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Dutch Coastin' .// Werner Stengel, "Achterbanh-designer"

Before we get to the tips Mr. Werner Stengel gave me, I'll first give you a small biography of Mr. Stengel.

Born on August 22nd, 1936, the 23-year-old Mr. Stengel began to hone his skills at the University of Kassel, Germany, where he matriculated as an engineering student from 1959 until 1962. He continued his studies as a "Diploma Engineer" at the University of Munich from 1962 to 1966. It's a testament to his skills that before he'd even finished this program, his professional career had taken flight. In 1965, Mr. Stengel's consulting office opened its doors and that same year, the company dove into its first coaster project: Anton Schwarzkopf's compact steel Wild Cat.

Mr. Stengel continued to establish his reputation as a leading amusement engineer. During 1967 and 1968, Mr. Stengel lectured eight hours weekly on the subject of static and steel construction at the University of Munich. In 1974, he became a member of the "DIN-Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V." standards committee, developing guidelines for temporary structures and fairground amusements and establishing directives for dimensioning and construction.

By 1983, Stengel had founded a second company with Paul Morsbach. "Amusement Park Safety Consultants" was created exclusively to perform safety inspections at amusement parks in England, France, Belgium and The Netherlands, and operated until 1992.

In 1988, he became a member of the "Strain of Passengers Limit Values for Roller Coasters" research group and in 1992, he received Germany's Appreciation of Engineer Award for the "Quintuplet Loop Roller Coaster," known to you and I as the awesome Olympia Looping. And 1995 saw him become a member of yet another safety-related group, the European Committee for Standardization: "Fairground and Amusement Park Machinery and Structures - Safety".

Let me give you a small grasp out of his portfolio:

Monte Makaya, designed in conjunction with Intamin and opened in 1998 at Brazil's Terra Encantada. This 121-foot-tall loop frenzy is one of only two 8-inversion roller coasters in the world (along with Port Aventura's Dragon Kahn in Spain).
Paramount's Kings Dominion's Volcano: The Blast Coaster, another Intamin-produced ride that debuted in '98. The world's first linear induction motor-propelled inverted coaster, V:TBC is also currently the world's fastest inverted coaster and the only coaster of any kind that features a 155-foot-tall vertical climb into an inversion.
Batman & Robin: The Chiller, designed for Premier Rides. Six Flags Great Adventure's raging red and blistering blue pair still qualify as the only dual-track LIM installation in the world.
Millennium Force, which was when it opened the highest coaster in the world. It is also the ride which introduced the revolutionary new Intamin lift-hill which doesn't use a chain, but a cable.
Colossos, Europe's highest wooden coaster, and the highest and fastest coaster on the European mainland. This is without any doubt the woody with the most airtime in the world!
Expedition GeForce, the beautiful hypercoaster situated at Holiday Park. This coaster is according to many the best European coaster.

And Mr. Stengel will not rest. He still has a lot planned for the future. Let me give you an idea of what the future might bring us:

Goliath, a 45 metre high Intamin Megacoaster for Six Flags Holland.
'Blue Bird', a B&M multi-inverter for Heide-Park. The concept features 12 inversion, and is not yet officially confirmed.
'HP Hyper', an Intamin Hypercoaster which will become the highest coaster in the world with a first drop of a dazzling 100 metres and a highest point of 125 metres (Millennium Force -> 94 metres).
Winja's Force & Winja's Fear, the duelling spinning mouse coaster by Maurer Söhne.
Several new rides opening in 2002 in Warner Bros MovieWorld Madrid.

The following is a transcript of a conversation between myself, Mr. Werner Stengel and some FKF people who had an interview with him at that time (or something like that). This conversation took place on the 6th of may, several hours after the official opening of Colossos, in Heide-Park. During this conversation, the 'HP Hyper' was first mentioned. The entire conversation has been translated from German, and may be slightly different from what was actually said.

Mr. Stengel, what did you think of Colossos? Is this the ultimate ride?

"No, I certainly hope not! Because if it is, I am now officially out of a job. Colossos is a very nice coaster, with a lot of airtime. It is certainly a beautiful expansion of the park. But it is not the ultimate ride."

What makes a ride thrilling? Is it a first drop as high as the one on Colossos, or is it suspense? Do the inversion or camel backs make a ride thrilling?

"A lot of different factors together make a ride thrilling. A ride can have a wonderful first drop, but the first drop isn't the most important part of the ride. You must keep the suspense in the ride, even after the first drop. It is very important to work with the element of surprise, and not only with G-forces. A large first drop is wonderful. I'd love to make a ride with a first drop of a 100 metres deep. But that is not what makes a ride thrilling. A smooth, exciting and unpredictable lay-out is what makes a ride thrilling."

Both Millennium Force as Colossos have a very fast lift hill, why is this?

"These are both very intense coasters. And both are very expensive coasters. The parks don't want people to stand next to the ride and look at it, they want their guests to get on them. The fast lift hill lowers the threshold of the higher coasters, because you will not release how high you are, until you start plunging down. Just appealing to a larger audience."

Do you think you can go any higher than Millennium Force?

"Absolutely! And I'm going to as well. Development never stops. We will keep going higher and faster. There is virtually no limit."

Do you think that coasters will keep getting higher in the future?

"Some will. You will always have rides such as Millennium Force, which stick out. But the average coaster will remain about 45 to 50 metres high. It is the elements which will dominate the future. New ones will appear, more intense and more unpredictable as the ones you have seen before. When you create a coaster of 200 metres high, the passenger will have to protected against the extreme G's and bugs. This is not what we want. We want the ultimate feeling of freedom, combined with the feeling of being out of control. Height is important, but new elements and moves will be the future."

Is there a physical limit to how intense you can go?

"There probably is. Millennium Force is already pretty intense. People hold on very tight, and this has certain consequences for their health. But you should not be worried, we haven't reached to boundaries of the physically possible by far."

What are the things that are most important in coasterdesign?

"You must keep the element of surprise. The track most be unpredictable and intense. The ride most keep the rider's attention from beginning to end. The minute a rider gets bored in a roller coaster, you can blame that to a design error. You should always have a first drop as deep as possible, and some very nice 'high-G' moves."

Ingenieurburö Dipl.-Ing. Werner Stengel concerning the future of the roller coaster: "At the moment, the market is requesting more of them. The next years should be pretty good for enthusiasts. The rides are becoming faster and will be bigger in dimension and height. New techniques will occur and new things will come to market with our help."

Courtesy of Final Atrocity.