The Trabant, another Chance creation, is a fairly cool ride. Appearance-wise I’ve seen these themed as roulette wheels, sombreros, and some type of weird 70s UFO. One thing all Trabants have in common however is that the colors are all horribly 70s. Although, Chance did come out with a newer version of this ride called “Wipeout” which is much more contemporary looking.
Anyway, the Trabant is made up of a wheel and a big platform type of thing (I don’t exactly know what to call it) that holds the hydraulic lifting arm that in turn holds the wheel. The platform lies under a large hole in the loading platform and it’s fairly hidden from view until the hydraulic arm is raised. Appearance-wise, this ride comes with a light package consisting of long, crusty yellowed out fluorescent light tubes and many busted red, green and off-yellow lights.
The Ride
Riders are secured with this weird lapbar that flips down on one side but has a bar connecting to the floor on the other. Some Trabants actually have another bar connected to the lapbar that snaps into a holder in front of the seat. I haven’t been on one with those snap in bars so I’m not sure if it’s a locking mechanism or just some dumb backup lock.
Once the ride is started, the wheel spins, rises to an angle, and finally the platform that holds the wheel rotates in the opposite direction making the wheel do a wave type motion. This ride is able to go forwards and backwards with some Trabant cycles starting forwards and switching to backwards halfway through and some starting backwards and ending forwards. Some people feel a stomach dropping sensation at the apex of the spin, but this ride is more known for the laterals which boarder on horrible. The seats are tilted downward a bit so the riders are already being pushed into the wall, add the spinning and it could leave a nice bruise if you have another person sitting with you.
Trabant uses a tire drive...a requirement for any WTCR.
Other Info
For the longest time, I had no idea what the hell a ‘trabant’ was; I mean, it’s not in the dictionary or anything. Apparently it’s just the word ‘satellite’ in German.
Video
The Wave, a themed Trabant owned by Tommy’s Midway. It’s not too bad looking with some cool surf inspired paintings on the bottom flash. It also deviates from the norm and goes with a blue, orange and yellow paint scheme. This Trabant also spins faster than hell as you’ll see!
Wave (Chance Trabant) from The DoD3 on Vimeo.
Back to WTCR
Man, the reason I’m never getting on one of these things is that scene from the Sandlot where they ride one of these and end up puking their guts out. Horrible, horrible scene, that was.
Oh man, that was an awful scene! I always remember it when I see a Trabant and I’m always afraid that it’s going to happen when I’m near one! lol
Damn that movie!
I’ve been on these alone before and I always loved the lateral forces. I purposely sat on the outside, despite the signs saying not to. Then I rode it with my friend a few weeks back; it wasn’t as fun. Having 150 pounds of weight jammed into you is not quite as fun spinning around at high speeds.
One of my favorite flat rides! I never pass up a chance to ride a classic Trabant. I’m not such a fan of the WipeOut as they tend to let it keep spinning full speed after it comes back down flat and the side forces become unbearable — equal or worse than a Music Express.