Amazing new Alton towers pics. Stengal dive?

Found some pics online that i thought you guys would enjoy seeing.

Not sure if you have been following the new Intamin rocket that is getting built at Alton closely, but these new picks sure allay fears that it wont be fun!! The yellow coaster is the old corkscrew that is very very close to RITA.

http://ugland.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=Ugland-Development&id=adx

It looks very much like a stengal dive as on Goliath at the old six flags holland. And will be taken at quite a speed me thinks.

As mr Burns says "EXCELLENT"

Actually, it looks a lot more like the non-inverting corkscrews found on Expedition Ge-Force, Goliath, and S:ROS to me.

-Nate
*** Edited 2/9/2005 6:43:49 AM UTC by coasterdude318***

I thought the Stengel dive was more of an overbank... I figure I'm wrong.

Yea, you may be looking at the wrong part of the track, the only part that would be considered "overbanked" would be the side part, but still, pretty twisted track.

Looks like they started a "flying snake dive" inversion (ala Storm Runner), changed their minds, and went the other way with it ;)

That's the only thing I don't like about the design of Intamin track.. depending on your pov, sometimes it's hard to tell which rails are the running rails without straining your neck / thought processes. :)

Umm guys look at the support placement, the supports are in the wrong place to do any inverting or overbanking.You can clearly see its a corkscrew bunnyhop, found on the coasters Coasterdude318 mentioned above.

Sweet Intamin airtime with a twist:O)~

Wow! Pretty impressive! Its cool the way it twists one way, straightens out and then twists once again, all in the shape of a bunny hop.

I can't wait to ride in a few months!

I totally agree with Dannerman and coasterfanmatt, the more i look at it the more A) it confuses me with intamins box track, i have no idea what is top or bottom and b) that it excites me with it's change of direction and bunny hop all in one.

I do think that at speed, although this is the highest part of the ride, that this will be an insane element.

For more info on this unique looking ride (god love Alton towers's height restrictions- i think it forces them to make some totally original and different coasters) go to these websites. _ These are just 2 that i go to and have some great content.

towersalmanac.com

towerstimes.co.uk

Enjoy

James

I am still not sure about the "official" name of that Element. Some claim its called "EGF-Flip" (a name which Maurer-Söhne uses as well for an element on their "X-Car-Coaster".

Others say Mr. Stengel himself refers to it as "bückel" (german dialect for "road bump").

Call it what you want, on Expedition Ge-Force its THE big surprise element next to the first drop. Its hidden from view for the whole of the ride and when you approach this insanely twisted piece of track, you have no idea where it will take you next.

On Goliath it is taken a bit slower and its out in the open. The big surprise (and the powerful "flip-effect") is a bit lacking. I also tend to think that Goliath and Rita offer a much more heartlined feeling.

On EGF you feel that you are really sitting "on top of the rails" while your seat suddenly tries to throw you out.

The "Stengel Dive" is the overbanked hill which is only to be found on the dutch version of Goliath.

Maybe it's a silly question, but why didn't Spinball Whizzer and RITA get SW project names? Are the SW names reserved for the larger coaster projects or the ones that John Wardley is involved with?

RITA is inversion-less, IIRC.

Rob- Not sure why they did not get Secret Weapon status. In the old days the coaster projects only occurred once every 4 years- nemesis,Oblivion and Air. Perhaps with the coasters comeing thick and fast now, Spinball, Rita- and then whatever possibly the woodie, they have decided to do away with the secrecy.

I am also not sure if JW did not have some input with Rita. I would have imagined he would have had some ideas for it??

Moosh- Rita is said to be inversionless (perhaps to entice more people to ride who don't like going upside down)- but judging by the pics some might consider that overbanked turn to be just as scary/exciting as an inversion

Actually, folks have pinned SW6 to the woodie that got shot down last year. I'm not sure if the park gave it that designation or if it's just the fanboys.

air was SW5, officially, though.

There are now some new pictures of the complete / near-complete track at

http://www.towersalmanac.com/features/rita/constructionsite/february2005.html

- looks pretty good! :-)

Hmmm. It looks to me kind of like Xcelerator without the 200 foot hill. I'm sure it will be intense though.

I'm not sure how I feel about this coaster. I'm sure it will have some great moments, but I'm asking is this all?

I know that the height restriction at AT prohibited a top-hat, but I was expecting a far more elaborate layout. Aside from the aforementioned manuever, nothing but the launch seems to be too exciting.

Even without a huge tophat they could have snaked this thing all over the place interacting with other rides, inversions, bunny hills galore. You name it and it isn't there.

Just a case of anticipointment for me. But it's not like I had a trip planned for the other side of the pond anytime soon.

Just to clear up the Secret Weapon thing...I believe the rides were given the SW label because they really were secrets, and they kept the stats and pretty much everything else sealed tight in the park (See: AT building Oblivion's drop last). Here is the list of Secret Weapons, I think this is right:

SW1: Arrow Pipeline
SW2: Batman: The Ride clone
SW3: Nemesis
SW4: Oblivion
SW5: AIR
SW6: Woodie

Spinball Whizzer and RITA really weren't secrets, they released things and we found out a bunch of stuff that gave everyone an idea of what the rides were going to be, while on the other hand rides like Nemesis and Oblivion had many unknown parts until shortly before the rides opened.

I think the ride looks incredible. Looks like exactly the type of thing I'd absolutely love. Just purely about the speed with a couple of good airpops! This is the type of thing I think rockets should have been, especially since a large number of them are themed to racing. I would have preferred a 7-crossover track 50' off the ground taken at 120 MPH or something similar rather than a 420 foot hill. This is definitely added incentive for me though to get over to Alton ...

I couldn't agree more. Low-altitude twists & turns are more exciting than rocketing up into the sky and dropping back down. I think this is the most impressive coaster AT has installed since Nemesis and definitely builds a good case for me getting my a** over there in the future. This coming from a guy that usually trashes every new Intamin ride that gets built!