Bolliger & Mabillard
Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, both of whom had worked for Giovanola, who supplied rides for Intamin.
B&M has pioneered several new ride technologies, most notably the inverted roller coaster and the box-section track. In 2016, the company completed its 100th roller coaster. B&M produces nine types of coaster models: Stand-Up Coaster, Inverted Coaster, Floorless Coaster, Flying Coaster, Hyper Coaster, Dive Coaster, Sitting Coaster, Wing Coaster and Family Coaster.
History
Roots
Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard started working for Giovanola, a manufacturing company who supplied rides to Intamin, in the 1970s. During their time at Giovanola, they helped design the company's first stand-up roller coaster, Shockwave at Six Flags Magic Mountain. They also worked on other projects, such as Z-Force at Six Flags Great America. Bolliger & Mabillard left Giovanola, but the company continued to use their track design, so the company's roller coasters, Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Titan at Six Flags Over Texas, use a track style very similar to B&M's.at Six Flags Great Adventure
Launch
In 1987, Giovanola underwent a change of management; Bolliger & Mabillard decided to leave and founded their own company. At the time, B&M employed four people, including two draftsmen: Bolliger and Mabillard. When B&M was created, the pair had agreed not to make any more amusement attractions. However, Robert Mampe, Six Flags Great America's staff engineer, who had worked with both men during the construction of Z-Force, contacted the new company and asked it to reconfigure the cars for its Giovanola-built, Intamin bobsled coaster that was to be relocated from Six Flags Great Adventure.Following that project Mampe asked the new company to design and build a stand-up roller coaster for Six Flags Great America, similar to Shockwave at Six Flags Magic Mountain. B&M accepted the offer and hired two more draftsmen. But B&M had a problem regarding how and where to manufacture the track pieces for the roller coaster. With the impression of the work done by Clermont Steel Fabricators on Vortex at Kings Island and Shockwave Six Flags Great America, Walter Bolliger went to the steel plant and asked if they would be interested in manufacturing the track. Clermont Steel Fabricators accepted and currently manufactures all Bolliger and Mabillard roller coaster track pieces for all of North America. Now with a company to manufacture the track, B&M built its first roller coaster, a stand-up roller coaster, Iron Wolf, which opened in 1990 at Six Flags Great America. Two years later, Bolliger & Mabillard built another project for Six Flags Great America, , the world's first inverted roller coaster, which brought them to prominence in the industry.
Development
Bolliger & Mabillard also invented the Floorless Coaster and the Dive Coaster. The company also built its first launched roller coaster, the Incredible Hulk, which is at Islands of Adventure. In 2010, B&M unveiled its new Wing Coaster and premiered the prototype model, named Raptor, at Gardaland in 2011. It has two seats on each side on the car that hang riders over the sides of the track. there are fifteen in operation. In 2015, B&M constructed Thunderbird at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, its first in-house launched coaster.By 2010, B&M employed twelve engineers, twelve draftsmen and two draftswomen. The company has made other contributions to the roller coaster industry. The company built the trains for the Psyclone, a now-demolished wooden roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. The trains were later used on the park's Colossus wooden roller coaster, but were only used during October each year. The trains faced backward and usually raced against trains on the second track, which ran forward.
In 2013, the company launched the construction of Banshee, the world's longest inverted roller coaster. B&M supplied new trains for Steel Dragon 2000, built by D. H. Morgan Manufacturing in 2000. As of 2012, Bolliger & Mabillard has 85 operating roller coasters worldwide. Of these, twenty-two were listed among that year's Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards Top 50 Steel Coasters List for 2012 and five were in the top 10.
By 2016, Bolliger & Mabillard had completed their 100th coaster, and had built more roller coasters than any other manufacturer on the Golden Ticket Awards Steel Coasters list.
