| The Ultimate | |
| Location | Lightwater Valley |
|---|---|
| Status | Operating |
| Opened | July 17, 1991 |
| Type | Steel |
| Manufacturer | Big Country Motioneering |
| Designer | Tom Kluberton |
| Track layout | Terrain |
| Lift/launch system | Two chain lift hills |
| Height | 107 ft (33 m) |
| Length | 7,442 ft (2,268 m) |
| Max speed | 51 mph (82 km/h) |
| Inversions | 0 |
| Duration | 7:24 |
| The Ultimate at RCDB | |
| Pictures of The Ultimate at RCDB | |
| Amusement Parks Portal | |
The Ultimate is a steel roller coaster at Lightwater Valley amusement park, near the small Cathedral city of Ripon, in North Yorkshire England. In 1991 it took the record of longest roller coaster in the world from The Beast at Kings Island. It is currently the second longest roller coaster in the world, after Steel Dragon 2000.
Contents |
"The Ultimate" represented an investment of £5.2 million and was the concept of the park's original owner, Robert Staveley. Construction work began in early 1990 and took eighteen months to complete before the opening to the public on 17 July 1991.
While "The Ultimate" was designed by Big Country Motioneering, they were not involved with the completion of the project. Lightwater Valley's owner got engineers from British Rail to oversee the construction. A few sections of track on the second half of the ride were redesigned to change their banking. The track was made by "Tubular Engineering".
Set within 44 acres (178,000 m²) of woodland, "The Ultimate" takes passengers on a 7 minute 34 second ride along 7,442-foot (2.3 km) of tubular steel track (an average of 11.2 mph), with two lift hills of 102 and 107-foot respectively, which rest on Canadian redwood trestles. It currently runs two trains on a normal day, each of which can hold a maximum of 38 passengers.
In June, 1994, a deer from the nearby forest strayed on to the track, and was hit in a collision with the train. A 12-year-old boy was taken to hospital as a result of the accident.[1]
| Preceded by The Beast |
World's Longest Roller Coaster July 1991–1999 |
Succeeded by Daidarasaurus |