COTALand Planning to Add Circuit Breaker, North America’s First Tilt Coaster, in 2023

Austin, Texas’ Circuit of the Americas (COTA), known primarily for racing, is about to pop up on the radar of more roller coaster enthusiasts (or at least your crazy relatives who tag you in Facebook posts asking “Would you ride this?!?!” According to FOX7 Austin, COTALand will be home to North America’s first “Tilt” Coaster, Circuit Breaker, which is scheduled to open in 2023.

“We actually had this as part of the original master plan. Our assets are concession stands, restrooms and lots of parking spaces. When you consider what you should do with a campus like that, you have to make it a destination,” Bobby Epstein, chairman of COTA, told FOX7.

COTA entertains more than 1.2 Million visitors per year, and features a full circuit racetrack, MLS stadium, and amphitheater. With the addition of Palindrome, North America’s first Gerstlauer Infinity Shuttle Coaster, coming later this year, and now Circuit Breaker, it’s the goal of COTA to attract more visitors with roller coasters.

“[Circuit Breaker] does have a sister overseas,” said Matt Hughey, Sr. Manager of COTA Karting and COTALAND. “It’s just the most neat experience to be dangling facing downward waiting for it to drop,”

That overseas sister, Gravity Max at Discovery World in Taiwan, is the product of Dutch ride designers Vekoma. It takes riders to heights of 114′ on a horizontal platform, which pivots 90-degrees before dropping riders straight down to complete the rest of the course. Gravity Max reaches top speeds of 56 mph, and features one inversion.

COTALand is scheduled to open in phases, with the “kiddie” park opening sometime in 2022, with the entire park, including the Tilt Coaster Circuit Breaker opening in 2023.

 

 

 

 

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