Features
Bolliger & Mabillard currently manufactures nine different roller coaster styles: Stand-Up Coaster, Inverted Coaster, Floorless Coaster, Flying Coaster, Hyper Coaster, Dive Coaster, Sitting Coaster, Wing Coaster and Family Coaster. Bolliger & Mabillard has been involved in developing new technologies and concepts in roller coasters almost since its inception. It has often worked with engineer Werner Stengel and with designers and management of client theme parks.Lift hills
Many Bolliger & Mabillard coasters feature an element known as a "pre-drop", a short drop after the top of the lift hill and before the start of the first drop, designed to reduce stress on the lift chain and prevent the trains from motion during a ride evacuation. The flat section between the pre-drop and the first drop serves as a shelf to support the weight of the train, reducing related stresses on the chain. On most coasters without a pre-drop, the weight of the train tends to pull on the lift chain as it begins its descent because the latter half of the train is still being lifted by the chain. Pre-drops have not been used on the company's Dive or Flying coasters, or on hyper coasters built after 1999. OzIris at Parc Astérix was the first B&M inverted roller coaster that does not feature a pre-drop. Ever since, no coaster built by B&M has featured a pre-drop because the chain accelerates on newer coasters of B&M after the train passes the crest to acquire the same speed as the train when it is being taken over by gravity, and B&M have come up with new methods of evacuating riders safely from the ride.Trains
Most of Bolliger & Mabillard's roller coaster trains use four-abreast seating. Each car has one row of four seats, while the train length can vary between coasters. All of the company's coaster models, except the Dive Coaster and Wing Coaster use this configuration. The Dive Coaster uses six, eight or ten-abreast seating, with two or three rows of seats. For example, Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, uses ten seats in three rows, while Krake at Heide Park uses six-across seating in three rows. On recent hyper coaster projects, B&M has used a new car design that has two rows of two seats; the two seats in the rear of the car pushed out from the centerline so that the four seats resemble a V formation. This formation has only been used on Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland, Diamondback at Kings Island, Intimidator at Carowinds and at PortAventura Park, in the resort PortAventura World. In 2013, B&M introduced a new car design that has two rows of two seats, however, they are not in a V formation.All B&M hyper coasters use a type of restraint called a "T-bar" or "Clamshell" restraint, which consists of bar with a cushioned lap bar with two handles for riders to hold on to. This type of restraint generally does not use a seat belt, however seat belts have been added to Behemoth and Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland, Diamondback at Kings Island, and Intimidator at Carowinds, all of which have the stadium style seating. Bolliger & Mabillard also uses over-the-shoulder restraints, in that the restraint is placed over the riders' shoulders and sits and extends to the riders' laps. This type of restraint is used on Dive, Inverted, Sitting, Flying, Floorless, Stand-up and Wing Coasters. Bolliger & Mabillard has recently begun using a vest like over the shoulder restraint, which reduces headbanging found on the older, more common padded over the shoulder restraints. These have been met with some criticism from the coaster community, due to the nature in which they tighten during the ride; stapling riders to their seats, resulting in less airtime being felt.
Track
A notable feature of Bolliger & Mabillard roller coasters is the box-section track. The running rails are connected to a box-section spine, instead of the circular spine used by other manufacturers. When a train travels around a box-section track, it creates a distinctive roaring sound, which is unique to this style of track. However, on some Bolliger & Mabillard roller coasters, such as Talon at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, GateKeeper at Cedar Point and Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland, the track is filled with a proprietary sound dampening material to reduce this noise.Also, depending on the model of the roller coaster, the track size can vary. Models such as the Flying, Wing and Dive Coaster have heavier trains which require a larger track size while models with lighter trains, such as the Stand-Up and Hyper Coaster, do not and use a smaller sized track.
Brakes
As of 2016, Bolliger & Mabillard uses three types of braking systems: friction, magnetic, and water.Friction brakes
When B&M was first founded, the linear magnetic eddy brake had yet to be developed, so it used friction brakes as its main braking system. On the train, pads are fitted beneath the seating areas. On the brakes, similar pads are connected to steel supports. When the pads on the train come into contact with the brakes, friction is created which slows the train. A great example of this is SheiKra at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, on its mid-course brake run. Beginning with Kumba in 1993, friction brakes have also been used as trim brakes that regulate the speed of the train while it is still navigating the course.'s splashdown element
Magnetic brakes
Magnetic brakes were first used on Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure in 2001. Magnetic brakes slow down trains much faster than friction brakes; most B&M roller coasters built in or after 2001 have at least one set of magnetic brakes. Magnetic brakes do not make contact with the train. Fins that run parallel to the train are fitted beneath the seats. As the fins pass through the brakes, the magnetic field created by the brakes slows the train. Magnetic brakes have also been used as an alternate type of trim brake on B&M roller coasters such as Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland.Water brakes
Water brakes were first introduced on SheiKra at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in 2005. Water brakes can only be used when a splashdown element, in which a body of water surrounds a section of track, is present within the layout of the roller coaster. When scoops on the last car of each train come in contact with the surrounding water, the train slows down and the water is sprayed several feet into the air behind it.List of roller coasters
In North America, B&M coaster designs have been manufactured by Ohio company Clermont Steel Fabricators since 1990.As of 2019, Bolliger & Mabillard has built 118 roller coasters around the world..Some have either been relocated, renamed or closed.
