Six Flags Magic Mountain invited us out today to go behind the walls for a construction tour of its new Premier Rides launched racing coaster, West Coast Racers.
Park President Neal Thurman and Director of Maintenance and Construction Tim Dofflow walked us around the construction site. And no, there's no set opening date yet. In fact, there's quite a bit of work to be done, as you can see from our tour. Dofflow did insist that the ride would be open "this year," however.
The Premier Rides coaster will take riders on two laps around the Mobius-style circuit, with a "pit stop" in the station between laps. Top speed will be between 53-57 mph, but the low-to-the-ground design (the ride tops at just 67 feet) will help amplify the feeling of speed.
West Coast Customs is designing the body work on the trains, which otherwise will be the same as on Premier's Full Throttle, except that West Coast Racers will add "soft collars" to the restraint system.
Buy Tickets: For discount tickets to Six Flags Magic Mountain, visit our officially authorized Six Flags Magic Mountain tickets page.
Robert that was super fun. Thanks for sharing!
In the video, Neal and Tim blame soil issues and shipping challenges for the delay. Given that some of the track supports were coming from China, I wonder if the ongoing trade issues between the US and China could have affected this project.
I wonder what will happen at the "pit stop"...
Glad to see this is coming along nicely. In addition to what was mentioned above, I've heard there were some manufacturing issues with the attraction that caused additional delays (perhaps Chinese lack of quality). Still, I've been hearing mid/late September is the current target to capitalize on Fright Fest crowds, but we'll see what ends up happening.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
I would be surprised to see this coaster open before October. There are still lots of track pieces to be installed as well as test and perform landscaping under the ride. It would be interesting to find out what caused the delay with this coaster. The fact that it was announced last Labor Day Weekend, but didn't start actual construction until April (with track not arriving onsite until late May) makes me think it was a manufacturing issue, but it could be something else. A park in a warm location that is rarely affected by weather should not miss an opening by this much.