Kingda Ka

Kingda Ka is nearly identical to Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point.  However, where Top Thrill Dragster exits the huge hill with a straight segment of track and finally hits the brakes to end the ride, Kingda Ka adds this 129-foot hill before it brings the trains to a halt.  Because trains have a tremendously high speed at this point of Kingda Ka, a long series of magnetic brakes is used.  The braking begins as soon as trains crest this smaller hill, and the deceleration continues for hundreds of feet.  The metal fins extending up from the track interact with the permanent magnets mounted underneath the train to smoothly slow the trains from nearly 100 miles an hour down to just about 10 miles an hour.

©2018 by Joel A. Rogers.