| Name | Model | Park | Country | Opened | Status | Ref |
| Inverted Coaster | Six Flags Great America |  United States | 1992 | |||
| Vortex | Stand-Up Coaster | Carowinds | United States | 1992 | ||
| Inverted Coaster | Six Flags Great Adventure | United States | 1993 | |||
| Flight Deck Formerly Top Gun | Inverted Coaster | California's Great America | United States | 1993 | ||
| Kumba | Sitting Coaster | Busch Gardens Tampa | United States | 1993 | ||
| Inverted Coaster | Six Flags Magic Mountain | United States | 1994 | |||
| Diavlo | Inverted Coaster | Himeji Central Park |  Japan | 1994 | ||
| Nemesis | Inverted Coaster | Alton Towers |  United Kingdom | 1994 | ||
| Raptor | Inverted Coaster | Cedar Point | United States | 1994 | ||
| Inverted Coaster | Six Flags St. Louis | United States | 1995 | |||
| Dragon Khan | Sitting Coaster | PortAventura Park |  Spain | 1995 | ||
| Montu | Inverted Coaster | Busch Gardens Tampa | United States | 1996 | ||
| Alpengeist | Inverted Coaster | Busch Gardens Williamsburg | United States | 1997 | ||
| Inverted Coaster | Six Flags Over Georgia | United States | 1997 | |||
| Pyrenees | Inverted Coaster | Parque Espana-Shima Spain Village | Japan | 1997 | ||
| Great White | Inverted Coaster | SeaWorld San Antonio | United States | 1997 | ||
| Oblivion | Dive Coaster | Alton Towers | United Kingdom | 1998 | ||
| Great Bear | Inverted Coaster | Hersheypark | United States | 1998 | ||
| The Riddler's Revenge | Stand-Up Coaster | Six Flags Magic Mountain | United States | 1998 | ||
| Afterburn Formerly Top Gun - The Jet Coaster | Inverted Coaster | Carowinds | United States | 1999 | ||
| Bizarro Formerly Medusa | Floorless Coaster | Six Flags Great Adventure | United States | 1999 | ||
| Incredible Hulk | Sitting Coaster | Universal Studios Islands of Adventure | United States | 1999 | ||
| Dragon Challenge Formerly Dueling Dragons | Inverted Coaster | Universal Studios Islands of Adventure | United States | 1999 | ||
| Inverted Coaster | Six Flags Over Texas | United States | 1999 | |||
| Raging Bull | Hyper Coaster | Six Flags Great America | United States | 1999 | ||
| Georgia Scorcher | Stand-Up Coaster | Six Flags Over Georgia | United States | 1999 | ||
| Apollo's Chariot | Hyper Coaster | Busch Gardens Williamsburg | United States | 1999 | ||
| Kraken Formerly Kraken Unleashed | Floorless Coaster | SeaWorld Orlando | United States | 2000 | ||
| Medusa | Floorless Coaster | Six Flags Discovery Kingdom | United States | 2000 | ||
| Katun | Inverted Coaster | Mirabilandia |  Italy | 2000 | ||
| Floorless Coaster | Six Flags Fiesta Texas | United States | 2000 | |||
| Diving Machine G5 | Dive Coaster | Janfusun Fancyworld |  Taiwan | 2000 | ||
| Insane Speed | Floorless Coaster | Janfusun Fancyworld | Taiwan | 2001 | ||
| Nitro | Hyper Coaster | Six Flags Great Adventure | United States | 2001 | ||
| Talon | Inverted Coaster | Dorney Park | United States | 2001 | ||
| Wildfire | Sitting Coaster | Silver Dollar City | United States | 2001 | ||
| Galactica Formerly Air | Flying Coaster | Alton Towers | United Kingdom | 2002 | ||
| Floorless Coaster | Six Flags New England | United States | 2002 | |||
Formerly Batman: La Fuga | Inverted Coaster | Parque Warner Madrid | Spain | 2002 | ||
