These coasters will run at full tilt

Two wild thrill machines on their way to Texas

Folks come to Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas to see pros compete in Formula 1 and NASCAR events. But they will soon be able to fulfill their own need for speed when two highly distinctive coasters open at COTALAND, an amusement park located at the motorsports and entertainment complex.

Currently a kiddie park, COTALAND is expanding with the addition of some major thrill rides, most notably Palindrome (great name!), a custom Infinity shuttle coaster from Gerstlauer, and Circuit Breaker (another great name!), the first tilt coaster in North America. A tilt coaster? If that has you scratching your head in bewilderment, wait till you hear the particulars.

Circuit Breaker’s train comes to a halt on the tilt track. (Circuit of The Americas)

Circuit Breaker’s train will click-clack-click up a traditional lift hill, rise to 131 feet, round a bend, and come to a halt on a dead-end section of track jutting out in the air. The track section, with the train firmly tethered to it, will then slowly start to tilt, sort of like a seesaw, until it reaches an angle of 90 degrees. (That’s straight down for the geometry-challenged.)

When it aligns and connects with the rest of the track, Circuit Breaker will release the train into a freefall. But not before it leaves passengers suspended and facing the ground for a few agonizing, heart-pounding moments. It sounds crazy, right?

Once released, the coaster will still have a few tricks up its sleeve. It will drop at 57 mph into an underground tunnel and then navigate four inversions, including a barrel roll and an Immelman (named after a WWI fighter pilot, the element flips passengers over and sends them skedaddling in the opposite direction).

Circuit Breaker tilts into position for the first drop. (Circuit of The Americas)

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Developed by Vekoma, this will only be the second tilt coaster from the ride manufacturer. The first one, Gravity Max, opened at Discovery World in Taiwan way back in 2002. For some reason, the concept did not catch on–until now.

Circuit Breaker represents the 2.0 version of the tilt coaster. Among its improvements, the track section that tilts will move more quickly and fluidly, thereby improving throughput and capacity. A third Vekoma tilt coaster is scheduled to open in 2023 at Energylandia in Poland. It will be that park’s 20th coaster.

This ride will have you coming and going

COTALAND’s second new coaster won’t be quite as wacky as Circuit Breaker. But it will come close.

Palindrome, which is a phrase or a word that reads the same forwards and backwards (Don’t you think the word itself should be a palindrome? But I digress.), is an apt name for the ride. It will ascend a vertical lift hill, which is a Gerstlauer staple, rise 95 feet, drop and accelerate to 51 mph, and navigate an in-line twist and a zero-G stall before hitting a dead-end vertical spike. (For a place that features a racetrack, COTALAND sure has a lot of dead ends.) After briefly stalling at the top, passengers will experience a vertical rollback that will send them through Palindrome’s course for a second go-around, but facing backwards this time.

About that vertical spike: It will include an unusual bump in the track near the top. Gerstlauer says this “hop stall” will deliver pops of airtime both going up and coming down the spike.

The vertical spike on Palindrome (Gerstlauer Amusement Rides)

Interestingly, the coaster will make its way over a traffic-filled road–with the train hanging upside down no less. After stalling and falling forwards down the first drop on the return trip, a turntable will direct the train back to the loading station. Palindrome will be the first Infinity shuttle coaster in the U.S.

Both of the coasters are expected to open at COTALAND in 2023, along with other thrill rides. Circuit of the Americas also offers go-karts and a zipline experience.

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What do you think about the two roller coasters coming to Circuit of the Americas? Does the thought of riding Circuit Breaker, the tilt coaster, freak you out (especially if you were to be in the front row)?