By Andrew Stokes, Communications Officer

With some scrap wood and a whole lot of ambition, David Chesney (Sc’17) set out four years ago to build a roller-coaster in his parents’ backyard in Thornhill, Ont. His labour of love, which he has dubbed “The Minotaur,” is finally complete, running on 92 feet of track and reaching 12 feet in height.

“I had some extra wood lying around and wanted to see what I could do. I’ve always loved and been fascinated by roller-coasters, so I decided to try to make one,” Chesney says. “I hadn’t taken physics, hadn’t done much math and I hadn’t even used a power tool before, but I started sawing and putting things together. Before I knew it I had a track, but it didn’t really work.”

Chesney tweaked his designs, tinkering away, making his coaster bigger and bigger. At first he enlisted his parents to take him to Home Depot to buy new parts and materials, but eventually he was sourcing steel and lumber to find the best price.

Chesney took on a summer job to help pay for his project. “I was working at Canada’s Wonderland, saving up my money so that I could go home and spend it on my own coaster. It was a funny circle that way.”

After completing his first year of engineering at Queen’s, he brought a wealth of knowledge to bear on his roller-coaster. “I suddenly understood why certain things worked and why others didn’t,” he says with a laugh. “There were principles I was following without knowing why, but the physics I’ve learnt have given me a much deeper understanding of the forces at work. Physics class convinced me to adjust the orientation of the seat to get more potential energy on the hills.”

When on campus away from his roller-coaster project, Chesney finds other things to fill his time. He has experimented with computer programming and, during exams, he built an iPhone app. He also likes to spend his free time in SparQ Labs, the first “makerspace” on a Canadian campus where students can work on projects and share resources.

“I’m always coming up with a new project, and SparQ Labs are the one of the best places on campus for people who want to build something,” he says. “It gives me a space to be creative and is a great way to keep my mind busy.”

Hoping for a future in the amusement industry, Chesney decided to make his own experience. “There’s no program anywhere for learning to build rides, but it’s what I want to do with my engineering degree,” he says. “As an engineer I want to make people happy and this seems like a great way to do it.”