Richard Bannister

Skara Sommarland is a particularly nice family park located about two hours north east of Gothenburg. In the late 1980s the park was home to what was then the only stand-up roller coaster in Europe, and though that ride was sold to La Ronde at the end of 1994 management's willingness to experiment with unproven designs continues.

Tranan (#1646) is the first Free Fly coaster from S&S Power. The design can be thought of as a cross between the traditional suspended coaster and a fourth dimension ride. The train features two four seater cars located on either side of the track which remain upright at all times even as the train flips over. This means that the left and right sides of the train provide somewhat different ride experiences, as one side goes over the track while the other goes under (and vice-versa). The sole restraint is a seatbelt, making for a very comfortable ride. Overall I found the experience to be fun, and it's certainly unique, though I cannot see the design becoming a best-seller as the mechanical complexity seems utterly disproportionate to the benefit.

The other adult coaster in the park is Spinner, a genuine Maurer Sohne spinning coaster relocated from the defunct CentrO Park in Germany. Unlike all the copied versions this ride really does work with a single lap bar, rather than the ridiculous seat belt and chain arrangement found on the fakes. With that out of the way we concluded our visit with the powered Gruvbanan, a moderately interesting ride with an enclosed section mid-course. I've now only got two operational Mack powered coasters left to do in the entire world, and yes, I do know precisely how sad that is.