[Trev32]

I agree with Carowindsman it feels WAY faster this year, and looks it!! The first time I rode it(2003) it felt way slower than when i rode it in April...

[Carowindsman]

Here is another thing about Top Gun it is the 8th longest inverted coaster

1st Pyrenees Parque Espana-Shima Spain Village 1997 4048' 7"
2nd Montu Busch Gardens Tampa 5/16/1996 3983'
3rd Katun
Orochi Mirabilandia
Expoland 4/1/2000
1996 3937'
4th Alpengeist Busch Gardens Williamsburg 3/22/1997 3828'
5th Raptor Cedar Point 5/7/1994 3790'
6th Dueling Dragons Universal Studios Islands of Adventure 5/28/1999 3200'
7th Talon Dorney Park 5/5/2001 3110'
8th Top Gun - The Jet Coaster Paramount's Carowinds 3/20/1999 2956'
9th Jubilee Odyssey Fantasy Island 5/25/2002 2924'
10th Great Bear Hersheypark 5/23/1998 2800'

[The Anomaly]

Hm...it was said somewhere that Orochi and Raptor were clones of each other. I guess they're not.

[Trev32]

Dang 8th longest??? WOW!! I thought there were way more that were longer...

[bgwfreak]

People are complaining about TG being 10, really you can look at it another way.

Several of the Top 10 are lauched coasters (Volcano, Wicked Twister).

So if you just talk about traditional lift coasters, we're probably like #6.

I had no idea Alpengeist was that short. Seems like it's a 3 minute ride ha ha

[Cephas]

Orchi and Raptor ARE clones.

TG has to be shorter than all these other inverts because its only 113 feet tall.

[Trev32]

^Does tallness matter??? No. They coulkd make a coaster that's only 40 ft tall and be about 3,000 ft..

[swampfox43]

TG has to be shorter than all these other inverts because its only 113 feet tall.

Top Gun's lift hill is only 113ft tall, but the drop is 125ft. This is another way of Paramount promoting BORG as the tallest coaster in the park. Theoretically, it may be taller, but TG still has the longest drop.

Actually, TG could technically be the highest coaster in the park since the lift sits on top of a hill. I mean, it's quite obvious when looking at the coasters from the parking lot that TG appears to be waay taller.

[Cephas]

The 40 foot coaster would not have enough momentum to go through 3000 feet of track.

If the drop is 125 feet, then why didn't the park promote that when they had that teaser kiosk in front of the country kitchen, they only said that the ride was 113 feet tall.

[swampfox43]

If the drop is 125 feet, then why didn't the park promote that when they had that teaser kiosk in front of the country kitchen, they only said that the ride was 113 feet tall.

Good question. I guess they thought that even at 113ft, it still beat everything else in the park at that time. But I've wondered the same thing. I have an original Press Kit of TG and the only reference it says to height is "lift height - 113ft".

But, when I did my article on Top Gun for RC Magazine in 1999, I wrote to B&M asking them for more specific info, such as "length of drop". They replied that the drop was 125ft.

So, back to square one. Why didn't the park ever promote TG as having a 125ft. drop? I wish I knew the answer.

One thing for sure, they wouldn't be able to hype BORG as being the tallest coaster in the park if they had......

BTW, Thunderhead at Dollywood has a lift height of 75ft. but the drop is 100ft.

[Trev32]

The 40 foot coaster would not have enough momentum to go through 3000 feet of track.

It would if the tallest point after the lift was 15 feet



Wow, Top Gun's drop is pretty long...

[Jay]

I hate to bring up topics from the dead, especially topics as stupid as this one, but I thought of something last week while I was on vacation. The important thing isn't where to look at Top Gun now, but to look where Top Gun *WAS* when it opened 5 years ago.

1st - Volcano: The Blast Coaster, Paramount's Kings Dominion - 8/3/1998 - 70 mph
2nd - Alpengeist, Busch Gardens Williamsburg - 3/22/1997 - 67 mph
3rd - Pyrenees, Parque Espana-Shima Spain Village - 1997 - 62.1 mph
4th - Top Gun: The Jet Coaster, Paramount's Carowinds - 3/20/1999 - 62 mph

Fourth! That is dang good! And out of my experience, Top Gun is wayyyy better than Volcano, and especially Alpengeist. (Pyrenees looks awesome though :unsure: )

--Jay (Who says that Top Gun is still his favorite invert, of the 20 he's ridden B) )

[Jonathan]

And of course let's not forget that in the 2003 Steel Coaster Poll, Top Gun was ranked the 21st best steel coaster in the world, and that's out of hundreds of coasters. Nemesis, Montu, Dueling Dragons - Fire, and Raptor were the only suspended/inverted coasters that finished ahead of it.

[Carowindsman]

what jamminj said with the stats i believe this is how it would be

1st - Volcano: The Blast Coaster, Paramount's Kings Dominion - 8/3/1998 - 70 mph
2nd - Alpengeist, Busch Gardens Williamsburg - 3/22/1997 - 67 mph
Tie for 2nd - Top Gun: The Jet Coaster, Paramount's Carowinds - 3/20/1999 - 62-67mph
3rd - Pyrenees, Parque Espana-Shima Spain Village - 1997 - 62.1 mph

As the yellow train is hauling some butt and the red train is actually picking up speed also, but probaby since 62 is the rated top speed for top gun that is what are speeds will say across the roller coaster world. They really shouldnt count Volcano in this since it is a launch coaster.....