Thorpe Park | Hyperia | Mack Hyper Coaster | 2024

[JoshC.]

So having had time to digest the layout more (and be able to see it for more than 30 seconds), I think the idea of the ride is very different to many hypers (and the types people were expecting). Potentially something fast-paced, snappy and hard-hitting, leaving you stunned, breathless and begging for more at the end.
Take Nemesis for example, it's not the longest layout in the world, and could be made longer. But one of the reasons it is so well received is because of how it ends. It wouldn't be as good if it meandered for a bit longer.

Maybe this is a similar logic. Why stick in a couple of helices and air time hills near the end if it just gives you a chance to recover, and leave the ride ending on a meh note?

I'm not saying I necessarily agree with that logic, but I think that's the type of ride this is going to be. It will be over quickly, but it will leave you shocked and give you a 'WOW' feeling leaving the ride.

 

[Matt N]

Sorry to go over old ground, but I thought we established ages ago that a traditional out and back hyper was not likely to be possible!!!

The only way it has been mocked up / demonstrated has been to either build over monks walk, or build in the lake... We do not know if Thorpe are permitted to do either of these things... Without doing one of these things, there simply isn't the space or length for a full out and back layout...

So I thought we'd already settled on the fact that, if it was going to be a hyper, it would have to be more condense and twisty??? Thorpe have delivered plans for exactly that! And suddenly everybody is surprised

I think the idea wasn't an out and back coaster per se, I think it was more that people were expecting something with a greater airtime focus. Hyper twister doesn't necessarily have to mean that the ride can't have an airtime focus, and had it been a B&M hyper twister, I personally reckon we could have seen something like the Hot Go hyper, which wasn't especially out and back at all, but looked to have a fair amount of airtime!

In terms of Mack hypers; when the ride was initially announced yesterday and the Mack hyper rumours begun flying around, I was picturing something mostly airtime-based, with maybe 1 or 2 inversions at most. With them sticking solely to the general Loggers/Old Town area, I was picturing something akin to an upscaled Alpina Blitz, or a slightly more twisty DC Rivals. So in that regard, the seemingly heavy focus on inversions, and the ride being more akin to Mack's take on Steel Curtain than their existing hyper/mega coasters, which focus more on airtime, was pretty surprising. Well, it was for me, at least.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, everyone, but that was just the idea I was getting.

 

[Project LC]

That recreation does seem to have its scales a little off so I wouldn't go judging the intensity off of that.

A thing to note here is that the "splash down" is likely going to have to remove a fair amount of speed from the ride. The ride is coming out of about a 180ft drop into around a 60ft tall over banked turn. It will have to slow down in some way so the ride can actually take the corner. Then it has that very long brake run to bleed off the rest of the speed its carrying due to the ride loosing very little energy on its short length.

Leading on from its short length, its ride time is going to be around 1min 20-30 seconds from leaving the station to hitting the brake run. Id be very surprised if they attempt to run 3 trains on that. Not to mention the lack of blocks and the rather small maintenance building. As a result I don't think its throughput will be too different from the other coasters at the park.

 

[BenJacobs]

That recreation does seem to have its scales a little off so I wouldn't go judging the intensity off of that.

A thing to note here is that the "splash down" is likely going to have to remove a fair amount of speed from the ride. The ride is coming out of about a 180ft drop into around a 60ft tall over banked turn. It will have to slow down in some way so the ride can actually take the corner. Then it has that very long brake run to bleed off the rest of the speed its carrying due to the ride loosing very little energy on its short length.

Leading on from its short length, its ride time is going to be around 1min 20-30 seconds from leaving the station to hitting the brake run. Id be very surprised if they attempt to run 3 trains on that. Not to mention the lack of blocks and the rather small maintenance building. As a result I don't think its throughput will be too different from the other coasters at the park.

The splashdown is most likely one where the train doesn’t actually touch the water, as seen on Shambhala, Hyperion, etc.

 

[Project LC]

The splashdown is most likely one where the train doesn’t actually touch the water, as seen on Shambhala, Hyperion, etc.

I am aware its unlikely to actually touch the water hence "splash down". More what im getting at is that id be very surprised if that section doesn't have trims of some kind.

 

[Matt N]

I'd imagine it'll probably be something like the splashdowns with water brakes that B&M often do on hyper and dive coasters; they have fins on the ride car that actually scoop up the water and make a wave, but don't get the riders wet at all (Or at least, nothing more than a light misting)!

That would both provide a splash down and slow the ride down, so I reckon that's what they could go for, personally.

 

[Nitefly]

I think this looks pretty darn good, certainly unusual. I never wanted a diet-coke version of Shambhala et. al., that’s how I feel about all the other Thorpe rides already.

If the track length is short, but the ride is that high, it must be absolutely hooning through the layout, right?

Weird, short in length and quick in duration can still be a winning combo (although I’m not sure if Mrs. Nitefly would agree ).

Super pumped about the potential continuation of the X:\ No Way Out theme. Wut!

 

[Ian]

Right, I’m sold and am already camping outside Thorpe for opening day.

“Punchy” is how I’ll describe it. I’m going to have the biggest grin ever after my first ride. Finally something that actually looks like it’s built to properly thrill without an abundance of gimmickry. Its not my style to analyse every detail and comment on the psychics. All I care about is am I going to enjoy it, does it tick the basic boxes that I crave, and will I want to ride it again. On a paper it does all of that.

