Blackpool Pleasure Beach unveils plans for world's safest rollercoaster
BLACKPOOL Pleasure Beach have proudly unveiled plans for the world's safest rollercoaster – in the week Alton Towers was fined £5m for the Smiler crash.
Code-named 'Construction 2018', it will smoothly propel thrill-seekers at 80km-an-hour thanks to German-designed, state-of-the-art laser-guided, electromagnet mechanisms.
Delighted passengers will be launched four-times the acceleration of a Lamborghini Gallardo, with the same stomach-churning G-force as Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes Formula One car.
At the 'Mack Rides' rollercoaster factory in Waldkirch, Germany, designers said electromagnets shooting the carriages down the track, laser-beam 3D technology and new steel manufacturing processes make it set a new world benchmark in theme park safety.
There is the most safety here that can be physically be put into any ride in the world
Their next-generation rollercoaster announcement comes as Alton Towers operator Merlin was blasted by a judge for last year's Smiler crash.
It left 16 people injured, including Joe Pugh, 19, Daniel Thorpe, 28, and Mrs Chandaben Chauhan, 49, and left Vicky Balch, 20, and Leah Washington, 18, each losing a leg.
Mack Rides factory co-owner Roland Mack, whose family firm are making the £16.25m ride, declined to comment specifically on the Alton Towers crash.
But he stressed that 'never imagine before' safety planning has been poured into Construction 2018, making it one of the most advanced rides on the planet when it opens in Spring 2018.
Mr Mack told the Daily Express: "There is the most safety here that can be physically be put into any ride in the world."
Blackpool pleasure beach designs safest rollercoaster ever
Blackpool Pleasure Beach (BPB) managing director Amanda Thompson, stressed safety was paramount throughout the ride's 44,800 hours of planning.
Mrs Thompson OBE explained: "Britons demand the most thrilling rides in the world in their doorstep – with this we believe we've made that happen."
Construction 2018 will be 1.14km long ride taking two-and-a-half minutes, reaching heights of 88.5ft with toe-curling drops of 82ft.
It is also a UK first due to its 'double-launch' during the ride – two powerful thrusts of acceleration at up to a stomach-churning 4.3 G-force.
When installed – and officially named – it will interact with five other rollercoasters at the Lancashire seaside resort, including the giant and iconic 'Big One'.
Electromagnets on the track 'pull' the ride to incredible speeds, cutting down moving parts significantly.
Alex Payne, BPB's technical director, said: "The backups in this ride are off the scale compared to say the industry only five years ago.
"Anything that can possibly arise is taken into account. We have levels of diagnostic systems here that could not even be imagined three years ago. It's that state-of-the-art.
"The 3D laser scanning of the Pleasure Beach site is a first and means we have a massive amount of data to map the track within a tenth of a millimetre.
"New technology also means more parts are milled from a single block of steel – rather than made separately and all welded together.
"Welding adds extra stress to the crystallised structure of the steel and can add to metal fatigue – most of the parts here don't have any of that. That is incredible."
Mrs Thompson's brother Nick Thompson, deputy managing director at BPB, added: "Only the launch coaster can recreate the feel of going from zero to 50mph like a high performance racing car.
"Construction 2018 will be fast, adrenalin-fuelled and exhilarating but also smooth and comfortable – an entirely new ride experience.
"It sees a significant investment in the North-West of England."
• In April, Alton Towers owners Merlin Attractions admitted breaching the Health and Safety Act before finally receiving their huge fine at Stafford Crown Court this week.
Judge Michael Chambers QC described the crash on the £18m attraction as a “catastrophic failure”.
Engineers failed to notice a carriage had stopped midway around the 14-loop ride, assumed there was a computer error and over-rode the stop safety mechanism.
Nick Varney, Merlin chief executive, vowed to “never repeat” the devastating accident after the Smiler reopened in March.