed air, the eight-passenger train rockets to 217km/h (135mph) in just two and a half seconds – that's much faster than even an F1 racecar.
In addition to the coaster, several other attractions will be built at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, along with a new 5,000-seat grandstand and a four-star hotel. As if we needed another reason to make pilgrimage to the Ring.
[Source: AutoBild]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bert 10:46AM (2/04/2008)
Aw! I was hoping for a 14 mile roller-coaster!
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Franz 1:19PM (2/04/2008)
lol. You and me both. Can you imagine how much that would cost though?
Andrew 10:51AM (2/04/2008)
That thing will be pulling the passenger at over 3 g's! Not bad.
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John 10:57AM (2/04/2008)
217 KPH in 2 seconds sounds like fun.
But the Magliv train from Shanghai Pudong airport hits a 450 KPH top speed. It doesn't accererate nearly as fast but it felt like I was flying an airplane only 50 feet off the ground at that speed. Now that was cool.
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MemphisNET 10:59AM (2/04/2008)
I too was hoping for a coaster that ride's shotgun with the track :D
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Brent 11:22AM (2/04/2008)
It will be the fastest in the world. It will also be faster then many posters' autos.
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Seoultrain 11:24AM (2/04/2008)
Has anyone here ridden Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey?
That one does 128mph in 3.5 seconds, and it is just insane. Taking a whole second off is just unimaginable.
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Rocketboy 11:24AM (2/04/2008)
Now, a reason to go to Germany besides trying to get to drive fast.
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Farris 11:25AM (2/04/2008)
Too bad it doesn't have any turns (other than turning around to come back to the station)... it would be awesome to ride around the Nuburgring on rails!
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Galley 11:34AM (2/04/2008)
Comment voting finally works in Safari. Thanks, Autoblog!
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TwinTurbo3000GT 12:13PM (2/04/2008)
sweet! the NEW happiest place on earth!
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Jake 12:01PM (2/04/2008)
Oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man...
Hell yeah!
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equipe 1:26PM (2/04/2008)
If you build it, I will come.
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meshies 2:02PM (2/04/2008)
Yea, gives your eyelids a real workout as they are being peeled back. That is an intense ride.
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meshies 2:03PM (2/04/2008)
Kingda Ka I mean. I was supposed to be replying to that comment.
Luis 2:11PM (2/04/2008)
I just broke my piggy bank...twenty-five...twenty -six...
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Liam 4:43PM (2/04/2008)
Hopefully this doesn't add to TF numbers too greatly!
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jcar302 4:42PM (2/04/2008)
ya, i live 3 miles from GA. It's pretty wild.
At first i was thinking like everyone else, a coaster that follows the track.
Now i realize it's just a marketing ploy, nothing revolutionary.
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Mobius_1 6:53AM (2/05/2008)
My dream holiday just got better!!! (hopefully)
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