Great America offers peek at new Maxx Force coaster

Six Flags Great America officials gave the media a first look at the construction of their newest roller coaster, the racing-themed Maxx Force.

The coaster is all about speed and acceleration, according to the park's president, Hank Salemi.

"It's faster than any other coaster in the park," Salemi said Friday. "It's unique. There aren't a lot of coasters like this in the world."

At the media event staged beneath a massive ramp of the in-progress coaster, Great America's staff touted the records the coaster will hold when it is completed this spring. It will feature the world's tallest double inversion at its highest point of 175 feet above the ground. And it will feature a 60 mph zero-G roll, also a world record.

The coaster trains will be modeled after Formula One racing cars.

The first thing riders will notice is the breakneck acceleration. Instead of pulling riders up and dropping them from a great height, a giant air cannon will blast them up and out of the station.

"I'm probably not qualified to tell you how the air launching works," Salemi said, adding the system is different from the park's other high-acceleration coaster, V2, which uses magnets. "V2 goes zero to 70 mph in 4 seconds; this goes zero to 78 mph in 2 seconds, so it's got double the acceleration."

Speed is also a factor in the coaster's construction.

When building in the Chicago region, Salemi said, the key is making sure everything is in the ground before the first hard freeze. All of Maxx Force's 78 concrete footers were installed before the worst of the winter, Salemi said, and officials expect to have the coaster ready for the public soon after the park's opening weekend, April 19-21.

Maxx Force will be the park's 17th roller coaster when it is completed and the second-tallest after Raging Bull, which is around 200 feet high at its peak. It's being built in the Carousel Plaza area, near where the old Pictorium theater once stood.

Maxx Force is the latest in the long line of annual additions to the Gurnee theme park intended to entice customers.

Two years ago, Great America opened The Joker, a coaster based on the Batman villain and featuring the voice of Mark Hamill.

Last year, it completed The Hangover, which debuted as the largest loop coaster in the world.

Also last year, the park stayed open longer than ever before for the new Holiday in the Park season, when it was awash in thousands of holiday lights and open from November until just after the new year.