| Silver Star | Hyper Coaster | Europa Park |  Germany | 2002 | ||
| Floorless Coaster | Parque Warner Madrid | Spain | 2002 | |||
| Flying Coaster | Six Flags Over Georgia | United States | 2002 | |||
| Vampire | Inverted Coaster | La Ronde |  Canada | 2002 | ||
| Nemesis Inferno | Inverted Coaster | Thorpe Park | United Kingdom | 2003 | ||
| Scream | Floorless Coaster | Six Flags Magic Mountain | United States | 2003 | ||
| Flying Coaster | Six Flags Great America | United States | 2003 | |||
| Flying Coaster | Six Flags Great Adventure | United States | 2003 | |||
| Dæmonen | Floorless Coaster | Tivoli Gardens |  Denmark | 2004 | ||
| Lightning | Inverted Coaster | Kuwait Entertainment City |  Kuwait | 2004 | ||
| Silver Bullet | Inverted Coaster | Knott's Berry Farm | United States | 2004 | ||
| Hydra the Revenge | Floorless Coaster | Dorney Park | United States | 2005 | ||
| SheiKra | Dive Coaster | Busch Gardens Tampa | United States | 2005 | ||
| Black Mamba | Inverted Coaster | Phantasialand | Germany | 2006 | ||
| Crystal Wing | Flying Coaster | Happy Valley Beijing |  China | 2006 | ||
| Goliath | Hyper Coaster | La Ronde | Canada | 2006 | ||
| Goliath | Hyper Coaster | Six Flags Over Georgia | United States | 2006 | ||
| Patriot | Inverted Coaster | Worlds of Fun | United States | 2006 | ||
| Tatsu | Flying Coaster | Six Flags Magic Mountain | United States | 2006 | ||
| Griffon | Dive Coaster | Busch Gardens Williamsburg | United States | 2007 | ||
| Hyper Coaster | Universal Studios Japan | Japan | 2007 | |||
| Phaethon | Inverted Coaster | Gyeongju World |  South Korea | 2007 | ||
| Behemoth | Hyper Coaster | Canada's Wonderland | Canada | 2008 | ||
| Dive Coaster | Dive Coaster | Chimelong Paradise | China | 2008 | ||
| Dominator Formerly Batman: Knight Flight | Floorless Coaster | Kings Dominion Geauga Lake | United States | 2008 2000 to 2007 | ||
| Goliath Formerly Batman: The Ride Formerly Gambit | Inverted Coaster | Six Flags Fiesta Texas Six Flags New Orleans Thrill Valley | United States | 2008 2003 to 2005 1995 to 2002 | ||
| Diamondback | Hyper Coaster | Kings Island | United States | 2009 | ||
| Diving Coaster | Dive Coaster | Happy Valley Shanghai | China | 2009 | ||
| Manta | Flying Coaster | SeaWorld Orlando | United States | 2009 | ||
| Monster Formerly Orochi | Inverted Coaster | Walygator Parc Expoland |  France | 2010 1996 to 2007 | ||
| Intimidator | Hyper Coaster | Carowinds | United States | 2010 | ||
| Green Lantern Formerly Chang | Stand-Up Coaster | Six Flags Great Adventure Kentucky Kingdom | United States | 2011 1997 to 2009 | ||
| Hair Raiser | Floorless Coaster | Ocean Park Hong Kong |  Hong Kong | 2011 | ||
| Krake | Dive Coaster | Heide Park | Germany | 2011 | ||
| Raptor | Wing Coaster | Gardaland | Italy | 2011 | ||
| Starry Sky Ripper Formerly Sky Scrapper | Flying Coaster | Joyland | China | 2011 | ||
| Leviathan | Hyper Coaster | Canada's Wonderland | Canada | 2012 | ||
| OzIris | Inverted Coaster | Parc Astérix | France | 2012 | ||
| Hyper Coaster | PortAventura Park | Spain | 2012 | |||
| Swarm | Wing Coaster | Thorpe Park | United Kingdom | 2012 | ||
| Wild Eagle | Wing Coaster | Dollywood | United States | 2012 | ||
