The fastest wooden roller coasters

The speed of a wooden roller coaster is nowhere near that of a steel one, but the ride and the spectacle are just as impressive. They're found all over the world, and even rankings have been made based on height, speed and other features, which are updated every year. Here are the top 5 fastest wooden roller coasters in the world, in reverse order.

The "slowest" roller coaster in this top 5, at 108 km/h, is The Voyage from Holiday World Park, Indiana USA. Runs on wooden track raised on steel structure. It is 50 m high and travels in 2 minutes and 45′ seconds almost 2 km long, the third longest wooden roller coaster in the world. It has been voted Amusement Today's best wooden roller coaster for years.

Outlaw Run in Silver Dollar City, Missouri USA has been open since 2013 and is one of the first wooden roller coasters to introduce an innovative system to track construction. This system allows the trains to have polyurethane wheels that help achieve performance that classic wooden trains cannot. It reaches 109 km/h.

Colossosin Heide Park, Germany, is in 3rd place with 110 km/h. It has a height of 48 m and the track design allows it to be fast but also has smooth gliding sections.

2nd place is occupied by El Toro from Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey USA, at 113 km/h. The innovative design makes the jump to the top one of the fastest, if not the fastest. Unlike regular wooden roller coasters or wood-steel hybrids, the El Toro has a track design that makes it remarkably smooth, but also incredibly fast.

And in first place, with a speed of 116 km/h, isGoliath, at Six Flags Great America Park in Illinois, USA. Some consider it to be a hybrid and not a traditional wooden roller coaster. It is considered the tallest and steepest wooden roller coaster in the world.

The latest news about new wooden roller coasters opening in the summer tends to change this ranking a little. They have not been officially registered, but the results are there. The El Toro seems to have been knocked out of second place, with a gap of 1.3 km/h (12.65 km/h without 12.98 km/h) by Wildfire from Kolmarden, Sweden, and Goliath from Lightning Rod in Dollywood, Tennessee USA, at 117.5 km/h. That's how close the battle is. 🙂