What happened to "Rita"?

A while back, a post was made regarding Alton Towers new coaster.........code-named Rita. I have been checking up on this ride (including checking this site) for any sort of details or developements. Surely someone here must know something about this mysterious babe other than the fact that she has good curves.............( even though there may be a good reason why her face is not shown :-P)

Have you checked www.rcdb.com ?

I think its now called "RITA-Queen of Speed".

Interesting...

62mph seems a bit too much for only a 68ft. tophat. So my guess at this point is that either there is NO tophat, or the tophat doesn't come until later in the ride. Either way it seems we may be looking at a very unique rocket coaster here.

I know RCDB still says Intamin Rocket, but I still can't help but wonder if its one of those other Hydraulic launched coasters with moterbike trains...

That was the origional rumor, I just can't wait to see what pans out.

I can't remember where I read it, but there was an official document submitted by the park somewhere that said it was an Intamin Rocket coaster. I wouldn't look for it to be anything but that.

JC

I doubt Duane would post that its an Intamin Rocket if it was not.

What's with the two "What happened to..." threads? Coincidence? Hmmmm...??

Joe, didn't know that. I don't have any over seas connections, save for Invy, and he don't count.

I guess the real reason that I am so curious about this ride is that Alton Towers tends to take rides, minimize the proportions, and give a great layout. I know that oblivion and spinball whizzer were hardly compacted layouts for their types..............oblivion was a prototype and spinball is the largest of it's type that I have personally seen. Yet coasters such as air and nemesis tend to not be impressive stat-wise, but wind up to be outstanding.

I am curious about Rita because who says that the initial launch has to be its fastest speed? What if it hits a low tophat, then drops to lower ground? I wouldn't expect just a simple rocket of the Thorpe Park type, but something more along the lines of Storm Runner, just maybe a bit more terrain oriented. I also have the opportunity to study abroad in the UK next semester.........so hopefully I'll get my chance to ride it.

I think they should rename the ride after those snippy people who sued the park over the fireworks and noise issues. But then again, how many would ride a coaster called Queenb****?

Apparently there's Intamin track on site now, but I'm with the others here - I can't see it being a rocket coaster with that height limit. *** Edited 12/8/2004 9:21:31 AM UTC by Richard Bannister***

Its been confimred now by the park that its a Rocket Coaster. The plans are around on the net somewhere although I can't remember where. It will have a figure of eight layout basically with the launch going into the figure of eight it looked from the plans that there might be a barrel roll or in-line twist when the track crosses over at the centre of the eight. Thats about it not very exciting at all.

Apparently the ride was designed for a park in Japan but they pulled out and offered the ride design to other parks and Alton took them up on it, the ride will cost £8 million.

The construction and track photos are at the link below.

http://ugland.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=Ugland-Development&page=1

Annoyingly, most councils in the UK post planning applications on their websites.

Staffordshire, where AT is, doesn't.

rrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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aflack said:
Thats about it not very exciting at all.

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Oh man where's that :roll eyes: smiley when I need it!

:roll eyes: :roll eyes: :roll eyes:

What happened to Rita? She's in bed with me right now...

When you have a Maurer Sohne X Car coaster opening at Drayton half an hour down the road and a motorbike coaster opening up the road at Flamingo Land it doesn't make this coaster look that exciting thats all I was saying!

If it carries THAT kind of speed into a tophat THAT short, I am *all* about the negative g POP at the top of that sucker....

bill, would ride Rita *any* day... :)

Yo! RITA in Cleveland OH, means Regional Transit Authority. As in: I be ridin' RITA everyday... :) *** Edited 12/8/2004 6:01:53 PM UTC by FLYINGSCOOTER***

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aflack said:
Its been confimred now by the park that its a Rocket Coaster.

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Please point me to an official park release that says this.

I'm still healthily sceptical that a 62mph launch on a 68ft high ride is going to be a rocket coaster. Don't forget that Kanonen at Liseberg is going to have a 46.6MPH launch with a 78ft high ride.