| X-Flight | Wing Coaster | Six Flags Great America | United States | 2012 | ||
| GateKeeper | Wing Coaster | Cedar Point | United States | 2013 | ||
| Nitro | Floorless Coaster | Adlabs Imagica |  India | 2013 | ||
| Banshee | Inverted Coaster | Kings Island |  United States | 2014 | ||
| Parrot Coaster Formerly Flying over the Rainforest | Wing Coaster | Chimelong Ocean Kingdom | China | 2014 | ||
| Flug der Dämonen | Wing Coaster | Heide Park | Germany | 2014 | ||
| Family Inverted Coaster | Family Inverted Coaster | Happy Valley Shanghai | China | 2014 | ||
| Harpy | Flying Coaster | Xishuangbanna Sunac Land | China | 2015 | ||
| Rougarou Formerly Mantis | Floorless Coaster Formerly Stand-Up Coaster | Cedar Point | United States | 2015 1996 to 2014 | ||
| Acrobat | Flying Coaster | Nagashima Spa Land | Japan | 2015 | ||
| Thunderbird | Wing Coaster | Holiday World | United States | 2015 | ||
| Dive Coaster | Gardaland | Italy | 2015 | |||
| Baron 1898 | Dive Coaster | Efteling |  Netherlands | 2015 | ||
| Fury 325 | Hyper Coaster | Carowinds | United States | 2015 | ||
| Mako | Hyper Coaster | SeaWorld Orlando | United States | 2016 | ||
| The Flying Dinosaur | Flying Coaster | Universal Studios Japan | Japan | 2016 | ||
| Valravn | Dive Coaster | Cedar Point | United States | 2016 | ||
| Dragon's Run Formerly Time Machine Formerly Led Zeppelin - The Ride | Sitting Coaster | Dragon Park Ha Long Freestyle Music Park Hard Rock Park |  Vietnam | 2017 2009 2008 | ||
| Patriot Formerly Vortex | Floorless Coaster Formerly Stand-Up Coaster | California's Great America | United States | 2017 1991 to 2016 | ||
| Flying Wing Coaster | Wing Coaster | Happy Valley Chongqing | China | 2017 | ||
| Draken | Dive Coaster | Gyeongju World | South Korea | 2018 | ||
| Western Regions Heaven | Dive Coaster | Happy Valley Chengdu | China | 2018 | ||
| Valkyria | Dive Coaster | Liseberg |  Sweden | 2018 | ||
| Family Inverted Coaster | Family Inverted Coaster | Happy Valley Beijing | China | 2018 | ||
| Wing Coaster | Wing Coaster | Colourful Yunnan Happy World | China | 2018 | ||
| Fēnix | Wing Coaster | Toverland | Netherlands | 2018 | ||
| Heaven's Wing | Wing Coaster | HB World | China | 2018 | ||
| Yukon Striker | Dive Coaster | Canada's Wonderland | Canada | 2019 | ||
| Firebird Formerly Apocalypse Formerly Iron Wolf | Floorless Coaster Formerly Stand-Up Coaster | Six Flags America Six Flags Great America | United States | 2019 2012 to 2018 1990 to 2011 | ||
| Wing Coaster | Hot Go Dreamworld | China | 2019 | |||
| Hyper Coaster | Hot Go Dreamworld | China | 2019 | |||
| Flight of the Himalayan Eagle Music Roller Coaster | Hyper Coaster | Happy Valley Beijing | China | 2019 | ||
| Falcon | Wing Coaster | Wuxi Sunac Land | China | 2019 | ||
| Wing Coaster | Happy Valley Nanjing | China | 2019 | |||
| Candymonium | Hyper Coaster | Hersheypark | United States | 2020 | ||
| Orion | Hyper Coaster | Kings Island | United States | 2020 | ||
| Emperor | Dive Coaster | SeaWorld San Diego | United States | 2020 | ||
| Blue Harvest | Inverted Coaster | Gröna Lund | Sweden | 2021 | ||
| Sitting Coaster | Universal Studios Beijing | China | 2021 | |||
| Wing Coaster | Fantasy Valley | China | 2021 |