'˜High five' hopes for new Blackpool rollercoaster riders

Riders on two Pleasure Beach coasters will be so close, the section of a new ride has been dubbed the '˜high five' pass.

A full description of the new rollercoaster – so far dubbed ‘Construction 2018’ – has been revealed, explaining how it will loop and curl around existing rides at the Blackpool attraction.

And among the promised interactions is a ‘high five’ pass with the historic Big Dipper.

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The ride, expected to be re-named before it opens in 2018, will be unique because of
 the way it interacts with the Pleasure Beach’s other attractions.

The park was 3D scanned before the design process began allowing the team at Mack Rides in Germany to plot a course around existing rides such as the Big One, Steeplechase and Avalanche.

Dennis Gordt, Mack Rides’ head of track development, described the layout in detail for trade magazine Park World.

He said: “We race out of 
the station and through the first launch section – going from 0 to 55mph with a maximum acceleration of -4.3G, heading directly after that into a top hat (a 90 degree incline followed by a 90 degree drop) which is 27m high.

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“Then we have very first interaction with the Big One as we cross below the lift hill with a very tight clearance envelope.

“The next element is one of the most complicated because we have the inclined loop and cross over our own ride Avalanche.

“After that we have banking which changes from 70 to 80 degrees, an angle change of 150 degrees at very high speed, and also we are passing two existing rides, the Big Dipper and Steeplechase, which the Pleasure Beach is doing some ground work on so that the ride can travel under it.

“This is followed by an S-bend section, which you pass through at 45mph, then going back where we came from and passing again the Big Dipper and Steeplechase.”

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The ride includes two sections in which riders will be turned upside-down, including a zero-G roll.

And riders are promised a unique chance to salute a classic wooden coaster in the final stages of the ride.

Mr Gordt said: “At the end we will have a ‘high five’ interaction with the Big Dipper, where riders on the two coasters can salute each other if the trains are passing at the right time.

“Then we hit the final brake before returning to the station. The average speed throughout the ride will be 40mph – there will be no time to relax!”

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Blackpool Pleasure Beach is spending £16.25m on the new ride.

Bosses are promising riders will experience Formula One levels of acceleration on the park’s first new rollercoaster in more than a decade.

It is also the park’s first ‘double launch’ coaster – which means riders are accelerated at the start of the ride, and once again in the middle of the experience.

Pleasure Beach deputy managing director, Nick Thompson said: “Having been on many launch coasters around the world and spoken to friends, colleagues and people on the park that have too, I believe they are one of the most exciting ride developments of recent times.

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“The exhilaration of the launch – which will be the same as a that felt by the driver of a Formula 1 car or four times that experienced in a Lamborghini Gallardo – will be just so exciting and exhilarating.

“To have a double launch makes it even better.”

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