Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point’s record breaking hyper-hybrid coaster, is receiving rave reviews with some even calling it the best ride ever. Rocky Mountain Construction transformed the 161-foot-tall wooden monstrosity formerly known as Mean Streak by adding on more than 40 additional feet. In the process they created the world’s first “hyper-hybrid” roller coaster (a hyper coaster being any between 200-299 feet tall and a hybrid being constructed of wooden supports and steel track). Oh yeah, they also increased the track length from 5,427 to 5,740 feet too.
This lead me to thinking: will we ever seen a wooden-to-hybrid conversion on the same scale as Steel Vengeance ever again?
Sure, Rocky Mountain Construction has proven they can build incredible roller coasters from the ground up, like Lightning Rod at Dollywood and Wildfire at Kolmarden.
But is there an existing wooden roller coaster that could be transformed into a hybrid and break Steel Vengeance’s records: tallest, fastest, longest, steepest, most inversions, most airtime?
Will there ever be another hyper-hybrid roller coaster?
The first candidate I thought of was Texas Giant, another massive Dinn Corporation wooden coaster very similar in design to Mean Streak. But RMC already worked their magic on the giant. Actually, Steel Vengeance wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for Six Flags taking a chance on closing one of their marquee attractions for a track technology never used on a large scale before. While New Texas Giant is a great ride, it’s not record breaking and didn’t receive the same level of buzz as Steel Vengeance. It’s not even the #1 RMC in the state anymore thanks to Iron Rattler.
So what wooden roller coasters are left in North America that could be RMC’d that would even come close to epic-ness that is Steel Vengeance?
If we list operating wooden coasters by height, the first candidate is El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure. At 180 feet it could very easily reach hyper status with only 20 extra feet being needed. But Cedar Point had a need to transform Mean Streak; it easily went from being the worst coaster in the park to the best. From a ride experience perspective, there is no need to transform El Toro. It’s already at the top of most enthusiast’s list of best wooden coasters or even their favorite coaster overall. Not much could be improved by changing to steel track, except maybe reducing maintenance costs. Rocky Mountain Construction is credited with helping to construct El Toro, so in a way it kind of is already a RMC coaster.
Next is The Voyage at Holiday World. Steel Vengeance has been described as a steel version of The Voyage. If Steel Vengeance has the most airtime then Voyage is probably second. Maybe if it were RMC’d they could get a few more seconds of airtime out of it to take back the record? Besides providing a smoother ride experience, I don’t think there is much they could do to improve the already amazing layout. Maybe add an inversion or two? However, the structure of Voyage is steel, so even if RMC added Iron Horse track it would not be a hybrid, it would be classified as a steel coaster.
The next biggest wood coaster is Hades 360 at Mount Olympus, a ride that has already gone through one transformation when an inversion was added in 2013. But, like Voyage, it also uses a steel structure so could not break the hybrid records. Next.
Finally, we get to a coaster that many of us would love to see converted and might actually have a chance of it: Monstre at La Ronde in Montreal. It’s 130 feet tall and has a combined track length of nearly 8,000 feet. Checks the boxes of having a mammoth wood structure and is in a Six Flags owned park, a company with plenty of experience with RMC. 
By comparison Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain was 125 feet tall and each track was 4,325 feet long and that conversion is considered one of the best RMC coasters. Still, LaRonde seems like an unlikely park that would put in the extra cash to raise the height by more than 70 feet to achieve hyper status.
The next candidate is American Eagle at Six Flags Great America. Another racing coaster with each side being 127 feet tall and 4,650 feet long. This could become Twisted Colossus II, and while that would be fun, probably wouldn’t be a record breaker. This seems unlikely due to RMC already adding Goliath to the park’s lineup in 2014, or the fact that the Viper wood coaster would also be a candidate for the RMC conversion.
Another popular pick to get the RMC treatment by fans is Six Flag St.Louis’ The Boss. It only stands 122 feet tall but has a 150 foot drop due to the terrain and is a nice 4,631 feet long. Again, it checks off the box of being located at a Six Flags park, but Six Flag RMCs typically tend to get shorted, not longer.
Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa has been standing but not operating since 2015. This shouldn’t phase RMC, Twisted Twins was SBNO from 2008 – 2015 before being transformed into the fantastic Storm Chaser. But the ride is only 105 feet tall and 3,508 feet long and doesn’t give as much to work with as the other coasters. Could still be an awesome ride, but record breaking? I don’t think so. And at this time this does not seem likely given the direction the SeaWorld chain of parks has been headed lately.
In the end, the next best wooden coaster conversion might actually already be in the works. White Cyclone at Nagashima Spaland in Japan was one of the most impressive looking wood coasters ever built. It was announced earlier this year the 139 feet tall, 5,577 foot long coaster was closing to become a hybrid. They’d still have to add 60 feet to reach hyper coaster status.
I bet even the pre-lift section is going to have some nice little hops or twists. It’s going to be interesting to see what Alan does with those giant helices. Maybe they’ll go for five inversions? Here’s a fan made guess at what it could look like:
Of course, I think the best coaster that could’ve gotten the RMC treatment and would have shattered all the records is Son of Beast, but that is a discussion for a future post…
Whether you think Steel Vengeance is a top coaster or not, you have to appreciate everything that went into creating such a massive ride. Mean Streak was the perfect canvas for Alan Schilke’s masterpiece. We should cherish Steel Vengeance because it is unlikely any of us living in North America will see a wood coaster transformation of this magnitude ever again. Steel Vengeance may be the first and only hyper-hybrid roller coaster.
Do you think we’ll see another hyper-hybrid coaster? Were than any other big wooden roller coasters that I missed? Let me know in the comments below!
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