Next year, New Englanders will be thrilled, or terrified, by an ultra-steep new roller coaster opening at New Hampshire's Canobie Lake Park. In 2011, the historic park will be home to a modern thrill machine in Untamed. Untamed was designed by German roller coaster designers Gerstlauer. It will be one of the designer's Euro-Fighter 320+ models that have currently only been built in Europe. For more information, you can view diagrams of the ride's complete layout and also visit Gerstlauer's website.

At only 1,184 feet long, Untamed will be a compact coaster, but guests will be treated to an onslaught of thrills. The ride will begin with a rare vertical lift to 72 feet. Then, the small 8-person cars will roll over the crest and plunge riders into a beyond vertical 97-degree drop. It will be one of the steepest roller coasters in the United States. After the drop, the cars will navigate three loops including a vertical loop, an immelmann, and a zero-g roll. While brief, Untamed will be quite an action-packed little coaster.

Here's a POV video of Rage at Adventure Island. Like Untamed, Rage is a Euro-Fighter 320+. So, they should have identical layouts. This video was filmed with permission from the park.

I imagine that Untamed will be great for Canobie Lake Park and the region in terms of tourism. Modern thrill rides, even roller coasters this small, can provide a substantial amount of media attention for amusement parks. Canobie Lake is now officially on my radar as I've never ridden a Gerstlauer Eurofighter or really any roller coaster this steep.

[Photo credit: Flickr user Ian's Shutter Habit]

Filed under: Theme Parks