Karacho is the most thrilling roller coaster at Erlebnispark Tripsdrill.
This ride was one of the first Gerstlauer infinity coasters and it may also be one of the best. Find
out what makes Karacho so good in this review! Tripsdrill had previously built 3 roller coasters,
all of which skewed more for the family demographic.
In 2013, they built their first bonafide thrill coaster in Karacho. This was the
second Gerstlauer infinity coaster, opening just a few months after the Smiler at Alton Towers.
While this technically was a new model, the infinity coasters were the natural evolution
of Gerstlauer’s highly popular Euro-Fighter model. And it’s pretty hard to tell some of them apart.
The two coasters can have similar looking trains, similar looking track, and similar elements.
Karacho is located towards the back of Tripsdrill and it looks good with its black paint scheme.
The darker colors really contrast with the bright and colorful gardens of the park, signifying this
coaster has an edge to it. I had heard Karacho gets one of the longest lines at Tripsdrill
prior to my visit. But it had a shorter wait than rides like the flume, G’Sengte Sau, and Mammut.
Those 3 rides had 45-60 minute waits while Karacho had a steady half hour wait all-day. And I had no
problem waiting that for such a quality coaster. The end of Karacho’s queue line in entirely
indoors and features some nice theming. Karacho translates to High Speed in English
and the scenes leading up to the station depict a scientific workshop.
The music captures this feel perfectly along with the visuals. And once you reach the station,
you see the trains which are designed to look like rockets. I love the glowing orange engines on the
back. They really pop in the dark station and it’s a shame Tripsdrill closes before nightfall
because I’m sure they’d look stunning circling the course.
But everyone’s favorite feature in the station is the infamous puking animatronic.
On the unload side of the platform, you have this animatronic puking his guts out.
But more concerning, it sort of looks like he has some blood on his hands and mouth
so he probably should be checked out by a doctor.
This is one of those rides that opened before all its theming was complete. This seems to be
a trend at a few German parks, but thankfully you can experience the ride’s full package nowadays.
Karacho’s trains feature 2 rows of 4 riders, seating 8 riders maximum. The station has
separate lines for the front and back. The front is usually an extra 2 or so trains,
so it’s only a few extra minutes for the unobstructed view. From a force perspective,
the two rows were nearly identical so I usually went with the shorter wait for the back.
This infinity coaster features t-bar lap bars. They will be pressed snug against your body,
but I find these restraints quite comfortable with their contouring. And the freedom of your
upper body really enhances the hangtime and laterals you experience during the
ride. It also eliminates the risk of headbanging, although Karacho is a very smooth coaster.
Thankfully it doesn’t have the rattle that can plague some Gerstlauers.
Karacho starts with a small surprise, so if you want to avoid this
skip ahead to the time shown on the screen. Once dispatched, Karacho slowly rounds a corner
into total darkness. You then suddenly plunge downwards.
This drop gives a little floater airtime, which I find is a little more pronounced in the back row.
You then navigate a super slow barrel roll- still in total darkness- that gives fantastic hangtime.
I love how so many Gerstlauer coasters have funky starts like this.
After a brief brake run, you then dip into the ride’s signature launch.
This dip gives a little pop of airtime and then you blast into the daylight. This is a rolling
launch that accelerates you to 56 mph or 90 kph in 1.6 seconds. Gerstlauer makes arguably the
most forceful LSM launches in the industry. And this launch has some good punch to it, although
I found it a little weaker than some of their other coasters like Junker or TMNT Shellraiser.
Karacho then blasts you with positsive Gs as you ascend the first element, a 98 foot or 30 meter
tall top hat. This is the exact same height as the highest point on both Mammut and Hals-Uber-Kopf.
This top hat gives two nice ejector pops ascending and descending this element,
and you also get some wild laterals considering there’s nothing holding your upper body.
And you get some more positive Gs on the pullout. Karacho then cruises through a supersized
corkscrew. It’s quite tall, so the train slows down at the top giving a pinch of hangtime.
The next element is this banked turn. The first half of the turn is pretty tame,
but there’s a sharp twist on the downward ascent that can produce some weak floater aritime. I also
like how this turn is placed between two buildings to enhance the visuals and sense of speed.
Karacho then twists upwards into the mid-course brake run and this turn pulls
some really nice Gs. I wasn’t expecting that. The mid-course barely slows the train down,
but the drop into the second half sadly gave no airtime. The following bunny hill did though.
It offered weak floater airtime. And it transitions immediately into a 360 degree helix.
The first half of the helix delivers solid positives, but they suddenly stop halfway
through the element. But it’s the calm before the storm since Karacho is about to wow you
with its best element- the dive loop. This inversion claimed a high spot on my
top inversions list and for good reason. This is a super compact dive loop with an abrupt twist
into it, so you get some extreme laterals. This transition occurs so quickly you don’t really get
hangtime, but that’s fine considering how intense those lats are. You then dive into an underground
tunnel, experiencing very strong positive Gs on the way- the best positives on the ride.
Karacho juxtaposes these forces with a floaty final element.
You have this super slow corkscrew that dishes out good hangtime. And there also were some surprising
laterals too. I thought the hangtime was a little better on the right side of the train,
but the laterals were a little better on the left so it was a tradeoff.
You then hit the brake run, ending the 2297 foot or 700 meter long coaster.
So what would I rate Karacho? I would give this Gerstlauer infinity coaster an 8.5 out of 10.
This is a good coaster that does a little of everything. The queue line and station have some
theming to set the mood. Then the main layout has some awesome elements like that forceful magnetic
launch, the strong top hat, and the four wild inversions. I love how each inversion gets you out
of your seat with either hangtime or laterals, sometimes both simultaneously.
I narrowly prefer Hals-uber-Kopf to Karacho,
but these two coasters form a unique and nice 1-2 punch for thrill seekers at Tripsdrill.
And this is definitely in the upper half of the infinity coasters as well.
So those are my thoughts on Karacho at Erlebnispark Tripsdrill.
What are your thoughts on this exciting coaster? Let me know what you think about this ride down
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