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Colossus is a steel
roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides ar ...
at
Thorpe Park Thorpe Park Resort, commonly known as Thorpe Park, is an amusement park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertai ...
in Surrey,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, and the park's first major attraction. It was built by Swiss manufacturers
Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The Intamin brand name is a syllabic abbreviation for "international amusement insta ...
and designed by
Werner Stengel Werner Stengel (born 22 August 1936, in Bochum) is a German roller coaster designer and engineer. Stengel is the founder of Stengel Engineering, also known as Ingenieurbüro Stengel GmbH (or Ingenieurbuero Stengel GmbH). Stengel first worked on ...
as an adaptation of
Monte Makaya Monte Makaya was a steel, looping roller coaster manufactured by Intamin and located at Terra Encantada in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. When it opened in 1998, Monte Makaya's eight inversions tied the world record previously set by Dragon Khan. It w ...
in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Colossus was the world's first roller coaster with ten inversions; an exact replica, called the
10 Inversion Roller Coaster 10 Inversion Roller Coaster is a steel roller coaster at Chimelong Paradise amusement park in Guangzhou, Guangdong China. Completed in 2006, Tenth Ring is the second roller coaster in the world with 10 inversions, after Colossus in England's T ...
, was later built at
Chimelong Paradise Chimelong Paradise () is a major amusement park in Panyu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Opened on April 12, 2006, Chimelong Paradise is the largest amusement park in China and boasts the 10 Inversion Roller Coaster, which prior to the ...
in
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong ...
, China. It retained its title of having the most inversions on any other roller coaster in the world until ''
The Smiler The Smiler is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Manufactured by Gerstlauer, it opened in 2013 as the world's first Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster. It is located in the X-Sector area of the park. With ...
'' at
Alton Towers Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often referred to as Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments Group and incorporates a theme park, water pa ...
took the record in 2013. Manufacturer
Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The Intamin brand name is a syllabic abbreviation for "international amusement insta ...
used a similar
train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often k ...
style to their Mega Coaster models, which are exposed by removing the sides of the train. This caused problems as riders could lift their legs outside of the train whilst it was in motion. For a brief period in 2002 and 2003 the ride was equipped with metal bars on the sides of the train to prevent this. During 2003 the trains were fitted with new style restraints to prevent riders from doing this and the metal plates were removed. The roller coaster is located in the Lost City area, in the south-east of the park. The ride is formed of a vertical loop, a cobra roll, two corkscrews and five heartline rolls. The ride's rough theme is the ruins of a recently unearthed
Atlantean As an adjective, Atlantean (or Atlantian) means "of or pertaining to Atlas or Atlantis". Atlantean may also refer to: * Atlantean figures, a type of ancient artifacts * ''Atlantean'' (documentary series), a trilogy of TV films discussing the or ...
civilization. The music for the ride and surrounding area was composed by Ian Habgood. During planning and construction, Colossus was known as ''Project Odyssey''.


Ride experience


Inversions


The ride

The train is dispatched from the station and immediately begins to ascend the chain lift hill, bringing riders to a maximum height of 98 ft. After disengaging from the chain, the train follows a 180 degree turn to the left into a drop - and passes through a vertical loop (left). The train then briefly traverses an elongated airtime hill that drops beneath the ride exit and gift shop creating a "head-chopper effect", before pulling sharply upwards into a cobra roll situated in a partially flooded pit (so as to allow other guests to observe the element and generate a more engaging visual spectacle to surround the attraction). Upon exiting the cobra roll, the second phase of the circuit begins: snaking slightly to the left, the train is quickly pulled through two corkscrew elements; the first inverting riders over the airtime hill and the second encompassing a pathway leading to the ride entrance. Riders' photographs are taken as the train levels after the second corkscrew. Here, the speed of the train decreases rapidly. Riders then experience four consecutive clockwise heartline rolls that pass only 10 ft above the area's pathway. A final bend round to the left is completed as the train slowly approaches the station, before an unexpected final inversion (a counter-clockwise heartline roll). The train then slows into the final brake run, stopping for a moment before the exit.


References


External links


Thorpe Park – official websiteColossus at Thorpe Park Mania – official fansite
{{Authority control Roller coasters operated by Merlin Entertainments Roller coasters in the United Kingdom Roller coasters introduced in 2002 Thorpe Park roller coasters 2002 establishments in England