Stealth (roller coaster)

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Stealth
Stealth under construction; October 2005
Location	Thorpe Park
Park Section	Amity Cove
Type	Steel - Launched
Status	Open
Opened	March 15, 2006
Manufacturer	Intamin AG
Designer	Werner Stengel
Model	Accelerator Coaster
Lift/launch system	Hydraulic launch track
Height	205 ft (62.5 m)
Length	1312 ft (399.9 m)
Max speed	80.0 mph (128.7 km/h)
Inversions	0
Duration	~12 sec.
Max Vertical Angle	86 degrees
Capacity	1200 riders per hour
Cost	£10-12 million
Acceleration	0 − 80 mph in 2.3 seconds
Max G force	4.8
Stealth at RCDB
Pictures of Stealth at RCDB

Stealth is a steel roller coaster built by Intamin AG of Switzerland. The coaster is located in the Amity Cove area of Thorpe Park in Surrey, England and is the park's newest roller coaster. The ride reaches a maximum height of 205 ft, which makes it the 3rd tallest coaster in Europe after Silver Star and Pepsi Max Big One, but the tallest launched coaster in Europe. The ride reaches speeds of around 80 mph in 2.3 seconds, making it the fastest roller coaster in Europe. During the ride, riders are faced with G-forces of up to 4.8 G, about 1.5 G more than astronauts experience on take off. The ride is thought to have cost £12 million.

The ride opened on 15 March, 2006. A newer version of the Enterprise ride, Zodiac, was relocated from Drayton Manor Theme Park to Thorpe Park on the same day.

1 Planning & Development
- 1.1 Reactions
2 The Ride
3 Theming
4 External links

[edit] Planning & Development

During development the ride was known as Project Stealth, and names such as 'Humdinger' and 'The Edge' circulated the Internet forums before the park decided on the name Stealth in early 2006.

When the ride was first announced on the Thorpe Park mid-term development plans it was compared to Xcelerator at Knott's Berry Farm in the US. Initial speculation was that the ride would have a similar layout (launch, top hat, several overbanked turns, brake run), but a less ambitious layout was eventually decided on. Stealth bears major similarities to Kingda Ka, the current world record holder for tallest and fastest roller coaster. Stealth is essentially a scaled down version of Kingda Ka, something coaster enthusiasts have criticized Thorpe Park for; all the more understandable since Stealth cost only about 10% less than Kingda Ka to construct, yet is less than half the height and 48mph slower.

It is believed by some that Thorpe Park has a "height barrier" which its rides must be lower than in order to have their planning permission granted. This however is not true. Stealth is not an "exception to the rule" but a continuation of high adrenaline rides from the park.

In the original designs there were plans for a grandstand style queue-line, which involved the queue wrapping around and through a traditional drag racing grandstand. This was turned down in favour of a more cost-effective 'cattle pen' queue-line similar to the one at Alton Towers for its 2005 coaster Rita - Queen of Speed, although the queue-line does zigzag back and forth under the launch track to build anticipation, as the launching train is very impressive close up. Stealth has its own live DJ in a booth outside the ride. The DJ plays rock 'n' roll classics from rock stars such as Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys. Guests can request tracks and give shoutouts that can be heard throughout the queue-line and the Stealth area of Thorpe Park.

[edit] Reactions

Stealth was well received by the public and coaster enthusiasts. A surprise was the airtime (negative G-forces) felt after the top hat, something which Kingda Ka had lacked. One coaster site rates this coaster with 10 out of 10. Another ranks it 39th in the world with a ranking of 8.66. The ride has been criticized for its short length and unvaried track. Stealth, like the other coasters of this type, will sometimes "roll back". This is when the train does not have enough power to reach the top of the hill. When that happens, the train falls back down the hill, and is sent to a stop before being launched again. This makes some rides very unexpected.

However, on the 21st of June 2006, the ride broke down, producing smoke, sparks, and power loss. The suspected cause for this is that part of the rubber lining of the catch car rubbed against the metallic edge of the catch car carrier, causing loud noise and smoke. The ride operator then pushed the emergency stop, which caused the brake fins to rise up, slowing the train slightly, but still leaving enough momentum to guide the riders through the rest of the track. When the ride stopped, the riders were stuck on the ride for about 30 minutes. At this point it is believed that nothing in the launch room has been damaged, and the ride was re-opened on July 17 2006. The seriousness of the accident meant that the queue line and the whole of Amity Cove was evacuated. During this period of downtime, Thorpe Park continued with their TV advertising campaign promoting stealth. Staff from the park reported that during this period there was a large increase in the number of complaints made at guest services, however the park refused to refund customers their entrance fees, despite the TV advertising campaign not mentioning that the ride was in fact unoperable at the time. A similar but more serious incident happened on Kingda Ka, also designed by Intamin.

Although since the re-opening of Stealth, it has encountered much downtime. Thorpe Park Guest Services have been telling people that this is due to the possibility of small pieces of metal entering the hydraulic fluid and system, which causes an error in Stealth's computer, Intamin AG has been notified of the problem and are analysing fluid samples. The ride re-opened at 4:45 pm. Saturday 26th August, with only one train running, but the following day both trains were operating and the ride is now fully functional, although at present the ride is experencing many failed launches per day and often is only running on one train. The ride hopefully is now working on two trains and according to staff at Thorpe the "teething problems" have been fixed and they hope for it to be operational all day, every day for the rest of the season.

[edit] The Ride

The queue line begins near the end of the launch track under the signature logo of a large "half tyre". The original plan for the queue line was for it to be of the stadium style but the was cancelled and an ordinary "cattlepen" style is now in place. The queue line eventually runs by the station giving impressive views of the launch and also runs underneath the launch track itself. After this the queue line splits in 2, the left one for the front of the train, the other one for the rest of the train. When guests have reached the the platform, they are asked to put loose articles such as keys, wallets, mobiles and glasses into "cubbies" and are given a wristband. Then guests wait behind gates, waiting for a empty train to roll into place. Guests are told to sit down, pull down the restraints and clip in their own belt. By doing this, the train is checked quickly and the queue is mainly always on the move, only stopping if a guest of "exceptional" size is having difficulties. The train then rolls forward slighty and then back to hook onto the catch car. Then a voice is heard over the speakers, "Place your heads back, face forwards - 3, 2, 1, GO GO GO". When the ride first opened in March, the original voiceover from the speakers said, "Ready to go, looking good - 3, 2, 1, GO GO GO". The train is then accelerated to 80mph. As it nears the launch track, the catch car unhooks itself and the train carries on its journey up the 205ft tower, cresting over the top-hat and coming back down and cresting over a smaller "bunny-hop" hill while being slowed down by magnetic brakes. During this period of downtime, Thorpe Park continued with their TV advertising campaign promoting stealth. Staff from the park reported that during this period there was a large increase in the number of complaints made at guest services, however the park refused to refund customers their entrance fees, despite the TV advertising campaign not mentioning that the ride was in fact unoperable at the time.

[edit] Theming

The theme of this coaster is a 1960's race track called "Amity Speedway". A live radio DJ plays music from the 1960's. It is generally seen as good theming, and certainly the best within the park, as it also improves the queue line's atmosphere and makes the queueing time more enjoyable.