Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers (more commonly known as B&M) is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, with Bolliger acting as president and Mabillard as vice-president.[1] Since 1990, B&M have built over 60 roller coasters around the world and have pioneered several new ride technologies, most notably the inverted roller coaster.[2] The company started with four employees and has since grown, now employing more than 30 people, mostly engineers and draftsmen.
History
The company, named after Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, first made a name for themselves in 1990 with the stand-up coaster, "Iron Wolf," located at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee Illinois, which is just north of Chicago. They became well known for pioneering the "inverted" coaster named "Batman: The Ride" (also located at Six Flags Great America) two years later. B&M is also highly renowned by roller coaster enthusiasts for its "glass-smooth" rides[1].
Both Bolliger and Mabillard worked for Intamin AG before founding their own company, B&M. During their time at Intamin AG they helped the company design their first stand-up coaster (originally Shockwave at Six Flags Magic Mountain and formerly known as Batman: The Escape at the now defunct Six Flags Astroworld, currently in storage at Darien Lake) as well as contributing to other Intamin AG projects such as Z-Force at Six Flags Great America before branching off on their own. Several of their coasters, such as the aforementioned Flashback and Batman: The Escape were subcontracted by Giovanola [2] [3].
Their rides now include the aforementioned Stand-up and Inverted designs, as well as sit-down coasters, Hypercoasters, Floorless coasters, Flying coasters, and “Diving Machines”.
Operational roller coasters
As of 2007, Bolliger and Mabillard has 69 operating roller coasters worldwide. Their latest roller coaster, Griffon, opened to the public on May 25, 2007 at Busch Gardens Europe. Their 70th roller coaster will be at Hard Rock Park [4], and will be called Led Zeppelin: The Ride. Their 71st coaster will be Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland, opening in May 2008.
Bolliger & Mabillard features 20/50 coasters on the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards Top 50 Steel Coasters List for 2007, four of which are listed in the top 10. They have more coasters than any other manufacturer on the list. [5]
Ride styles
Bolliger and Mabillard has been involved in developing new technologies and concepts in roller coasters, including the first inverted roller coaster, Batman: The Ride. B&M also works closely with engineer Werner Stengel.
They currently have seven different ride styles to choose from: "stand-up", "inverted", "floorless", "flying", "mega coaster", "dive machine" and "sit-down" coaster.
Bolliger and Mabillard coasters are renowned for their reliability, low maintenance and near-perfect safety record [citation needed]. Reportedly, when Nemesis ride engineer John Wardley, about to test the roller coaster for the first time, asked Walter Bolliger, "What if the coaster stalls? How will we get the trains back to the station?", Bolliger replied, "Our coasters never stall. They always work perfectly the first time." True to his word, the roller coaster executed its first lap of the track exactly as planned.
Features
One feature of Bolliger and Mabillard coasters that is almost universal throughout their product line, and almost exclusive to B&M, is an element known as a "pre-drop" (which is known in the industry as a "Kicker"). This is a short drop after the top of the lift hill and before the start of the first drop, designed to reduce tension on the lift chain. The flat section between the pre-drop and the first drop serves as a shelf to carry the weight of the train, reducing related stresses on the chain. By comparison, on most coasters without a pre-drop, the weight of the train as it begins its descent tends to pull on the lift chain, as the latter half of the train is still being lifted by the chain at this point. More recently, the pre-drop is only used on coasters with curved drops, whereas coaster with straight drops, such as Goliath at Six Flags over Georgia, Hydra at Dorney Park, Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland, and Led Zeppelin: The Ride at Hard Rock Park does not have a pre-drop.
Bolliger & Mabillard is also one of the only coaster manufacturers that uses four-abreast seating on their trains. Each car has a single row of four seats, and a train normally consists of seven to nine cars. All of their coaster models, except the Diving Machine and the Griffon, use this configuration. The Diving Machine uses eight-across seating with two or three rows of seats. On the Griffon, the cars are ten seats wide in three rows, a record for a full-circuit roller coaster. Most other manufacturers use two-across cars with two or three rows per car.
Another notable feature of Bolliger and Mabillard roller coasters is that they make use of box-section track: the running rails for the coaster are connected to a box-section spine, as opposed to a circular spine used by many other manufacturers. Because of this, when a train travels around the track it creates a distinctive "roar", which is unique to this style of track. Some B&M coasters, such as Talon at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, Silver Bullet at Knott's Berry Farm, and Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure, have their track filled with sand to reduce this noise, resulting in an unusually quiet sound.
B&M generally does not use powered launches on their coasters due to perceived problems with reliability; they prefer gravity-powered roller coasters. The only B&M launched roller coaster in existence is The Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure, which has a pinch-wheel-propelled launch. Even so, this task was given to another company that specializes in powered roller coasters.
List of B&M rides
See Category:Bolliger & Mabillard roller coasters
Overview
Since their first coaster, Iron Wolf, a stand-up coaster at Six Flags Great America, they have designed 64 more rides. They are responsible for groundbreaking rides like Batman The Ride at Six Flags Great America, the world's first inverted looping coaster. Kumba and Montu at Busch Gardens Africa, Raptor and Mantis at Cedar Point, Flight Deck at California's Great America and Carowinds, Hulk Coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure, Nemesis at Alton Towers, Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens Europe, Goliath in Montreal's La Ronde and many others. The company also built the trains for Psyclone, a wooden coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Bolliger and Mabillard was the first company to produce a coaster with a vertical drop with Oblivion at Alton Towers, England. In B&M's terms, this type of coaster is called a "diving machine". There are only five diving machines in the world as of 2007; the other four are Diving Machine G5 at Janfusun Fancyworld in Taiwan, SheiKra at Busch Gardens Africa, Vertical Coaster, at Chimelong Paradise in China, and Griffon at Busch Gardens Europe.
Bolliger & Mabillard's first flying coaster, Air, was constructed at Alton Towers and has been widely praised. Later in 2002, B&M opened their next flier, Superman: Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Over Georgia with modified clones opening in 2003 at Six Flags Great America and Six Flags Great Adventure. Their latest flying coaster, Tatsu, opened in spring 2006 at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
References
- ^ "Bolliger & Mabillard". RCDB. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
- ^ "Bolliger & Mabillard - Inverted Coaster". Retrieved 2007-05-20.