Overview
Fury 325 is a steel roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, Fury 325 opened to the public on March 28, 2015. It features a track that reaches a maximum height of , making it the fifth-tallest roller coaster in the world and the tallest overall among roller coasters that use a traditional . Riders experience speeds of up to , winding through high-speed curves and passing over and under the park's main entrance. Beginning in 2016, Fury 325 has consistently ranked as the world's best steel coaster in the annual Golden Ticket Awards published by Amusement Today.
History
In September 2012, the Charlotte City Council discussed plans for a proposed roller coaster in one of its meetings and it was revealed the ride would cost approximately $30 million. In a closed-session meeting, it was mentioned that the roller coaster would stand higher than the park's Intimidator roller coaster which stands at , meaning the new coaster would be high. On October 18, January 23, 2014, and June 9, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, the owners of Carowinds, filed trademark applications for the names Centurion, Fury, and Fury 325. In February, the Centurion trademark was suspended after another trademark application using the same name was found by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In July, the blueprints for Fury 325 were leaked showing the exact layout of the roller coaster. At the beginning of August, the park sent a beekeeper to deliver a partially burnt bug net with a card saying, "you're gonna need a much bigger net to capture the thrills of the 2015 Carowinds season", to several media outlets in the Charlotte area. On August 12, a microsite on Carowinds' website was found advertising a new ride called Centurion. A similar hoax was conducted by Kings Island leading up to the announcement of Banshee in 2013.
Carowinds officially announced Fury 325 on August 22, 2014, at an event held at the park's Harmony Hall Marketplace. The first piece of track was installed on September 29, 2014. Within the week, the structure for the storage track was erected. By October 22, the majority of the brake run was complete; two days later the final pieces for the section were put into place. By October 26, the base of the lift hill was installed. On December 4, the lift hill and first drop were completed. On January 30, 2015, the final piece of Fury 325's track was put in place.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).