SheiKra



SheiKra is a steel Dive Coaster roller coaster at the Busch Gardens Tampa amusement park in Tampa, Florida, United States. The roller coaster was proposed by Mark Rose, vice-president of design and engineering for the park, and designed by Bolliger & Mabillard. The ride was planned to be 160 feet (49 m) high, but the park's executives rejected this and the height was changed to 200 feet (61 m). SheiKra reaches a maximum speed of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) and has a total track length of 3,188 feet (972 m). It first opened on May 21, 2005, and was converted to a floorless roller coaster on June 16, 2007, following the opening of its sister Dive Coaster Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg that year.

SheiKra was the first Dive Coaster to be constructed in North America; its track includes a splashdown and an Immelmann loop, both a first for its kind. It broke the records for the world's longest, tallest, and fastest Dive Coaster, but lost these records when Griffon in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States and Dive Coaster at Chime-Long Paradise in Guangzhou, China opened. The name SheiKra is derived from the word "shikra", an Asian-African hawk that is known to dive vertically for its prey. In 2005, Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards voted it the fourth-best new steel roller coaster of that year in a three-way tie and the 28th-best steel roller coaster. It was voted the 38th-best steel roller coaster in 2014.

History
Mark Rose, vice-president of design and engineering at Busch Gardens Tampa, proposed a roller coaster that would be 160 feet (49 m) tall; the experience would be "like riding a barrel over Niagara Falls...straight down into water." Busch Gardens executives rejected the proposal, saying it was not interesting enough. Rose changed his concept, adding another 40 feet (12 m) in height to the roller coaster and adding more features to the ride, which led to the executives' approval of the plans. Peckham Guyton Albers & Viets Inc (PGAV) also helped plan and design the roller coaster.

Rumors of a new roller coaster being built at Busch Gardens Tampa began to circulate after a roller coaster enthusiast emailed the park and received a response saying that a roller coaster would be built. These rumors stated that the roller coaster would include a splashdown and an inversion on a Bolliger & Mabillard Dive Coaster, both a first for its kind. Later in the season, the park began to remove part of the track of Serengeti Express. On April 26, 2004, construction permits were discovered that confirmed that a roller coaster, restaurant, and gift shop would be constructed.

In May 2004, further details were leaked including the height, speed and trains. A month later, Tiki masks with quotes relating to the project were placed on the construction walls, including: "I'm a bird with no feathers, a beast with no equal, a fall that never hits the ground. What am I?", "What is taller than 10 giraffes and faster than a charging rhino?", and "What is too fast to see, but has a bird's eye view?". Track and support pieces were later seen in a large field, which further confirmed the new attraction would be a roller coaster.

On October 20, 2004, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (owner of Busch Gardens Tampa) filed a trademark for the name "SheiKra". A week later, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay announced SheiKra, North America's first Dive Coaster, as part of a deal with Bolliger & Mabillard. At the time of the announcement, about half of the ride's foundations were complete. Superior Rigging & Erection constructed the supports and track of SheiKra and by January 28, 2005, the roller coaster's highest track piece was placed along with an evergreen tree. Testing began in late April 2005 after the track had been constructed. After testing was completed, a media day was held on May 19, 2005, for international media outlets to promote the ride. Two days later, the roller coaster opened to the public on May 21, 2005. During SheiKra's first year of operation, its computer systems experienced problems as it would halt operations when it sensed that pumps and compressors were not working as they should. This caused riders to get stranded on the roller coaster and be forced to evacuate.

Bolliger & Mabillard took approximately six months to design SheiKra and four years to complete the entire project. After Busch Gardens Tampa announced SheiKra, the park contracted with Bolliger & Mabillard so that the layout of the roller coaster could not be reproduced for several years. In 2009, after the deal expired, Happy Valley Shanghai built an identical copy of SheiKra called Diving Coaster.

Ride experience
After the floors retract and the front gate opens, the train leaves the station and makes a downward right turn, immediately followed by an upward right turn, which leads to the 47-degree inclined chain lift hill. Once the train reaches the top of the 200-foot (61 m) lift, it turns right into a holding brake where it slowly moves over the first drop, stops for about four seconds, and then descends the 90-degree drop. As the train reaches the bottom of the first drop it reaches its maximum speed of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). Then, the train enters a 145-foot (44 m) Immelmann loop before making a banked, upward, 3.5 g left turn into the mid course brake run. The train slows down and descends a second 138-foot (42 m), 90-degree drop into an underground tunnel. Next, the train makes a right overbanked turn leading into a splashdown that sprays two 60-foot (18 m) lines of water in the air and takes approximately 1.9 seconds to pass through. The train rises, makes a downward right turn, then enters the final brake run that leads directly back to the station. One cycle of the ride lasts about 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

Characteristics
The steel, box track of SheiKra is 3,188 feet (972 m) long and the lift is approximately 200 feet (61 m) high. The track is red and the supports are blue. The ride is equipped with an eight-passenger elevator that can return riders to ground level if a train must be evacuated while on the lift hill. The track and rails were shaped in Italy and fabricated by Clermont Steel Fabricators in Batavia, Ohio, which manufactures Bolliger & Mabillard's roller coasters. SheiKra's track spine is wider than those of Bolliger & Mabillard's traditional roller coasters because of the extra weight of the trains compared to Bolliger & Mabillard's four-abreast cars. During the night, SheiKra's track is illuminated with white lights.

SheiKra operates with five identical trains made from steel and fiberglass, which are three times wider than the track. They were manufactured in Switzerland and shipped to Florida. Each seat has an over-the-shoulder restraint. SheiKra's trains are fitted with nylon and polyurethane wheels to reduce the amount of friction created on the track. Underneath the trains are a pair of anti-rollback devices that prevent the train from rolling down the lift hill should the chain break. There is also a "drop chain dog" that allows the trains to slowly enter the first drop. Each train has three eight-passenger cars, allowing for a maximum capacity of 24 riders per train.