A North Carolina amusement park will be replacing a support pillar on a ride after a video of a crack in the roller coaster’s column went viral last week.
The crack was discovered in the Fury 325 roller coaster’s steel pillar at Carowinds on June 30, prompting the amusement park to shut the ride down. According to the Carowinds website, Fury 325 is the “tallest, fastest, longest giga coaster in North America.”
The park stated in a press release Thursday that the maintenance team and the roller coaster’s manufacturer, Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers Inc., have been inspecting the ride since July 1.
Carowinds and Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers Inc. have also undertaken multiple tests of the ride and determined that the crack formed along a weld line in the column, according to the release.
“Working in close coordination with B&M, we are planning to remove and replace the existing support column. The new support column, which is being fabricated by B&M, is expected to be delivered to the park next week,” it stated.
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Carowinds to test Fury 500 times to ensure coaster is safe
After the new column is installed, Carowinds said it will run a series of tests to make sure that the safety and integrity of the roller coaster is secure.
“These will include an accelerometer test that uses sensors to measure any variation in the ride experience. After that, we plan to operate the ride for 500 full cycles, performing tests and inspections of the entire ride throughout that period. Once this phase is completed, we will ask B&M and the third-party testing firm to perform a final inspection to ensure the ride exceeds all required specifications,” the release said.
According to the park, roller coasters such as the Fury 325 are designed to have redundancies to keep riders safe and counteract events like a support pillar cracking.
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Carowinds said in the release that it regularly inspects the coaster and is planning to put in place additional inspection measures to identify “future potential issues,” including using drones to see areas that are hard to get to.
“The safety of our guests and associates will always be Carowinds’ top priority. Once the new support column is in place and all testing and inspections have been completed, we will work with the North Carolina Department of Labor’s Elevator and Amusement Device Bureau to prepare Fury 325 for reopening. We will share an update on the reopening of the ride when a date has been finalized,” the release stated.
