Rollercoaster Season - Nemesis
Day three of Rollercoaster Season finds us still stuck firmly in the UK. Unlike the two previous featured coasters, however, there can be no argument whatsoever about today's subject being a worldbeater.
Bollinger and Mabillard - names to conjure with, aren't they? I always think they sound like purveyors of gourmet edibles, or perhaps a couple of well-heeled gentleman thieves. They'd be good company, though, would my fictional Mr. Bollinger and Mr. Mabillard, even if an encounter with them might leave one's wallet rather the lighter.
The truth? It's even better than that. B&M have a nearly 20-year record of producing some of the smoothest, sweetest, sexiest coasters ever created. The type of ride for which they are most famous is their pioneering inverted rollercoaster, where cars hang directly from a wheel carriage attached to an overhead track.
Perhaps their single finest moment, however, has been Nemesis, which opened in 1994 at Alton Towers in England. Many great works have been created under adversity, and Nemesis was no exception - because of the exhaustive planning restrictions in such a beautiful part of the country, all rides had to be kept below the treeline and noise had to be kept to a minimum. As a result, the rollercoaster was built into a tight network of trenches and tunnels, leading to several hair-raising near-miss moments when the riders' feet almost graze the walls or floor.
I love Nemesis unreservedly. I love the appearance of it and the sound it makes and I think it has one of the coolest names of any ride ever. What I love most of all, however, is its sheer unremitting intensity. It runs for a scant 80 seconds, but once the train breasts the lift hill there's not so much as a second of downtime. Even after multiple rides it remains surprising and disorienting, an explosion of speed and sensation. Not one for the novice rider, maybe, but why in the world should it have to be?
Bollinger and Mabillard - names to conjure with, aren't they? I always think they sound like purveyors of gourmet edibles, or perhaps a couple of well-heeled gentleman thieves. They'd be good company, though, would my fictional Mr. Bollinger and Mr. Mabillard, even if an encounter with them might leave one's wallet rather the lighter.
The truth? It's even better than that. B&M have a nearly 20-year record of producing some of the smoothest, sweetest, sexiest coasters ever created. The type of ride for which they are most famous is their pioneering inverted rollercoaster, where cars hang directly from a wheel carriage attached to an overhead track.
Perhaps their single finest moment, however, has been Nemesis, which opened in 1994 at Alton Towers in England. Many great works have been created under adversity, and Nemesis was no exception - because of the exhaustive planning restrictions in such a beautiful part of the country, all rides had to be kept below the treeline and noise had to be kept to a minimum. As a result, the rollercoaster was built into a tight network of trenches and tunnels, leading to several hair-raising near-miss moments when the riders' feet almost graze the walls or floor.
I love Nemesis unreservedly. I love the appearance of it and the sound it makes and I think it has one of the coolest names of any ride ever. What I love most of all, however, is its sheer unremitting intensity. It runs for a scant 80 seconds, but once the train breasts the lift hill there's not so much as a second of downtime. Even after multiple rides it remains surprising and disorienting, an explosion of speed and sensation. Not one for the novice rider, maybe, but why in the world should it have to be?