The Factory Coaster at Wuxi Sunac Land

The Factory Coaster at Wuxi Sunac Land was one of Zamperla’s most ambitious roller coaster projects. Located a few hours west of Shanghai, this coaster was the result of continued innovation by Zamperla’s coaster team. A majority of the project was new: track design, vehicle design and ride elements. Because the park owners also wanted to offer a visual component to the ride experience the entire ride is housed in a huge building.

One of the most interesting parts of the Factory Coaster fabrication was Zamperla’s unique ability to erect and test sections of track or entire coasters on site. The “foundation yard” is where we can set up special sections of an attraction and run them through their paces, sometimes hundreds of thousands of test cycles. Our team erected, inspected and prototyped the coaster’s unique freefall system in our yard. This accelerated the testing and installation process on-site.

The Factory Coaster experience begins with a chain lift. Like our Thunderbolt ride, the lift hill utilizes an innovative set of magnetic brakes on the lift hill instead of the traditional anti-rollback device. This allows an easier unload at the bottom of the hill should there be a power outage.

The coaster dives off the lift, swoops down and stops. After a video scene the vehicle is accelerated forward through the dark. As the ride pauses at a second video screen the track switches behind them. Unsuspecting guests are shocked as the vehicle is suddenly launched backwards into the dark.

More screams ensue as the vehicle lumbers towards the most anticipated part of the experience for seasoned riders- the drop track. In a matter of seconds the train brakes engage, the safety pins release, and the entire vehicle drops straight down. It is breathtaking.

After the screaming subsides the vehicle dives out of the drop shaft and speeds over a few undulating hills before heading back to the station. The Factory Coaster offers guests to Wuxi Sunac Land a one-of-a-kind coaster experience.