Goliath (La Ronde)

Goliath is a steel coaster roller coaster at the La Ronde located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, it reaches a maximum height of 174.8ft, a speed of 68.4mph, and a track length of 4038.8ft. Construction commenced in September 2005, and the roller coaster opened to the public on May 13, 2006. Goliath was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Canada until it was surpassed by Behemoth (another Bolliger & Mabillard roller coaster), at Canada's Wonderland's in 2008. Six Flags announced that Goliath would be hooked up with Virtual Reality for a New Revolution experience for the 2016 season, which was previously made as a world premiere in 2013 by a Montreal VR company.HistorySpeculation that La Ronde would be building a new roller coaster began in the second half of 2004. Rumors that the roller coaster would be manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard emerged in September 2005. Construction for the roller coaster by Martin & Vleminckx began in September 2005 with land clearing and foundation pouring. The $18.7 million Goliath was announced on October 26, 2005. By mid-November, the storage bay was constructed with track pieces for the brake run and station being installed soon after. Construction on the lift hill continued throughout December and was topped off (the highest piece the lift hill) on December 21. The first drop was completed by mid-January 2006 followed by the first camelback hill which was completed by the end of February. After the second and third camelback hills were installed, the turnaround was completed in mid-March. The three camelback hills and banked turns leading back to the station were installed by the end of March marking the completion of installing track. The cars for the trains were also delivered in late March. After the cars were put on the track in April, testing began. Once testing was complete, Goliath opened to the public on May 13, 2006.