Hypersonic XLC

Hypersonic XLC was a roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Hypersonic was the first compressed air launch coaster in the world, and still remains the only one in North America. In 2007, Hypersonic XLC was closed and later dismantled. The platform is all that remains at the ride's former location between the Hurler and Grizzly roller coasters.

Hypersonic was built by S&S Power, a company who specializes in air-powered rides such as Skyhawk at Cedar Point, and Power Tower, also located at Cedar Point. Hypersonic is S&S Power's actual prototype for an air-launched coaster; the prototype, called Thrust Air 2000, was reconstructed at Paramount's Kings Dominion after it moved from its original location in Utah. S&S Power slightly redesigned the portion of Thrust Air 2000 after the 90-degree drop so that it would fit into the landscape of Paramount's Kings Dominion. As with some other prototype rides such as X at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Hypersonic XLC has had problems with extended periods of downtime; it was closed for almost three months at the beginning of (P)KD's 2002 season.

The ride

After launching from 0 to 80 MPH, you crest the 165-foot hill and then drop down at a 87-degree angle. Next, the coaster does an overbanked turn to the left, drops down a small hill, goes through a smaller overbanked turn, and then heads into the brake run.

The launch system

Hypersonic XLC's launch system is a rather new launch system that utilizes compressed air to launch a train full of passengers at high speeds in a short amount of time. Currently the compressed air launch system is used on the world's fastest accelerating ride, Dodonpa, which accelerates to 106.9 mph in just 1.8 seconds (Kingda Ka and Top Thrill Dragster are both faster than Dodonpa is, but Dodonpa is the ride with the quickest acceleration). A characteristic about compressed air launches is their short launch runway. Unlike hydraulic and LIM/LSM launches compressed air needs only a short time to accelerate a train.

For sale

During the 2006 offseason, Kings Dominion put Hypersonic XLC up for sale. Screamscape had speculated that the park would remove Hypersonic XLC after Labor Day, 2007, whether they had found a buyer for it or not. However, the ride ran for the remainder of the 2007 season. In January 2008, the park removed Hypersonic from their website. Within the next several weeks, Kings Dominion confirmed that they were going to start removing Hypersonic from the park within the next several weeks. On February 16, it was reported that there were cranes hooked onto the tophat of the ride; by the park's opening day on March 22, Hypersonic XLC had been disassembled and was placed in a field near the Hurler. As of February 2008, the coaster remains up for sale. Now as of August 6th, 2008 Screamscape has said that HyperSonic was no longer listed for sale.

Links

Coaster sale listing

References