Where does the 85mph speed claim for The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach come from?

[JoshC.]

Interesting, especially given that the length provided there is the same. Could be a typo or something, or perhaps some different measuring metric.

maybe they're talking about the amount of lift hill track, for instance.

If here you're suggesting the length of the lift hill, it wouldn't be that. The length of the lift hill track will be strictly greater than the height of the lift hill (think of it in terms of Pythagoras' Theorem; the lift hill is effectively the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle).

In any case, I'd be surprised if 201ft is the correct number, simply by virtue of the fact it's not a commonly used number. If it was accurate, one would think that it would have been picked up on at some point (especially given it's had records, etc). Admittedly, that's terrible reasoning, given I'm just saying "it can't be right because it's always been something else", so I'm not wholly convinced there.

Be interesting if anyone has any more insight here.

 

[Matt N]

Come to think of it, I do remember some guy claimed to have dropped a tape measure from the top of the Big One's lift hill and measured it at 201ft, but I could have imagined that...
EDIT: Arrow aren't the only place to mention 201ft... an issue of Coaster Kingdom magazine from 2006 (http://s104638357.websitehome.co.uk/html/magazine_26_01.htm) said:

While Blackpool maintain the Big One is 235ft tall, other estimates range from anywhere in-between 201ft and 213ft. As Blackpool measure the Big One from sea level, it is safe to assume that Nemesis is in fact one of the tallest coasters in the UK.

I also remember reading that Ice Blast, while claimed to be 210ft by Blackpool, had a permit for a 180ft structure filed to the CAA, and I'd assume that includes the bit on top, so maybe 201ft is the actual figure?

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Thank you all for your in-depth answers; they're much appreciated!

However, I'd just like to highlight @Coasterotter's post for a second:

If you look at the embedded video and go to the start of the Big One section (about 20 minutes in), Arrow embeds a full set of stats for the ride. One very interesting piece of info I found in there was that as well as the stats Coasterotter posted, Arrow claims the ride's lift height to be 201ft as opposed to the often quoted (as an alternative to Blackpool's 235ft claim) 213ft, with the drop being 205ft as previously stated.

While I'm admittedly unsure how the drop is larger than the height (Big One doesn't go underground at all), I'm unsure why Arrow would claim the ride to be shorter than it actually was, so surely this is likely to be an accurate figure?

With that in mind, an interesting thought dawned upon me; if the Big One is 201ft tall as this press pack claims, doesn't that mean that the Big One never technically held the world height record in the first place, as Magnum is 205ft tall, and doesn't that also mean that its UK height record was technically stolen by Stealth in 2006 instead of by Exodus in 2024 (if it happens)?

It could be that Arrow is measuring the lift height by a different metric, however; maybe they're talking about the amount of lift hill track, for instance. I don't really know... does anyone have any thoughts here? Surely Arrow are a pretty trustworthy source for the Big One's stats, aren't they, especially given that they claim it to be 12ft shorter than RCDB's listing here?

201 is a typo I think, I'm not sure it's possible for the drop to beat the height here... Or maybe it's 201ft from station exit to top of hill...

 

[Hyde]

Did you guys figure in the Atlantic Current? Surely that can produce a 120 mph tail wind for the Big One to really give it a big push.

 

[Dar]

I wonder if the 201' is measured from the top of the footers to the centre of the rails?

 

[Nicky Borrill]

I wonder if the 201' is measured from the top of the footers to the centre of the rails?

Are the footers fairly high? I haven’t actually noticed…

 

[Dar]

Are the footers fairly high? I haven’t actually noticed…

They're not enormous, but could easily account for an extra 4 feet when the lake is empty

(Screenshot from ukrides log flume pov)

 

[AidanCKY]

Sorry for bumping an old post, but I'm trawling old Big One threads.

My take on this was my assumption they used some low quality speed radar gun back in the 90s, got the unrealistic speed and ran with it.

 

[EmmaUK]

Seeing as they use its height above sea level to claim its height, I'm surprised that they don't claim 700mph to allow for the rotational speed of the Earth