COTALand at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX

[bert425]

forgot a pic i had on my phone

[bert425]

Haven't really seen any chatter about it. . but Matt Hughey (VP of Park Operations at CotALand) has posted some pics on Facebook about an upcoming job posting for the park.

and included some pics that show Palindrome has gone vertical!


Pics courtesy of Matt's Facebook.

[bert425]

Palindrome lift hill complete!!

Pics from Matt (VP of park operations at COTAland)

(also in these pics, the black tracks for Circuit Breaker - the park's Tilt Coaster - also on site already.

 

[Nrthwnd]

^ It's all looking great, Bert!

[ricklap77]

This new Vekoma tilt coaster will be a hit and we will probably see a bunch of them being built at other parks.

[bert425]

for National Roller Coaster Day this past weekend, my Friend Matt Hughey (VP of Park Operations at Circuit of the Americas), invited my other friends, the Quirky Coaster Couple (Nick and Kelly) to come out and take a tour of the COTA-land site. . . where they have quietly been doing a TON of work.

the Quirkies were able to turn it into an event of sorts, inviting 20 or so others to come along, ride the Schwarzkopf Texas Wildcat (that's been open for a while), and take laps on the go-karts as well as have a site tour.    Sadly, I was unable to attend, as I was *LITERALLY* a mile a way at the Austin airport for my flight to Vegas at the time of the event -  hey, it all worked out, I had a great time, and so did they at COTA.

With the Quirkies' kind permission that it was ok to share their pics?  here are some updates - and I think you're gonna be a little surprised.

yes, yes. . the big "news" that came out of it, is that they are still hoping for a 2025 opening, but that there HAVE been delays (mostly related to Covid, and how things work nowadays), but they will give a planned update at an event in January, if 2025 is still in the cards.

BUT. . all track for all coasters is on site, and all the flats are on site.

ok. .here come the pics:

Palindrome is complete!   (not sure when it's going to start testing, as I wasn't able to attend, so not sure if they covered that):

 

Circuit Breaker - the 2nd Tilt Coaster in existence has gone vertical - the support for the "tilt" portion is up!

 

and finally, here are the Quirkies (Nick and Kelly- lower right in yellow), with Matt at the COTA site (along with the lucky folks who were able to join them)!

 

[CedarFlags]

On 8/20/2024 at 6:35 PM, bert425 said:

Circuit Breaker - the 2nd Tilt Coaster in existence has gone vertical - the support for the "tilt" portion is up!

Not to be too pedantic about it, but Jinma has four tilt coasters operating in China right now and Vekoma already finished building Iron Rattler in Qiddiya.  Plus Winja's at Phantasialand and Gringott's at Universal Orlando both have tilt sections.

[bert425]

a Section of tilt track (as on Winja's) is not anything at all like a Tilt Coaster.

you are incorrect on your list above, only because I'm talking about real, Vekoma, "Tilt Coasters" . . . not the Chinese Knockoff that they call "Broken Rail Coasters" (if I'm being pedantic)

there is currently ONE Vekoma tilt coaster in existence - open and operating:  Gravity Max at Discoveryland in Taiwan.

 

there are 3 under constructions - Circuit Breaker at COTA, which has gone vertical and is moving along nicely, Iron Rattler at Six Flags Quiddiy City, and the just announced today, Siren's Curse at Cedar Point.