Top Hat

A top hat is a distinctive element where the track climbs nearly vertically to a sharp, narrow crest, then descends nearly vertically on the other side — the profile resembling a top hat when viewed from the side. It is the centrepiece element of Intamin's hydraulic launch accelerator coasters: after the initial launch accelerates the train to 200 km/h or more in under four seconds, the top hat is the immediate theatrical payoff — a vertical wall of track rushing upward to an impossibly narrow peak.

Inside top hats bank the track slightly inward at the peak; outside top hats bank outward, exposing riders to an airtime-heavy, widely open sensation at the crest. Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure (139 m) and Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point (128 m) feature the world's most iconic top hats. In Europe, Red Force at Ferrari Land in Tarragona reaches 112 m with a classic Intamin top hat after its hydraulic launch to 180 km/h.