Fury 325

Fury 325 is a steel roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Manufactured by , Fury 325 opened as the world's tallest giga coaster on March 28, 2015. It features of track and a maximum height of , which ranks it as the third-tallest roller coaster in the world and the tallest overall that uses a traditional lift hill. The ride reaches a maximum speed of , winding through high-speed curves and passing by the park's main entrance.

Fury 325 was the Best New Ride of 2015 in the annual Golden Ticket Awards published by ''Amusement Today'', and since 2016, it has consistently ranked as the world's best steel coaster in the same annual publication. A major issue with a support column was identified in the summer of 2023, leading to a lengthy closure during an investigation and subsequent repairs.

History

In September 2012, the Charlotte City Council discussed plans for a proposed roller coaster in one of its meetings. There, it was revealed that the ride would cost approximately $30 million. In a closed-session meeting, it was mentioned that the roller coaster would stand taller than the park's Intimidator roller coaster, indicating a height of . Cedar Fair, which owned Carowinds, filed trademark applications for the names ''Centurion'', ''Fury'', and ''Fury 325'' on October 18, 2013, January 23, 2014, and June 9, 2014, respectively. In February 2014, the ''Centurion'' trademark was suspended after another trademark application using the same name was found by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Blueprints revealing Fury 325's track layout were leaked in July 2014. In a marketing effort the following month, the park sent a beekeeper to deliver a partially burnt bug net with a card saying, "you're gonna need a much bigger net to capture the thrills of the 2015 Carowinds season", to several media outlets in the Charlotte area. This was a reference to the ride's hornet theme. On August 12, a microsite on Carowinds' website advertised a new, upcoming ride to be named Centurion. The real name, Fury 325, was revealed at an event held at the park's Harmony Hall Marketplace on August 21, 2014. A similar hoax was conducted by Kings Island leading up to the announcement of Banshee in 2013.

The park stated that Fury 325 would be manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M). The first piece of track was installed on September 29, 2014. Within the week, the structure for the storage track was erected. By October 24, the brake run was complete; by October 26, the base of the lift hill was installed. On December 4, the lift hill and first drop were completed. On January 30, 2015, the final piece of Fury 325's track was put in place. Fury 325 completed its first test run on March 4, 2015. On March 25, Carowinds held the coaster's media day. The ride officially debuted three days later on March 28, 2015, when Carowinds' 2015 operating season began.

Fury 325 suffered a setback on June 30, 2023, when a large crack on one of the ride's support pillars was spotted by a park bystander. The ride was closed later that day, and it remained closed for more than a month pending an investigation by the North Carolina Department of Labor and the replacement of the pillar. A thorough inspection was also conducted by the park and the ride's manufacturer, B&M, which concluded that the fracture occurred along the weld line of the support column. It was also determined that "unidirectional bending fatigue" was to blame for the fracture, and photos indicated that the crack may have started to form 6–10 days prior to June 30. Additional cracks were discovered and repaired by welding. The issues led to the park enhancing its safety inspection procedures, including the use of drones for "hard-to-reach areas". A new support column was installed in mid-July, and Fury 325 reopened to the public on August 10, 2023.

Ride experience

Once the train is loaded and secured, it dispatches from the station, passes over the transfer track, and begins climbing the chain lift hill. The humming sound of a hornet is played twice during the ascent – once at the beginning and a second time after a voice announces safety directions to riders. After reaching the top, the train drops toward the ground at an 81-degree angle, accelerating up to . It then enters a barrel turn, followed by a high speed s-curve that crosses the North Carolina and South Carolina state line. After passing over the park's north entrance, the train makes a banked turn to the left leading into a 91-degree overbanked horseshoe turn which stands off the ground.

