Summer Projects – Backyard DIY Roller Coasters

School is finished for the year, the temperature is steadily climbing, and neighborhood pools are already full of kids.

It’s summer time.  It’s the time of year to go crazy and put those skills you learned in school to good use.

It’s a perfect time of year to gather some supplies and build not a treehouse, but a freakin’ roller coaster.

There’s been a bit of a craze over the past few years of people building roller coasters in their backyard.  We’re not talking about massive wooden or steel coasters that plunge a hundred feet and go through a dozen or so inversions, but rather simpler structures that can provide a quick thrill or two.

All it takes is some wood, a LOT of bolts and screws, some careful planning, and a little ingenuity to construct your own little thrill ride.  Some people stick with wooden tracks, some use PVC pipes, and others go all out and use steel to build the coaster’s track.

Blue Flash — A steel looping backyard roller coaster.

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Another video of Blue Flash in action.

The simplest (and cheapest) backyard roller coasters are those are basically incomplete tracks.  These normally consist of a main drop (ranging from about five to fifteen feet off the ground), a small hill or two, maybe a curve in the track, and then a small hill at the opposite end that functions as a brake.  There is no lift hill and riders have to manually push the car to the top of the hill where it’s then boarded.

Although simple in concept, some people have managed to construct some elaborate track designs that actually look like fun.  Here are some examples of those DIY roller coasters.

This video is proof that you don’t need a lot of money to build your own backyard roller coaster.  According to the information in the video, the supplies for this coaster only cost about $50-60.

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Sometimes backyard roller coasters are better thrills for the youngsters.  This PVC coaster looks like fun for the kiddies.

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This backyard roller coaster is a little bit different (and not nearly as safe) as it uses a cart to ride along a wooden ramp instead of riding on wooden, PVC or steel rails.  But as you can see, the drops are fairly steep, the cart looks like it gets some pretty good speed, and the kid looks like he’s having a blast.  Just make sure to hang on tight!

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Nicknamed the Forest Flyer, this backyard roller coaster looks like a classic wooden coaster that you would find at any amusement park.  This kid did a great job of building his ride.  The only downside is that the ride itself is very short.

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Up next we have The Depreciator, a PVC roller coaster that stretches for 120 feet.  As you can see, this track uses the yard’s sloping terrain to its advantage, staying low to the ground but also offering a thrilling ride.

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The Predator, a rather frightening looking DIY roller coaster with a steep drop followed by two small hills.  Notice how the coaster’s car has a clear shield so that the rider can see all of the track.

A POV (point-of-view) ride on Predator.

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Here’s another backyard roller coaster.  The owner claimed that it took about a year and cost around $200 to build this short but still thrilling PVC coaster.  They just need to cut the heavy metal music from the video.

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When it comes to this one-way, “incomplete” track style of backyard roller coasters, this is perhaps the greatest coaster of them all.  Notice how, like a previous video, this coaster’s layout takes advantage of a naturally hilly terrain along with a large yard.  This coaster races for nearly a minute until it finally reaches the end of track.  I wish I could have a ride like this in my yard!  It looks totally fantastic!

These coaster videos are small potatoes compared to what some really motivated people have constructed.  You already saw the example of Blue Flash near the beginning of this article.  Here are a few more backyard roller coasters with a complete track.

 

Along with the Blue Flash there’s the Blue Too.  Here’s a POV video of a ride on that steel roller coaster.

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Here we have a backyard PVC coaster built for the kiddies.  There’s no powered chain to haul the car to the top of the hill (dad has to push him with a pole), but that doesn’t take away any fun for this pint-sized rider.  The kid has a blast racing down the steep first drop and then riding around the curves and back to the starting point.  You know it’s fun when he keeps wanting to ride it again and again.

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Here we have a unique backyard roller coaster, a style that we never see.  In the world of roller coasters this style is known as a suspended single rail coaster.  These people are definitely on to a cool concept with their backyard thrill ride.  It looks like a lot of fun!

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Here we have the pinnacle of backyard roller coasters.  This wooden roller coaster was designed and built by Jeremy Reid at his parents’ property in Oklahoma.  This is an example of what hard work and determination can get you in the end.  Like many people on the Internet, I’m blown away at this wooden roller coaster and how it looks like something you might find in a real amusement park.

A POV ride on Jeremy Reid’s wooden roller coaster.

So there you have it.  These are some of the highlights of backyard, DIY roller coaster videos on the Internet.  If I had the time and finances I’d seriously consider building one of those rides with my friends.

For you high school students, building a backyard DIY roller coaster, even a small one, can be a fantastic science fair project and help earn bonus points in your science class.  Just be sure to take detailed notes, make accurate measurements, and determine the math such as acceleration, top speed, g-forces and whatever else is relevant to the ride and rider.