Look...a Vekoma being demolished

Our Tornado is now gone forever.

It was the second ever Vekoma roller coaster and for many Belgians, their first "upside down experience".

Since it's opening at Walibi in 1979 this Vekoma Corkscrew has thrilled many many visitors. It was a copy of the first ever Vekoma coaster, which opened just a few months earlier at a German funfair...and was later moved to Holidaypark where it still operates.

Along with the Tornado, a Schwarzkopf Looping Star - named Looping Star - opened the very same season at another Belgian park, Bobbejaanland.

The Looping Star gave its final rides at the end of the 2003 season during a big nighttime event, organised by the park and fans. It was replaced by a Gerstlauer Eurofighter, which opened the next season. The Schwarzkopf itself, was carefully dismantled and has been in storage ever since.

The Tornado on the other hand was closed suddenly at the end of 2002...then reopened for a few weeks...and was closed again. Nobody knew it was going to operate in 2003. It did not.
The area was closed off in 2004 as well. Trees grew between the track, shrubs and bushes covered the station. When it's trains were used as Halloween decoration, we knew the end was near.
In 2005, the entire ride was used as the backdrop of a new Halloween walkthrough.

And only a few days ago...

http://www.achtbanen.be/nieuws.php?subaction=showfull&id=1138383642&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&

Requiescat in pace, my friend.

The cleared area will be used for a Doppelmayr Mountain Glider.
( http://www.input-projekt.com/home/detail_01.html )

Ouch... pinched to death.

Makes you think about how many early loopers States-side may be going to the scrap heap in the next few years.

Wow, that ride really did go on the chopping block.

Wonder how much scrap money they're going to get for the metal.

Wow. That'll be one bad puzzle for whichever park that ride is going. ;)

Wow... that's fascinating and sad at the same time.

Oh well... there are a lot of better coasters it could have happened to but didn't. Meh.

^ yeah, it is sad.

A year ago people would have asked if it was going to Astroworld...

Look at that last picture: The track is totally deformed!

I really wonder if the Doppelmayer ride will be a good experience and if it will manage to have an acceptable capacity.

I guess they wanted to make sure it couldn't be erected any where else. That's a little extreme.

It's at the point now where the value of a ride is in it's steel, and not the experience. This won't be the last.

The Tornado was "confirmed" as being sold to a south American park last fall. Recently... they said the sale didn't go through and they just decided to do what SF never let them do: destroy it for the price of the steel.

It's a stock model Vekoma. Who cares?

Actually with smaller pieces of scrap they will get more money then if it was in large pieces.

At least it works that way here in the states. My buddy used to scrap vehicles and he would always cut axles, frames, drive shafts, and rears in pieces to get a better price. I think here pieces of steel need to be 3 ft or less to get the higher price.

I'm sure many dream of busting through the gates of Geauga Lake with that thing and head for Thunderhawk.

Thunderhawk isn't THAT bad.
T2 however....

So now, out of the 30 SLC's im sure there is worse out there then thuderhawk.

-SLC (662M Prototype) 2
-SLC (689M Standard) 23
-SLC (787M Extended) 2
-SLC (765M Extended with Helix) 5
-SLC (Custom) - 5

TOTAL SLC'S = 37