****ing love it. Yes, I swore. Because I ****ing love it.

Please let this be the start of a coaster renaissance in the UK.

 

[Heth]

I'm sure there are things I'd rather have (wooden coaster) but honestly I think it looks fab.

 

[Dan?]

The thing about this layout style is that it's just stacked on top of itself, which may lend itself to a great ride but it sure isn't half ass-ugly. Not to mention, the laterals on this are gonna make it age like a fine milk. Expecting it to deteriorate very quickly, and - just as quick as it started - I can't wait for the day this layout trend stops. Fun layout for now, not hopeful for the future.

 

[Ian]

Agreed that maintenance is vital, but it’s going to be a firm favourite for both goons and casual riders. It’s punchy, thrilling, does loop-de-loops, got a water bit init, and looks imposing.

The UK has had, imo, nothing but “that’s nice” type coasters since Swarm. In 10 years we can revisit and review Exodus (or whatever it ends up being called)….but now let’s rejoice! Something after nearly 30 years that could give Nemesis a run for it’s money is on the cards. Such a boner for this and I’m not hiding it.

 

[pvnks]

Right, I’m sold and am already camping outside Thorpe for opening day.

“Punchy” is how I’ll describe it. I’m going to have the biggest grin ever after my first ride. Finally something that actually looks like it’s built to properly thrill without an abundance of gimmickry. Its not my style to analyse every detail and comment on the psychics. All I care about is am I going to enjoy it, does it tick the basic boxes that I crave, and will I want to ride it again. On a paper it does all of that.

****ing love it. Yes, I swore. Because I ****ing love it.

Please let this be the start of a coaster renaissance in the UK.

Is this going to be the official Coasterforce Camp Out?

Will there be poetry readings in memory of the Timber Tug and Lumber Jump?!

 

[Ian]

It was a shame to lose the Flume of Hearts, but I’m sure this is what she would’ve wanted in her place.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

I think the idea wasn't an out and back coaster per se, I think it was more that people were expecting something with a greater airtime focus. Hyper twister doesn't necessarily have to mean that the ride can't have an airtime focus, and had it been a B&M hyper twister, I personally reckon we could have seen something like the Hot Go hyper, which wasn't especially out and back at all, but looked to have a fair amount of airtime!

In terms of Mack hypers; when the ride was initially announced yesterday and the Mack hyper rumours begun flying around, I was picturing something mostly airtime-based, with maybe 1 or 2 inversions at most. With them sticking solely to the general Loggers/Old Town area, I was picturing something akin to an upscaled Alpina Blitz, or a slightly more twisty DC Rivals. So in that regard, the seemingly heavy focus on inversions, and the ride being more akin to Mack's take on Steel Curtain than their existing hyper/mega coasters, which focus more on airtime, was pretty surprising. Well, it was for me, at least.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, everyone, but that was just the idea I was getting.

I’m guessing you don’t think this will have an airtime focus…

Gonna go out on a limb here and predict this will have stronger negative g than most B&M hypers

 

[Jamesss]

The ugliness of the structure was the first thing that struck me.

I don't think any colour scheme can save it.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

The ugliness of the structure was the first thing that struck me.

I don't think any colour scheme can save it.

To be sure… Not much can beat the beautiful long sweeping hills of a classic out and back!!!

Ugly is a bit mean though, I’m sure it’s mother loves it!

 

[BenJacobs]

Going off the concept art, I couldnt tell if the second to last element was an outerbanked turn of some sort of inversion, which I now realise is because the concept art is wrong, if you follow the bottom edge of the track from before to after that element, it ends up as the left rail. If you look at the overhead blueprint image, you can see it actually looks like a Stengel dive.

 

[Peet]

Going off the concept art, I couldnt tell if the second to last element was an outerbanked turn of some sort of inversion, which I now realise is because the concept art is wrong, if you follow the bottom edge of the track from before to after that element, it ends up as the left rail. If you look at the overhead blueprint image, you can see it actually looks like a Stengel dive.

View attachment 14946
View attachment 14947

That's an outer banked curve (although it doesn't turn much), something else the No Limits vid got wrong.

 

[CrashCoaster]

Best animated and accurate pre-creation POV I've seen so far!

 

[Matt N]

I’m guessing you don’t think this will have an airtime focus…

Gonna go out on a limb here and predict this will have stronger negative g than most B&M hypers

To be completely honest; I don't. I won't deny that this coaster will probably have airtime in places (and quite possibly strong airtime, at that), but it certainly doesn't look like an airtime machine per se; the focus looks to be more on those big, sprawling inversions, which will orientate it more towards being a hangtime-focused coaster, as well as an inversion-focused coaster. Apart from the hop into the brakes, this coaster does not have any airtime hills; the negative g seems to be coming more from hangtime or whip within the inversions and overbanks.

I wasn't talking merely in terms of magnitude of negative g's, either; I know this will probably have strong negative g's in a few places. I was talking in terms of quantity of airtime and seconds of airtime, as well as the general layout composition and whether it's targeted towards airtime.

I know B&M hypers don't tend to have the strongest negative g-forces (I'd imagine Stealth and Saw probably have stronger negative g's than your average B&M hyper), but I'd imagine this ride will probably have less airtime per unit length than a more traditional, hill-based hyper. It looks to focus more on those inversions.