Euro-Mir

Ready To Get Lost In Space?

Even though its days are numbered, the Russian space station Mir will always be remembered for its pioneering role in establishing a permanent human presence in the heavens. But this orbiting SUV's long, noble career has been pockmarked with adversity. A few years back, docking collisions, dying batteries and hinky computer systems laid bare the intrinsic pitfalls of boldly going where no human has gone before. The courageous space cowboys who kept Mir afloat taught the rest of us an important lesson: sub-lunar travel has become routine, but it will never be predictable.

In 1997, Europa-Park, a huge themer tucked into Germany's Strasbourg-Basel-Freiburg triangle, debuted its thrill ride tribute to Russia's cosmic outpost, and they called it the Euro-Mir. This one-of-a-kind roller coaster not only looks unlike anything you've ever seen before, it also rides that way. The four cars that make up each train offer two pairs of seats: one that faces forward and another backward. But just like the action on the real Mir, things ain't so predictable on the Euro-Mir - at several points along this coaster's voyage, your craft rotates. That's right, Cosmonauts, what's fore becomes aft and vice versa. Take a long gander at this steel-and-mirrored-glass construction and tell me it doesn't make ya quiver with wide-eyed wonder:

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During the quarter-century it's been open, Europa-Park has grown into one of the Continent's major amusement resorts, complete with the lavish El Andaluz hotel, drawing over 2.5 million visitors a year. Elaborately themed areas are devoted to the rich cultures of Europe's many countries: Italy, France, Spain, Scandinavia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, et cetera. The park isn't shy about keeping up with current events, either; two segments of the felled Berlin Wall greet visitors in the German section. But what's most interesting about this park is its less-publicized mission: it's a grand operational display for a single ride developer's hardware.

The family-owned German ride manufacturer Mack (formally known as Heinrick Mack Gmbh & Co.) has been doing business for over 200 years. Along with that multi-generational history, their diverse product portfolio is fairly awe-inspiring as well: steel coasters, flume rides, Wild Mice, bobsled coasters, dark rides, boat rides, monorails, spinning rides, kiddie rides, bumper cars... hmmm, that's more than enough to fill an entire park, wouldn't ya say?

Members of the Mack family certainly thought so. It was thus decided that the company should open its own theme park, one that would be both a factory showroom and a test bed for its prodigious output. They found an ideal property in the town of Rust (not far from their plant in Waldkirch) and in 1975, Europa-Park was born. It was a simple affair when the gates first opened, but the park has expanded in leaps and bounds since then. And to this day, nearly all the park's rides are Mack models - the Eurosat indoor coaster, the Tyrolean White-Water Run, the Alpenexpress Enzian runaway train coaster, the Fjord Rafting ride, the Mississippi Steamboat, the Bobsleighs. Impressive, yes?

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Sure, everything in the park is impressive... but nothing else can get you gawking like the Mack Company's stunning Euro-Mir. As the centerpiece of Europa-Park's Russia-themed zone, this coaster's superstructure is as dramatic as they come. The sky-blue tubular steel trackwork winds through and around five enormous mirrored towers, all situated above a rocky, extraterrestrial landscape. It looks like some kind of mysterious, vaguely sinister power plant... and, most definitely, not of this earth. This techno-surreal contraption seduces me in a mighty powerful way.

It should come as no surprise that the Euro-Mir boarding station is loaded to the gills with Mission-Control-style bells and whistles; check out the operator's booth with its computers and video surveillance system. Waiting inside the enclosed station, you'll be able to get a good look at this ride's wacky train. The round metal cars look like robo-turtles, almost deceptively cute. But on the plus side, there's little more than is necessary to hold you in. They leave you very exposed, always a bonus when it comes to high-speed motoring.


Once the train leaves the station, you enter the largest of the five towers (a duodecagon for the geometry majors out there). Within this 25-foot-diameter tube is a spiral hoist to the top, and here's how it works: a big knob, called a "workdriver" by the tech folks, protrudes from the left side of the front car in each train. This knob engages with a second internal hexagonal tower that slowly and continuously rotates. As this structure turns, counterclockwise, your train gets pulled along, rising higher and higher up the spiral, to a height of roughly 92 feet. (Howzat for a nifty way to gain altitude?) Exiting the duodecagon, it's off into the wild blue yonder.

Things get cooking with a twisty elevated trip around the four narrower towers. Back and forth, sliding along - hey, what the...?! - the cars pull their first electronically-actuated 180-degree switcheroo. Feeling a little out of control? Watch and enjoy as your panicked face dances across the towers' reflective panels.

You have to wonder 'bout that big drop coming up around the final bend - as you take another spin. Which way you gonna be lookin' when yer capsule starts falling out of the sky?

After the last tower is cleared, your gentle orbiting comes to an end - the Euro-Mir goes ballistic, making a wide, swooping descent down to the planet's surface, hitting a top speed of 45 miles per hour. Now that the pedal's to the metal, this pocket rocket starts hauling over a nice long serpentine course, whipping back around the towers and cruising into some righteously banked curves. The wild visual effect as the train makes several near-miss turns past the mirrored glass should be rather startling, no matter which way yer noggin's pointed.

Before this dizzying space race is over, the train enters a final series of tight spirals, zipping through a tower and down into a subterranean cave, always staying unnervingly close to the ground. One last bend feeds you into the brake run and back into the station, bringing this chaotic flight to a close. Welcome home, Comrades!

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Spinning coaster cars are certainly a happening trend; several Wild Mouse suppliers offer rotating vehicles of some sort (including France's Reverchon, the hardware suppliers for Kennywood's Exterminator). And that is good news for Space Cadets around the world. Though we're still waiting for another, we can hope this prototype Mack machine will be but the first of many worldwide installations. And just think of the long-term possibilities... bigger drops... faster speeds... inversions...

Euro-Mir

• TRACK LENGTH: 3,235 feet
  
• TOP SPEED: 45 Miles Per Hour
  
• MAX. DROP: Approx. 86 feet
  
• RIDE DURATION: 4 minutes, 45 seconds
  
• CARS: Nine trains, 16 passengers per train
  
• CAPACITY: 1920 guests per hour
  
• MANUFACTURER: Heinrick Mack Gmbh & Co.

Euro-Mir photos, ride diagram, logo art courtesy of Heinrick Mack Gmbh & Co.

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