Illuminated Thrills

Liseberg Amusement Park in Gothenburg, Sweden is premiering its new 2003 summer season attraction, Balder roller coaster, in a wash of Martin Architectural color. Balder is not only Scandinavia’s longest wooden roller coaster - 37 meters high and over a kilometer in length with a maximum speed of 90 km/h – it’s the biggest permanent outdoor lighting installation ever seen in Sweden.

The biggest and most thrilling wooden coaster in Scandinavia - the first drop is 70 degrees – has been dressed in color changing illumination from a total of 40 Martin Exterior 200 luminaires.

Lighting company Primetec AB of Gothenburg, whose past work includes lighting the Ford Group´s car exhibitions in Europe, was commissioned to light the new roller coaster.  Primetec, a one-stop supplier of sound, lighting and AV technology for events and exhibitions, supplied, installed and created the lighting design for Balder. The Exterior 200s were provided through Martin Scandinavia.

Lighting plays a vital role
"Liseberg in general and Balder in particular are a total experience that starts as soon as you approach the attraction or drive past Liseberg along the E6 motorway,” says Ralf Andreasson, project manager at Liseberg. “In this respect, the lighting plays a vital role."

Lighting-related services account for almost 50% of Primetec´s estimated turnover for 2003, a market that Primetec believes will expand in the future. "In general terms, light has gained greater commercial significance," says Per Dahlqvist, sales manager at Primetec. “The competition for consumers is becoming tougher, and in that battle AV, sound and light are playing an increasingly significant role. Of course it´s great that Liseberg allocated resources for a really professional lighting installation. It will increase the value of the total experience and attract visitors to Liseberg and those who want to ride on Balder."

Coaster comes alive
Lighting designers on the project were Mats Lindgren, Stefan Lundgren and Joakim Rydholm of Primetec. Mats comments, “The purpose of the lighting was to make the attraction more alive. Because it’s made of wood, it’s very good to illuminate. Another main reason is that Liseberg wanted the ability to change the look of Balder to make it more interesting for the guests waiting to ride - sort of a pre-show. Because it’s so big, over 1000 meters long and 37 meters high, it is an eye-catcher for the whole park.”

Exterior 200
Primetec was looking for a light with high output on low power as well as reliability. It needed to have color mixing and a dimmer but no shutter. Mats comments, “We wanted to use Martin fixtures because of their history in making outdoor architectural lighting gear. That the company is located in Denmark, only 2 hours away by boat, was also a bonus.

“We use all the features of the Exterior 200 except the stand-alone function and run all 40 fixtures off a PC-based controller. It works well although it’s possible to run the fixtures without an external controller.”

The Exterior 200 fixtures are placed on poles approximately 1.5 to 3 meters above ground, both within and outside the structure, and direct light up against the roller coaster. “This allows us to highlight the structure of Balder and even change its shape by making slow dimmer and color chases,” Mats adds.
 
“I think this will start a growing demand for outdoor installations of this kind. It’s perfect for amusement parks like Liseberg. It’s the largest permanent outdoor installation of this kind in Sweden, and I think that other parks will follow.”

Balder Technical Data:
Manufacturer: INTAMIN, Switzerland
Total attraction height: 36 meters
Total track length: 1,080 meters
Steepest drop: 70 degrees
Negative G-forces: experienced 10 times during the ride
Length of ride: 2 minutes 8 seconds
Top speed: 90 km/h
Number of trains: 2
Passengers per train: 30
Capacity:  1,200 persons/hour
Total cost: SEK 100 million