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Thorpe Park | Hyperia | Mack Hyper Coaster | 2024

Sorry for the late post, But I would absolutely HATE the name Icarus... I like to camp, and have a fair few tents ranging from ultra light back packing tents to monstrous family tents. My favourite 'small' family tent is my Vango Icarus. So I'm not sure my brain would be able to get past the coaster being named after one of the UK's best selling family tents of all time...
 
I asked Thorpe a while ago how many trains Hyperia will run and they told me 2. This also coincides with the animation appearing to only have one holding block behind the station. So I think we should go in with the assumption of 2 train ops, but a 3rd train would be a pleasant surprise. Also Pantheon at BGW only has two trains of 20 riders with what I'd guess is a similar ride duration to Hyperia at an even more popular park, so I imagine it'll be fine.
 
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Nicky Borrill said:
Sorry for the late post, But I would absolutely HATE the name Icarus... I like to camp, and have a fair few tents ranging from ultra light back packing tents to monstrous family tents. My favourite 'small' family tent is my Vango Icarus. So I'm not sure my brain would be able to get past the coaster being named after one of the UK's best selling family tents of all time...
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This is the best argument i’ve heard for it being called Hyperia yet tbf
 
Graeme said:
I really like the whole tone of the thing. Good name, great music, light theme. Just a normal, straightforward coaster like you'd get abroad. Makes a nice change for a UK coaster not to be weird or dark!
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Guess they don't have to be too weird when the stats are the selling point - you don't need a gimmick here.

The layout is pretty weird for a hyper though. Few straight hills, a couple of inversions (maybe it's two, can't tell?), and a very short length. Plus that dive loop stall is pretty rare and intruiging. Overall, we've got some elements that aren't in the UK yet, like said stall and large outer banks.

I am hoping for the music to be onboard audio as it is magnificent. Probably won't though because of how restrictive the UK tends to be, which would explain the short length as well.
 
It's an alright name, clearly wasn't the park's first choice, but still it's something very positive, uplifting and quite mythic. Makes a very pleasant change.

The on ride POV was a very exciting thing to watch, this thing is going to be a complete monster.
 
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Matt N said:
I have exciting news… according to John Burton’s Instagram story, Hyperia has gone vertical!

This is the day we’ve all been waiting for… I, for one, frankly can’t wait to see this beast of a coaster take shape!
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And here we have it!
www.instagram.com

Dominic Gardner on Instagram: "VERTICAL!!!! 🏗🚧🎢🪽🇬🇧 #HYPERIA #world #exclusive #construction #vertical #rollercoaster #ukstallestandfastestrollercoaster #comingin2024"

234 likes, 12 comments - dg95official on October 9, 2023: "VERTICAL!!!! 🏗🚧🎢🪽🇬🇧 #HYPERIA #world #exclusive #construction #vertical #rollercoaster #ukstallestandfastestrollercoaster #comingin2024".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
 
CrashCoaster said:
I asked Thorpe a while ago how many trains Hyperia will run and they told me 2. This also coincides with the animation appearing to only have one holding block behind the station. So I think we should go in with the assumption of 2 train ops, but a 3rd train would be a pleasant surprise. Also Pantheon at BGW only has two trains of 20 riders with what I'd guess is a similar ride duration to Hyperia at an even more popular park, so I imagine it'll be fine.
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Yet Parc Asterix has Toutatis, with a very similar ride configuration to Pantheon, which regularly runs 3 trains. It depends on the willingness of the park to afford and extra train and how much they care about efficiency.

To me, the deal-breaker in terms of efficiency with two trains will be the addition of a redundant safety system like a seatbelt. If they can get away with just the Mack restraints, these trains can be checked in a breeze.

Also, happy to see vertical construction! UK thoosies are in for a long-overdue big thrill ride!
 
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oriolat2 said:
Yet Parc Asterix has Toutatis, with a very similar ride configuration to Pantheon, which regularly runs 3 trains. It depends on the willinglyness of the park to afford and extra train and how much they care about efficiency.

To me, the deal-breaker in terms of efficiency with two trains will be the addition of a redundant safety system like a seatbelt. If they can get away with just the Mack restraints, these trains can be checked in a breeze.

Also, happy to see vertical construction! UK thoosies are in far a long-overdue big thrill ride!
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I'm almost certain it'll just be the lapbar, neither Wicker Man nor Smiler have seatbelts fitted so I'll be surprised if Hyperia does. I am curious as to whether there will be a pair of Mack's "Big Boy" seats on the trains like Icon; I presume there will be.
 
have there been incidents IRL where lapbars/restraints failed and the inclusion of a seatbelt saved/would have saved people? genuinely curious as I have no idea, are seatbelts just government whitetape faff or actually a safety feature?
 
cocoa said:
have there been incidents IRL where lapbars/restraints failed and the inclusion of a seatbelt saved/would have saved people? genuinely curious as I have no idea, are seatbelts just government whitetape faff or actually a safety feature?
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As far as I can tell, the main thing they offer is an additional point of failure. Some parks go for seatbelts on restraints because their insurer believes that the restraint on its own does not have enough points of failure to make the risk low enough for their liking. Restraints have multiple points of failure built into them anyway, but a seatbelt adds an extra point of failure on top of that.

