Ring Racer, the roller coaster that stood next to Nürburgring, the motorsport circuit home of the Formula 1 German Grand Prix, is being partially demolished. The roller coaster has been standing still since 2009, but very few people actually rode it (it was only open for four days in total in 2013), and has only been a big eyesore ever since.
Fans discovered, through the live web cam of Nürburgring, that some track was being removed. However, according to German site Motorsport-Total, only a few sections of the track will be removed, to make room for the construction of the access pathway of a future museum at the circuit.
Most of the roller coaster track is ground level, exactly in parallel with the race track, except for a big turn between grandstands standing 37.5 meters tall, which some people apparently call "the Kurt Beck Monument" to mock the politician, President of Rhineland-Palatinate between 1994 and 2013.
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Brief history or Ring Racer, the abandoned roller coaster next to Nürburgring
In a similar way to many other circuits, shopping and leisure offerings opened next to the circuit at Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, for visitors to spend more money on the region. One of the most striking additions was a huge roller coaster that ran in parallel right next to the track, and was intended to be the fastest roller coaster in the world, launching train from 0 to 217 km/h in 2.5 seconds using a pneumatic launch.
Built by S&S - Sansei, the ride was meant to open in 2009. However, an accident during testing, an explosion in the compressed air engines caused acoustic injuries to seven people and even shattered windows in nearby buildings. The ride was refurbished and reopened four years later, with a much lower acceleration speed of 160.0 km/h. However, it only operated between October 31 and November 3, 2013, and was closed due to high costs of operating.
Since then, Ring Racer became something of a myth between roller coaster enthusiasts, a huge and promising roller coaster that an extremely limited number of people were able to ride. Had it operated with the promised speed of 240 km/h, it would have been the fastest roller coaster in the world until next year, when Falcon's Flight is expected to open at Saudi Arabia.
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