The first ever ten inversion roller coaster opened on the 22nd of March 2002 at Thorpe Park, England. The initial reception of Colossus was great, being the most inverted roller coaster in the world was a real challenge for rides and wasn’t for the faint hearted. Four years later Chime-Long Paradise opened a replica of Colossus the only difference being the colour scheme.
Ten Inversion Coaster At Chime-Long Paradise
During the planning and construction stages Colossus was know as Project Odyssey due to being built in a area themed around ancient Greece. The roller coaster was originally planned as an adaptation of Monte Makaya In Brazil. John Wardley took on the task and added two extra inversions as well as reducing the height. The first part of the ride is built below the station which enables the car to slow down before going into the inline twists, a very clever idea by the designers.
Colossus At Thorpe Park
Manufacturers Intamin based the ride cars on the Hyper Coaster, this however caused safety problems as the cars allowed riders to lift their legs outside of the car. Metal bars were added to the side of the car to prevent this. In 2003 the cars were redesigned with new restraints which prevented this and enabled a much more comfortable and safer ride.
Colossus Inline Twists
The ride has now been running successfully for 7 years, in recent years several safety nets have been added to the ride to catch anything which happens to fall from visitors while riding. Many riders have complained about the general state of the ride, a repaint and refurbishment is well overdue but going by Thorpe parks standards it may never happen.
I hope you have enjoyed the first ever Spotlight of Park Thoughts, look out for our next one coming soon.
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3 Responses
Egypt2112 Aug 23rd, 2009, 2:19 am
My sister actually went on that ride. I think she went in 2002, but she had a gymnastics competition there and went to Thorpe, and said Collossus was an awesome coaster! I am still waiting for my chance to shine on the coaster…I really want to ride it!
Tigerlemurguy Aug 23rd, 2009, 5:22 am
Its a great coaster but its a real head banger. I was lucky enough to ride it twice while I was there in July.
Frostyfox Oct 22nd, 2009, 7:11 am
I am not a fan of Thorpe Park.. When the place is busy. Which it always seems to be it’s just not a fun park to be at. Colossus is an awesome rollercoaster though despite its shabby appearance in place it doesn’t look out of place, And in recent years you would be forgiven for thinking it had been there for a very long time with the amount of tree’s growing around it
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