The only way a seatbelt would categorically save someone is if all the points of failure built into the restraint itself fail at once, and the chances of that are practically zero due to how many points of failure are built into modern coaster restraints.

There may also be an element of "safety theatre" in seatbelts, though. Even though they aren't expressly needed, having an additional seatbelt may make some guests feel safer.

Seatbelts on their own do little to none of the heavy lifting in terms of actually keeping a rider's restraint down, though; as those "OMG MY BELT CAME LOOSE!" viral videos on YouTube show, the seatbelt being undone during the ride does not make the rider any less secure within the restraint in real terms.
EDIT - As an example, I think this video shows how the seatbelt ultimately does very little of the heavy lifting in terms of keeping the rider secure within the restraint:
 
Matt N said:
As far as I can tell, the main thing they offer is an additional point of failure. Some parks go for seatbelts on restraints because their insurer believes that the restraint on its own does not have enough points of failure to make the risk low enough for their liking. Restraints have multiple points of failure built into them anyway, but a seatbelt adds an extra point of failure on top of that.

The only way a seatbelt would categorically save someone is if all the points of failure built into the restraint itself fail at once, and the chances of that are practically zero due to how many points of failure are built into modern coaster restraints.

There may also be an element of "safety theatre" in seatbelts, though. Even though they aren't expressly needed, having an additional seatbelt may make some guests feel safer.

Seatbelts on their own do little to none of the heavy lifting in terms of actually keeping a rider's restraint down, though; as those "OMG MY BELT CAME LOOSE!" viral videos on YouTube show, the seatbelt being undone during the ride does not make the rider any less secure within the restraint in real terms.
EDIT - As an example, I think this video shows how the seatbelt ultimately does very little of the heavy lifting in terms of keeping the rider secure within the restraint:
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I don't mean to be crass but would a seatbelt have saved the guy on the Orlando Freefall drop tower? Yes I know that messing with the restraints thenselves was an issue, something that you would hope that Merlin wouldn't do, but seatbelts do have a purpose as a redundancy (something you point out).

100% they make people feel safer though, much like OTSRs do. A good friend of mine vehemently beleives that any coaster that "goes upside down" should have OTSRs and I doubt anyone on this forum would advocate for them.

BTW I have no opinion either way but I can see both sides of the argument.
 
Munchy Road Hippopotamus said:
I don't mean to be crass but would a seatbelt have saved the guy on the Orlando Freefall drop tower? Yes I know that messing with the restraints thenselves was an issue, something that you would hope that Merlin wouldn't do, but seatbelts do have a purpose as a redundancy (something you point out).
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Possibly so, although with the way in which you can still see the restraint flex a little even with the seatbelt present in the video I embedded (presumably flexing within the “click” or level of redundancy that it’s pulled down within), I’m unsure whether it would have made the difference between life and death in a scenario where the restraint itself was open, as was the case on the Orlando Freefall. It could have done, but it’s very hard to say, as it’s entirely hypothetical. As you say, though, them tampering with the restraints changed the game completely. That was a phenomenally uncommon occurrence, and something that you’d hope wouldn’t happen in the vast majority of theme parks.
 
Seat belts which connect restraints to seats act as a tertiary restraint, and are also useful in situations of evacuations. That is, staff can say "Keep your seat belt locked until we say so".

Sometimes they can be required by external H&S though. The big example in my mind is Formula at Parc Saint Paul, where they were told to install seatbelts as well as lap bars following an incident. Those seatbelts were later removed by the park, which resulted in the accident that ultimately forced the coaster to close.
 
JoshC. said:
Seat belts which connect restraints to seats act as a tertiary restraint, and are also useful in situations of evacuations. That is, staff can say "Keep your seat belt locked until we say so".

Sometimes they can be required by external H&S though. The big example in my mind is Formula at Parc Saint Paul, where they were told to install seatbelts as well as lap bars following an incident. Those seatbelts were later removed by the park, which resulted in the accident that ultimately forced the coaster to close.
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Yeah i was going to say, one of the comments on that video says:

For those coming for the proper answer I have 5 years of coaster operating experience. What the belts purpose really is there for, is if you ever have to evacuate a train outside of the loading and unloading platform (The station) The belts will hold the harness when they are release. Because it's done by row and not seat. It's so the operators can go one by one releasing the harnesses all the way and getting everyone off one at a time.

Typically i notice operators asking you to unbuckle belts whilst rides are still moving (presumably to speed up dispatches), otherwise the restraints tend to spring up halfway and become difficult to unbuckle.
 
So far, I haven't seen pictures of any supports that fade from gold to white. Do you think we'll end up with that awkward, sudden colour change from gold to white, as it appears in the animation, or is it just that any gradually faded supports haven't been delivered (or photographed) yet?
 
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