Alton, England (May 10, 2013) — Alton Towers Resort has unveiled the world’s first 14 loop rollercoaster, The Smiler. The official Guinness World Record for the most loops in a coaster has officially been broken by the Staffordshire theme park, smashing the previous record of 10.
The Smiler, which is Alton Towers Resort’s biggest ever investment at £18m, took over eight months to build and the second world first element has been kept under wraps since construction began back in September. Not for the faint hearted, the marmalising rollercoaster features a series of twisted psychological effects including optical illusions, blinding lights and jabbing needles designed to mess with your mind.
To mark the announcement, The Smiler’s heart-stopping 14 loops were revealed today with a spectacular display of lights, which brought the coaster to ‘life’. The sheer size of The Smiler, which is the equivalent of ten football pitches of ride-track, dominates the X-Sector area of the Resort.
Tom Ibison from Guinness World Records commented: “Alton Towers Resort has smashed the record with The Smiler’s 14 epic inversions – four more than their nearest rival located halfway around the world. We’ve seen a number of extreme rollercoasters open, but it’s so exciting to see such a world class attraction opening here in the UK.”
Katherine Duckworth from Alton Towers Resort commented: “We have been saying that The Smiler will ‘marmalise’ your mind for a long time and today we can officially reveal that it is set to do the same to your body. The combination of 14 loops with a variety of elements such as optical illusions, designed to mess with your mind make The Smiler a truly unique rollercoaster.
“This is by far the most exciting rollercoaster for Alton Towers Resort to date. It is twice as big as Nemesis and our biggest ever investment. There has been a lot of anticipation for this launch, and we can’t wait to see what the public think on 23rd May.
John Wardley, a ride consultant on The Smiler, commented: “The amount of time, money and energy that has been poured into creating this world first attraction is huge. I’ve been working in the industry for over 35 years and this rollercoaster really does push the boundaries. Who knows what we will have to do to top this one!”
Visitors can experience The Smiler’s 14 record-breaking loops and all its twisted psychological effects from Thursday 23rd May. For more information visit www.the-smiler.com.
About The Smiler:
In 2013, Alton Towers Resort will launch its biggest ever rollercoaster – The Smiler. The first of its kind in the world, The Smiler will be the biggest ever investment for a ride at the Resort. Here are a few facts:
- The Smiler is twice the size of Nemesis
- The track of The Smiler is 1,170m, which is equivalent to 78 double decker buses lined up within a row
- The highest drop is 30m, which is comparable to 17 black cabs stacked up on top of each other
- The ride time is 165 seconds which is 3x the ride time of Rita
- The maximum speed is approx. 85 km/hr which is 10 km//hr faster than Air
- It has 3,000 hours of manual labour, equal to flying to Australia 143 times
- 5,000 cubes of concrete were used within the build
- It’s an £18m investment, the equivalent of buying 120 of the world’s most desirable sports cars
- Passengers per train – 16
- Minimum rider height – 1.4m
- Location – X Sector, on the site of the old Black Hole ride