Colossus (Thorpe Park)



Colossus is a roller coaster at Thorpe Park in Surrey, England, and the park's first major attraction. It was built by Swiss manufacturers Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel as an adaptation of Monte Makaya in Brazil, with consultation from Tussauds attraction developer John Wardley. Colossus was the world's first roller coaster with ten inversions; an exact replica, called the 10 Inversion Roller Coaster, was later built at Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou, China. It retained its title of having the most inversions on any other roller coaster in the world until The Smiler at Alton Towers took the record in 2013.

Manufacturers Intamin used a similar train style to their Hyper 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 civilisation. The music for the ride and surrounding area was composed by Ian Habgood. During planning and construction Colossus was known as Project Odyssey; both names allude to Ancient Greece, albeit in different ways. In 2009, the ride's lift hill chain was replaced and station area was cleaned of rust. In 2010, Colossus's signs and station were repainted.

The ride
The train is dispatched from the station and immediately begins to ascend the lift hill, pulling up from the Lost City undergrowth to leave riders fairly exposed at 98 ft. Disengaging from the chain at this point, (and making a loud, unique 'rattling' sound) the train sweeps around a descending twist of track to the left - performing a fairly rapid banked 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 to grant riders the experience of a headchopper effect, before pulling sharply upwards into a fairly intense 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. Though a fairly brief portion of the ride experience, the speed of the train (approaching 50 mph) and the proximity to the ground when executing the corkscrews can create quite an exhilarating moment. Riders' photographs are also taken as the train levels after the second corkscrew. Here, the train loses speed as it coasts up a loose ascending curve, once again facing riders in the direction they were travelling after the first drop, to be confronted by 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) thrusts guests close to the surrounding foliage. The train then slows into the final brake run, stopping for a moment before the exit.