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| BUILDING A ROLLER COASTER |
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| Kumba is a steel coaster that opened at Busch Gardens in 1993. It took four years to design and build Kumba. Bolliger and Mabillard, a Swiss company, used a computer to figure out how much kinetic energy the ride would build up on the first drop. The computer also told how long the cars would run before losing their potential energy. Designers knew the G-forces at every point along the ride. The company also prepared 500 copies of blueprints to design Kumba. Three smaller scale models made out of Styrofoam and balsa wood were built. The track would include 124 sections of steel tube, each of them 30 feet (10 meters) long. Each section had to fit perfectly with the next. A factory produced the track sections, then sent them to the building site. But first, workers poured concrete bases, called footings, to support the columns that would hold up the track. After the columns were in place, they laid the track into position. The building of Kumba turned out to be a huge success. The track sections fit together perfectly. Not once did the workers have to pound or force the pieces into place. |
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