Hypersonic XLC was a roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia

Doswell, Virginia

Doswell is an unincorporated community in Hanover County in the Central Region of the U.S. state of Virginia. Originally called Hanover Junction, it was located on the Virginia Central Railroad, which later became part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at a crossing of the Richmond,...

. Hypersonic was the first compressed air launch coaster in the world. In 2007, Hypersonic XLC was closed and later dismantled. The platform is all that remains at the ride's former location between the Hurler and Grizzly

Grizzly (roller coaster)

Grizzly is a wooden roller coaster at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. The grounds of the ride are densely forested, with the intended thrills heightened from the illusion of inadequate clearance between the track and trees. The attraction opened in 1982, and the double-figure-eight layout is...

 roller coasters.

Hypersonic was built by S&S Worldwide, a company specializing in air-powered rides such as Skyhawk and Power Tower

Power Tower

Power Tower are two similar vertical ascending and descending thrill rides operating at two Cedar Fair-owned amusement parks.The attractions are powered by air in large cylinders in which an aircraft steel cable, connected to the internal piston, travels and is also connected to the external rider...

, both located at Cedar Point Amusement Park

Cedar Point

Cedar Point is a 364 acre amusement park located in Sandusky, Ohio, United States on a narrow peninsula jutting into Lake Erie. Cedar Point is the only amusement park with four roller coasters that are taller than...

.
Hypersonic was S&S Worldwide's actual prototype for an air-launched coaster, called Thrust Air 2000

Thrust Air 2000

A Thrust Air 2000 is a unique form of launched roller-coaster created by S&S Power, Inc., that uses refrigerated, compressed air to shoot a rubber-wheeled car down a steel track...

. It was reconstructed at Kings Dominion after being moved from its original location in Utah. S&S Worldwide also slightly modified the section following the 90° drop to accommodate Kings Dominion's landscape. Hypersonic XLC suffered extended downtime, and was closed nearly three months at the beginning of Kings Dominion's 2002 season.

The ride

After an intense launch from 0 to 80 mi/h in 1.8 seconds up a 90° incline, the ride crested a 165 feet (50.3 m) hill, and without fully slowing, plummeted down an 90° dive. Next, the coaster performed a banked left turn, skirted a small hill, went through a smaller banked turn, before heading into the brake run.

The launch system

Hypersonic XLC's launch system is comparatively new technology utilizing compressed air to launch the ride train. It is very similar to the launch system used to launch Space Shot rides, also developed by S&S Worldwide. Characteristics of compressed air launches are shorter runways and quicker acceleration, when compared to hydraulic and LIM/LSM launch platforms.

The compressed air launch system is used on the world's fastest accelerating ride, Dodonpa

Dodonpa

is a roller coaster at Fuji-Q Highland, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi in Japan. It opened in 2001 and is a steel sit-down roller coaster with a compressed air launch. The ride was built by S&S Power of Utah, U.S.A....

, which accelerates to 106.9 mi/h in just 1.8 seconds. It was also used on ring°racer

Ring°Racer

Ring°racer is a Formula One-themed roller coaster which was due to open on August 15, 2009 at the Nürburgring race course as part of the Nürburgring 2009 project.However, two defects in the launch system mean its opening has been delayed until 2011...

. Rides such as Kingda Ka

Kingda Ka

Kingda Ka is a roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, USA. It is the world's tallest roller coaster, and was the world's fastest until Formula Rossa opened in November 2010. The train is launched by a hydraulic launch mechanism to in 3.5 seconds. At the end of...

 and Top Thrill Dragster

Top Thrill Dragster

Top Thrill Dragster is a steel, Hydraulic-launched roller coaster located at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. It was the first "Strata Coaster", loosely defined as a complete circuit coaster that is over tall. It was built by Intamin and debuted to the public on May 4, 2003...

have a higher top speed than Dodonpa, but Dodonpa is the ride with the quickest acceleration.

Current status

During the 2006 off-season, Kings Dominion put Hypersonic XLC up for sale. In January 2008, the park removed Hypersonic from its web site. On the park's opening day on March 22, 2008, Hypersonic XLC had been disassembled and was placed in its current laydown yard, along part of the park's back road. In May 2009, Kings Dominion marketing representative John Pagel stated that the coaster is still available for sale, either to another amusement park or as scrap metal.

The ride is now fully removed from Kings Dominion and has been recycled into something else. The ride's station and storage area and some footers are still at the park to this day.