Werner Stengel (born 22 August 1936) is a German roller coaster designer and engineer. Stengel is the founder of Stengel Engineering, also known as Ingenieur Büro Stengel GmbH (or Ingenieur Buero Stengel GmbH).
Born 22 August 1936, in Bochum, Germany, Stengel first worked on amusement park rides in collaboration with Anton Schwarzkopf in 1963. He established his own company, Stengel Engineering, in 1965. His collaboration with Schwarzkopf was responsible for many innovations in roller coaster design, including in 1975 the first modern looping coaster - Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain. His clothoid loop is now standard on many roller coasters as it produces less intense forces on the human body than a circular vertical loop. In 1976 Stengel and Schwarzkopf established the first horizontal launch "Shuttle Loop". He was also noted as being a pioneer in heartlining, the principle of having the track twist/rotate around the rider's heart line, rather than the track rotating around its own center.
Since Schwarzkopf's retirement, he has maintained his eminent position in the amusement park industry ever since; he has worked on most of the world's record-breaking roller coasters, including Son of Beast, Millennium Force, Bizarro (Six Flags New England), Top Thrill Dragster, Kingda Ka, Dollywood's Mystery Mine, and many others. In the 2004 Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards list of the world's top 50 steel roller coasters, 72% have had direct involvement with Stengel Engineering.
He received an honorary doctorate from Gothenburg University in 2005, for his "inexhaustible creativity in linking physics and design to the experience of the body in roller coasters and other rides." One of the most famous and highly regarded Stengel/Schwarzkopf rides is Lisebergbanan at Liseberg, a park situated in Gothenburg city.
Today, he is currently semi-retired and working as a consultant in the amusement park ride industry.
Stengel celebrated his 500th roller coaster with the opening of Maverick, located at Cedar Point.
References
- Faculty of Science, Gothenburg University. "Roller coaster constructor Werner Stengel receives honorary doctorate at Göteborg University". Press release, 15 June 2005.
External links
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