Intimidator, from Wikipedia
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Intimidator is a steel roller coaster at the Carowinds amusement park. Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, Intimidator is the thirteenth roller coaster installed at Carowinds, and is located on the South Carolina side of the theme park. The Intimidator is the longest, tallest and fastest roller coaster in the Southeastern United States. It was announced on August 26, 2009 and opened March 27, 2010. The roller coaster's name comes from the nickname of the late NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.
History
Announced on August 26, 2009, by Cedar Fair L.P., the parent company of Carowinds, reached a licensing agreement with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. to utilize the Dale Earnhardt brand as part of the ride. One of Earnhardt's sons, Kerry Earnhardt, was on-hand for the press conference announcing the attraction and endorsed the ride on behalf of the family.
Design
Intimidator is a hyper coaster model designed by Bolliger & Mabillard. The roller coaster trains will be similar to those used by other B&M hypercoasters commissioned by Cedar Fair, including Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland and Diamondback at Kings Island. Each car will seat four passengers, with two front seats set near the middle of the car and two rear seats set closer to the sides of the car. Each of Intimidator's three trains will have eight cars, with the front car designed to resemble Earnhardt's 1998 Daytona 500 winning Richard Childress Racing #3 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
Ride Layout
The ride starts out with a 232-foot (71 m) lift hill that has a 211-foot (64 m) drop angled at 74 degrees. At the bottom of this drop, the train reaches its top speed of 80 miles per hour (129 km/h) and pulls up into the second, 178-foot (54 m) hill, which has an overbanked turn on the drop. The train then pulls up a camelback hill, which is 151-foot (46 m) tall. On this hill, riders experience negative g-force, which results in a sensation known as "airtime". The train then pulls into a 121-foot (37 m) panoramic u-turn. After the u-turn, there are two more camelback hills, which are 105-foot (32 m) and 90-foot (27 m). These hills are followed by the mid-course brake run. Following the brakes, the train pulls up another hill, which is 62-foot (19 m) and banks into a diving spiral. The train pulls up another 52-foot (16 m) hill,drops, and raises 48-foot (15 m) onto the final brake run. After the train slows, it curves to the left and pulls back into the station.
Timeline
August 26th, 2009- Intimidator is officially announced to the public.
September 1st, 2009-First piece of track gets put in place.
October 1st, 2009- The 232ft lift hill begins.
October 13th, 2009- Lift hill is topped off.
December 9th, 2009- The final element the diving helix is started.
December 21st, 2009- Track completed.
January 11th, 2010- First Train arrived.
January 14th, 2010- Bidding begins for first rider auction.
February 4th, 2010- Carowinds started testing first train.
February 10th, 2010- 1st train to reached 100 cycles.
February 11th, 2010- They added the 2nd train to testing.
February 17th, 2010- They added the 3rd train to testing.
March 4th, 2010- Complete testing.
March 27th, 2010- Open to public.
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