For the third time in the current A-Z Coaster of the Week Series, we visit a Busch Gardens park. Our “S” Coaster of the Week, SheiKra, towers high above the skyline at Busch Gardens Tampa. This B&M dive coaster will be celebrating its 9th birthday later this month.
With a drop of 200′, it does stand 5′ shorter than it’s sister coaster Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but SheiKra does hold the honor of being the first B&M Dive Coaster in the United States. SheiKra is named for a species of African hawk known to dive straight down for its prey.
SheiKra features a 90º drop, and was the first dive coaster to send riders straight down. (Previous dive coasters were 87º and 87.5º). It was also the first dive coaster to feature an immelman loop. Riders are arranged in 3 stadium-style rows of 8 for a total of 24 riders per train. Originally, the coaster had floored seats, but switched over to floorless trains in 2007, just after the opening of Griffon.
Busch Gardens Tampa arranged with Bolliger and Mabillard that after SheiKra was built, the design and layout of the coaster could not be replicated for several years. In 2009, Happy Valley Shanghai built an exact copy, right down to the red track/blue support color scheme, of SheiKra, which they named Diving Coaster.
Were you able to guess SheiKra? Do you think you have what it takes to guess the “T” coaster of the week?
Talon at Dorney Park?