Thirteen

Roller coaster in the United Kingdom
Watch the on-ride POV
Thirteen
Alton Towers
Location Alton, Staffordshire, England, UK
Coordinates 52°59′05″N 1°53′26″W / 52.984671°N 1.890566°W / 52.984671; -1.890566
Park section Dark Forest
Status Operating since 20 March 2010
Replaced Corkscrew
Statistics
Manufacturer Intamin
Product Multi Dimensional Coaster
Onsite construction RCS GmbH
Type Steel
Riders per train 20
Hourly capacity 1100
Propulsion Booster wheel lift hill
Height 20 metres
Top speed 67 km/h
Length 756 metres
Inversions 0
G-Force 3
HELP

Thirteen (also known as Th13teen) is a steel family roller coaster at Alton Towers in Alton, Staffordshire, England, UK. The ride was built by Intamin and was officially opened on 20 March 2010. It replaced Corkscrew, which resided at the park for 28 years between 1980 and 2008.

History

Alton Towers first revealed their plans for the ride in October 2008 when explaining the reasoning for the removal of the Corkscrew. Planning permission was initially delayed due to concerns about the Iron Age hill fort in the vicinity. However, in March 2009, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council accepted planning permission for the ride (with conditions) and groundwork construction commenced about three months later. During the planning stages and construction, the ride was codenamed 'Secret Weapon 6', a trend that had been started with 2 planned but unbuilt pre-Nemesis coasters at Alton Towers, and has continued with all the major thrill coasters except Rita ever since.[1]

The initial idea for the secret element originated from a previous roller coaster plan designed by John Wardley, Ride Consultant for Merlin Entertainments, in which a piece of track tilted back and forth during the ride. This, however, would not have been a world's first though, as a similar concept was put in effect with Vekoma's Gravity Max. Thus, the original ride design never came to fruition, however the concept of a moving track piece was kept and developed into the world's first free falling track piece.

Thirteen was officially announced in December 2009. At the time, Alton Towers claimed it would be "the scariest ride in the UK". The park also claimed that due to the nature of the roller coaster, only guests between 16 and 55 years old would be allowed to ride.[2] This restriction was never implemented.

Ride Experience

The ride starts with a 180 degree turnaround into the 20 metres booster wheel Lift hill. The ride then drops, reaching speeds of 67 km/h and goes into a high speed banked turn. It is then followed by a series of airtime hills into another booster wheel Lift hill. This then leads into a crypt in which the lights turn off and the track drops 5 metres. After this the train is accelerated backwards going through a series of banked turns in complete darkness. The train then heads back into the station.

Design

Elements

Trains

3 trains with 5 cars per train. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 20 riders per train.

Images

References

  1. "Sea Life and Secret Weapon 6".
  2. "Alton Towers reveals new coaster name as Thirteen, claims "scariest in UK"". Theme Park Tourist.

External links

  • Thirteen on the Roller Coaster DataBase.


Articles on Alton Towers