Alton Towers begins teasing Secret Weapon 7

18 million pounds? That's a hefty investment. Air was 12 million pounds and that was ten years ago. I don't know what inflation has amounted to over the years, but still, a ride that costs that much sounds promising in terms of scope based on past investments.

Leaked plans of this ride are interesting, but not as totally different as anything else that has ever been built.

SPOILERS AHEAD! ... ... ... The major unique element is a tunnel in which the ride vehicle stops and the track heartlines around the inside of the tunnel, turning riders upside-down a few times. The rest of the ride races and duels with itself through inversions.

It looks pretty good from what I've seen.

Someone fill me in on the other SW's? I know Nemesis, Oblivion, and Air are in there. Was Rita?

http://old.towerstimes.co.uk/history/articles/secretweapons.htm

Either my browser or your link is borked.

Link works for me.

Here is a very interesting construction photo of this coaster... That looks really cool!

LostKause said:

... The major unique element is a tunnel in which the ride vehicle stops and the track heartlines around the inside of the tunnel, turning riders upside-down a few times. The rest of the ride races and duels with itself through inversions.

Has this actually been confirmed? I know it's been speculated that this element is what will give the ride the record for inversions- If so, then it's not at all surprising that it's being built at Alton. Looking forward to seeing them bring the trusty old Merlin marketing campaign out for yet another spin.

Eurofighters look cool, but I've never been on one that I would wait more than 5 minutes for to ride again.

That picture A_Hoffman posted reminds me of the concept art for one of those coasters at that no-longer-happening-as-if-it-ever-was Orlando Thrill Park from awhile back.

The rotating tunnel is purposely obstructed by the blue text box in the photo that Andy linked to. I'd be very surprised if that wasn't the secret that they are trying to hide.

The Smiler (nice name).

http://rcdb.com/11062.htm

http://www.the-smiler.com/the-ride/

Looks to be the ultimate, cartoonish, crazy, kind of coaster you drew on your 3rd grade notebook kind of loopy coaster. Someone wants the inversion record and doesn't want to let it go for a looong time!

a_hoffman50 said:

Here is a very interesting construction photo of this coaster... That looks really cool!

Looks like the crazy stuff we were doing with RCT back in the CoasterBuzz games days that got poo-pooed by the 'purists' as too unrealistic.

Looks kinda like Jokers Jinx. Even RCDB doesn't have info on how many inversions.

Because the inversion count can be changed just by reprogramming the ride. ;)

Is it just a batwing/boomerang stuck inside a cobra roll?

It's more than that.

And the video that I linked to doesn't even show the secret rotating tunnel. It's going to be a pretty long ride. I love how it interacts with itself.

I wonder how much of the 18 million pounds was spent on marketing? I saw a picture of the smiley logo projected on the side of Big Ben!