Bolliger & Mabillard

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. [cite web |url=http://www.rcdb.com/cd1.htm |title=Bolliger & Mabillard |accessdate=2007-05-20 |publisher=RCDB] Since 1990, B&M have built over 70 roller coasters around the world and have pioneered several new ride technologies, most notably the inverted roller coaster. [cite web |url=http://www.bolliger-mabillard.com/products/inverted_en.aspx |title=Bolliger & Mabillard - Inverted Coaster |accessdate=2007-05-20] The company started with four employees and has since grown, now employing more than 30 people, mostly engineers and draftsmen.

History

Both Bolliger and Mabillard worked for Swiss amusement ride manufacturer Intamin AG before branching off on their own. During their time at Intamin AG they helped the company design its first stand-up roller coaster, "Shockwave" at Six Flags Magic Mountain. The pair also contributed to other Intamin AG projects, such as "Z-Force" at Six Flags Great America.

The company first made a name for itself in 1990 with their own stand-up roller coaster, "Iron Wolf", located at Six Flags Great America, and rose to prominence two years later with the development of another project for Six Flags Great America, "", the world's first inverted roller coaster. Since then, Bolliger & Mabillard have continued to design new roller coaster variants—such as the floorless roller coaster and the Diving Machine—and make their own mark with existing concepts, like the hypercoaster and flying roller coaster.

As of 2008, Bolliger & Mabillard has over 70 operating roller coasters worldwide. Twenty of their creations are listed among the "Amusement Today" Golden Ticket Awards Top 50 Steel Coasters List for 2007, including four in the top 10. They have more roller coasters than any other manufacturer on the list. [citeweb|url=http://www.amusementtoday.com/image/GoldenTicket2007.pdf|title=2007 Golden Ticket Awards|publisher="Amusement Today"]

Features

Bolliger & Mabillard currently has seven different ride styles to choose from: "stand-up", "inverted", "floorless", "flying", "mega coaster" (their term for a hypercoaster), "diving machine"/"dive-coaster" and "sit-down" roller coasters. The company has been involved in developing new technologies and concepts in roller coasters almost since its very inception, often working closely with engineer Werner Stengel, as well as with designers and management from the theme parks that retain their services. 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.Fact|date=August 2008

One feature of Bolliger and Mabillard coasters that is common 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 and "Led Zeppelin: The Ride" at Hard Rock Park do not have pre-drops.

Bolliger & Mabillard was one of the first roller coaster manufacturers to use 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 roller coaster models except the diving machine use this configuration. Instead, the diving machine uses eight-across seating with two or three rows of seats, while "Griffon" at Busch Gardens Europe uses ten seats in three rows, a record for a full-circuit roller coaster. On recent hypercoaster projects, notably "Behemoth" at Canada's Wonderland and the upcoming "Diamondback" at King's Island, B&M have unveiled a new car design with two rows of two seats, with the two in the rear of the car pushed out from the centerline, such that the four seats resemble a V formation.

Another notable feature of Bolliger and Mabillard roller coasters is that they make use of box-section track. The running rails for the roller 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.Fact|date=August 2008 However, some B&M roller coasters, such as "Talon" at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom and "Kraken" at SeaWorld Orlando, have their track filled with sand to reduce this noise, resulting in an unusually quiet sound.

The company 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 designed by another company that specialized in powered roller coasters.

List of B&M rides

See

Overview

Since their first coaster, "Iron Wolf", a stand-up coaster at Six Flags Great America, they have designed 69 more rides. Some of their groundbreaking designs include:
* "Batman The Ride" at Six Flags Great America, the world's first inverted looping roller coaster
* "Oblivion" at Alton Towers, the world's first vertical drop roller coaster
* "Medusa" at Six Flags Great Adventure, the world's first floorless coasterThe company has made other contributions to the roller coaster community. For example, the firm also built the trains for "Psyclone", a now-demolished wooden roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

References

External links

* [http://www.bolliger-mabillard.com Bolliger and Mabillard's Website]
* [http://rcdb.com/ir.htm?contact=1 Listing of B&M rides at the RCDB]