Xcelerator

Xcelerator is a steel launched roller coaster located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, United States. Manufactured by Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel, it opened in 2002 as the company's first hydraulically launched coaster and cost $13 million to construct. Following the early demise of Windjammer Surf Racers, a dueling roller coaster that briefly operated from 1997 to 2000, Xcelerator was soon announced as its replacement. It launches to a maximum speed of 82 mph (132 km/h) in 2.3 seconds and reaches a height of 205 feet (62 m), and has a short twister section that leads into the brake run.

Following the demise of the short-lived Windjammer Surf Racers, a dueling roller coaster plagued with issues surrounding its design and operation, Knott's Berry Farm announced its replacement in December 2001. The park hired Intamin to build and design a new roller coaster called Xcelerator, the company's first hydraulically launched roller coaster, which uses pressurized oil and a series of hydraulic fluid chambers to rapidly propel a coaster train along a straight section of track. The total cost was $13 million. Intamin pioneered the hydraulic technology used on Xcelerator, which would later be built on a larger scale on future record-breaking rides, including Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point and Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure. The ride was originally scheduled to open in May 2002, but the opening was delayed to June 22, 2002.

In May 2004, California investigators asked that Knott's Berry Farm temporarily close Xcelerator, and that sister park Six Flags Magic Mountain close Superman: The Escape, because the T-bar restraint systems used by both rides were potentially defective. This was due to three incidents where people died after falling out of the restraints, including Superman – Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England. The rides were closed on June 2, 2004, so the necessary modifications could be made; Xcelerator reopened at the end of the month. After an incident in 2009, the ride was closed while it underwent investigation; it reopened in April 2010.

Xcelerator was closed in July 2017 for maintenance. The ride eventually reopened in March 2018. It closed near the end of October 2021 for a new coat of paint; the ride now has the colors red, gray, orange, and yellow. Xcelerator closed again in mid-March 2022 due to a delayed shipment of a part. The park later announced that the ride would be reopening during the summer of 2023. However, On September 21, 2023, Xcelerator "went dark" after something broke while testing leaving an unknown reopening date. The ride reopened on November 7th 2023.

Xcelerator features two trains: red and violet. The trains themselves have spring-loaded wheel assemblies and are standard Intamin trains with specially crafted shells to make them look like 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertibles. Each train can fit 20 people; there are five cars per train, which each sit two people in two rows. This gives the ride a capacity of 1,330 riders per hour.

The red train was accidentally painted with its color scheme reversed when the ride opened. It featured a yellow color scheme with red flames in the front and side, instead of a red train with yellowish flames. During one of the ride's rehabs, the color scheme was corrected by repainting the red train with orange flames added to the front and sides. After an accident in 2009, the red train now features patriotic blue flames. Each train is five cars long and holds twenty passengers. A maximum of two trains can operate at any given time. However, the two train operation is only slightly more efficient than only using one train. Therefore, Xcelerator usually only operates with one train regardless of the number of people in the park. Instead, each train is used by itself for about a year, while the other is undergoing maintenance. When maintenance is completed on one of the trains, it is returned to active duty and the other train is sent to maintenance.

Xcelerator's trains use hydraulically operated T-Bar restraints. These restraints are featured on Intamin's earlier accelerator coaster models. However, over-the-shoulder restraints are now used on the newer models due to safety concerns. Xcelerator also had special light meters installed on the restraints. The meter must show all green in order for a guest to ride. If the meter shows red then the guest cannot ride. Eventually the meter system was removed and the park now uses black lines etched on the side of each restraint. The black line must pass a certain part of the seat frame in order for the guest to ride. The ride also has seat belts that must be buckled before an operator pulls down the lap bar. Failure to do so slows the load time considerably. Another contributing factor involving the seat belts and a guest not being able to ride is requirement of one inch of slack must be pulled from the seat belt.

Xcelerator's hydraulic catapult motor accelerates the train from 0 to 82 mph (132 km/h) in 2.3 seconds. It only uses 157 feet (48 m) of track to launch the train. Each of the twin hydraulic catapult motors achieves a maximum of 10,500 horsepower (7,800 kW) during the launch of the train. Xcelerator's hydraulic motor system has the mechanical capability of accelerating vehicles to a speed of 117 mph (188 km/h) or more, although less power is needed for the train to crest the hill.^{[citation needed]}