Interviews with Coaster Manufacturers - EAS 2018

[Coaster Hipster]

Hello everyone!



Last month I attended the 2018 Euro Attractions Show, which is the IAAPA European event reuniting most of the professionals in the industry. I was covering the show for French website CoastersWorld.fr resulting in several interviews starting with these two:
 

First of all I had the great privilege of meeting Sascha Czibulka and Camiel Bilsen of Intamin. Sascha is the company's Executive VP and has been with Intamin for 17 years, while Camiel is their promising young designer and has been heavily involved in the making of Hyperion. Highlights include:

- Going for a bolder approach to design Hyperion and staying ahead of competitors (4:58)
- The strengths of Intamin's new track design (5:55)
- Intamin's new seat and lap-bar (7:18)
 

Secondly, I also approached James Swinden who was recently promoted to Lead Engineer at Great Coasters International. In a more concise interview, James discusses various creative and technical aspects of designing wooden coasters. I very much thank him for his accomotation and patience doing this report, his serious dedication to his work truly shows

I hope you'll enjoy these interviews. In any event, feedback/criticism is always appreciated. More interviews will be coming up, including one with Vekoma's lead engineer Benjamin Bloemendaal! He's arguably the mastermind behind Vekoma's spectacular renaissance and gave excellent insights into his job and the process of coming up with exciting coaster designs

Some extra pictures from the event:

Model of the Takabisha clone currently in construction in New Jersey

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I know liking the post is thanks enough, but I had to post - thanks @Coaster Hipster - thats some awesome #content right there!

[MickeyD]

Brilliant stuff Thank you @Coaster Hipster. Haven't heard much from you for a while, glad you are back!

[pin142]

That GCI interview has me wishing we had something of theirs locally. Great interviews and thanks for sharing.

[Coaster Hipster]

I've been a huge fan of the new Vekoma designs (particularly Lech Coaster), so it was an incredible opportunity to meet the mastermind behind the manufacturer's incredible transformation!
 

Benjamin's answers were fab - really informative and definitely engaging in the way he talked me through the thought process of designing coaster elements or layouts ❤️


Also wanted to apologize for not posting here much. Been a hectic few months travelling, doing all sorts of projects and montage. But here are a few pictures from my trips



Steel Vengeance lived up to the massive hype. Its airtime actually isn't the most extreme, but it's still strong ejector, and there are so many of it! The second half just keeps going at an incredible pace, and the sections through the structure make the ride even wilder. Special mention to the exhilarating wave turn - sideways airtime is so much fun!



Maverick ain't bad either. The layout shines with its diversity of forceful moments, the drop is awesome at the back, and the Stengel Dives are among the snappiest transitions I ever experienced



Fenix is incredibly photogenic! The ride itself was a pleasant surprise, delivering a very fine sustained airtime hill as well as an unexpectedly sustained forceful helix. It's short, but really sweet.



Hyperion was pretty fun, but didn't exactly live up to my (overhyped) expectations. It doesn't have the same pushing the envelope extremeness of other Intamin masterpieces like El Toro or Expedition GeForce. Some moments are almost dull, like the floater airtime hill, and other could have been more intense to really be exciting. Still, a great ride and the twist and dive inversion is fab!


Martin & Vleminckx then The Gravity Group interviews are coming next

Edited October 31, 2018 by Coaster Hipster

[Coaster Hipster]

Here are as promised the interview with Martin & Vleminckx and The Gravity Group! Sorry about the delay:
 

Chuck Bingham, Vice-President of M&V briefly discusses the upcoming arrival of Rocky Mountain Construction coasters in Asia - and his company's involvement in it The interview ran short due to circumstances on my behalf, but we'll certainly meet again for another more in-depth one probably at AAE 19!
 

This interview is no short one on the other hand! Even after editing out many clips, The Gravity Group's Chad Miller and Korey Kiepert are just so talkative But they're also very much on-point with their comments, giving incredible insight into their work of designing wooden coasters. From layout style preferences, to the appeal of smaller family woodies, to polishing a nose car design and so on... Chad and Korey know how to communicate their passion and knowledge, while not taking themselves (too) seriously

I hope you really like the interviews so far. I'll try to post more here when my schedule is a little clearer. There's yet another final one coming up with Universal Rocks - the scenery builders of Taron, Fenix, Wicker Man & more!