The train then dips down, passing under the entrance pathway and through several illuminated hexagons – an element the park refers to as the "hive dive". This is followed by a second banked turn to the left, which reaches a height of and crosses the state line once again. After a section of straight track, the train travels over a camelback hill. A double helix carousel and a pair of camelback hills follow, before the track ends with the final brake run leading back to the station. According to Carowinds, one complete cycle of the ride lasts 3 minutes and 25 seconds.

Characteristics

Track

Fury 325 features a track length of and a lift hill that stands . Due to the ride's height and proximity to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the park had to receive approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to build the attraction. The track is mostly teal with a lime-green bottom, while the supports are white. The color scheme required of paint, and the total weight of the track is approximately . The roller coaster occupies approximately of land.

Trains

The ride operates with three open-air, steel and fiberglass trains, each containing eight cars. Riders are seated in teal-colored seats and secured by lime-green lap bars. The front of each train is either silver, dark grey, or black and features the ride's logo. There is a single row of four riders per car for a total of 32 riders per train. Every seat has its own "clamshell" lap bar restraint and seat belt. This configuration supports a theoretical capacity of 1,470 riders per hour.

Theme

Fury 325 is hornet-themed roller coaster, which takes its inspiration from the city's moniker during the American Revolution, when Charlotte was called "a hornet's nest of rebellion". Carowinds likened the intensity of the coaster's layout to "an angry hornet chasing its target". Although its teal track matches one of the Charlotte Hornets NBA team colors, Carowinds did not make a direct connection between the two. The NBA team was previously named the Charlotte Bobcats, but the team's original name Charlotte Hornets was restored the previous year in 2014.

Entrance

The entrance plaza that precedes the line queue features various decorations themed to the ride. A large Fury 325 logo can be seen on the left side. The sign displays a small, hexagon-patterned base below the main logo. At night, the sign lights up with neon colors. Riders exiting the ride pass through a small souvenir shop, and an on-ride camera booth is stationed behind it. A large Golden Ticket Award sign, added some time after opening, is located here as well.

The plaza leads into Fury 325's main entrance. There are two queues: a standard queue and a Fast Lane queue. The entrance also features 10 hexagons on the sign that forms an archway, and the sign is illuminated at night. Guests have access to a test seat on the right side of the entrance.

Records

Fury 325 set new records and came close to breaking others when it opened in 2015. It became the world's tallest giga coaster – a roller coaster that exceeds in height – surpassing Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spa Land by . Its maximum speed of ties it with Steel Dragon 2000 for being the fastest among roller coasters with a traditional lift hill. , Fury 325 is the fifth-tallest and fourth-longest steel roller coaster in the world, and it is tied as sixth-fastest. In North American rankings, the roller coaster is the tallest, fastest, and longest among non-launched, steel roller coasters.

Fury 325 is also the tallest roller coaster to be built by Bolliger & Mabillard, following on the heels of the company's first giga coaster, Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland; it opened in 2012. Leviathan reaches a maximum height of .

Reception

Initial reception following the announcement of the ride was positive. Chip Sieczko, a representative from American Coaster Enthusiasts, said, "This is not a Carolina story, this is not a national story. This is an international deal. It's going to be insane." Arthur Levine from About.com (now Dotdash Meredith) stated that the roller coaster will make an impression at the front of the park. In 2024, a reviewer for Chicago television station WGN-TV said: "Fury isn't tucked away in the back of the park, it's front and center, daring and enticing guests to take it for a ride." He praised the airtime hills, the underpass beneath the entrance pathway, and the banked turns, saying that the ride had an appropriate name.

Awards

Fury 325 was awarded Best New Ride in the 2015 Golden Ticket Awards (GTA) published annually by ''Amusement Today'', and it ranked fourth overall among steel coasters. The following year, it ranked first overall in the same publication, and it has retained the top position ever since.

See also

* Incidents at Carowinds

References

External links

*

{{Golden Ticket Award for Best New Ride

Carowinds
Roller coasters operated by Six Flags
2015 establishments in the United States
Best New Ride winners
Hypercoasters manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard