Nemesis is an inverted roller coaster located at the Alton Towers amusement park in England.
The ride's concept and layout was devised by designer John Wardley. It was manufactured
by Bolliger & Mabillard and opened in March 1994. It is located in the Forbidden Valley
area of the park, adjacent to Air, a flying B&M roller coaster that opened in 2002.
The 716-metre-long ride stands 13 metres tall and features a top speed of 80.5 kilometres
per hour. The four-inversion roller coaster was the first Bolliger & Mabillard ride to
be installed outside of the United States. The ride has been very well received, consistently
ranking highly in industry polls.
History Development history
In 1990, Alton Towers added the Thunder Looper roller coaster, however, the addition was
only temporary due to planning restrictions imposed on its installation. The park began
planning for a new roller coaster which would open prior the closure of the Thunder Looper.
They desired a roller coaster that was big, different and exciting, but they were constrained
by the tree-level height limit imposed on the park.
Initially Alton Towers approached Arrow Dynamics for the new roller coaster. The Utah-based
company was working on a prototype of a pipeline roller coaster, similar to TOGO's Ultratwister
design. John Wardley worked on the design of the ride which was originally to be themed
around a secret military facility, aptly codenamed Secret Weapon 1. Due to the design of the
ride and the height restriction imposed on the park, SW1 would only have a track length
of 300 metres. Development of the project was put on hold a short time into the process,
due to both the financial problems being encountered by Arrow at the time and technical problems
with the ride's design. The project was revived a year later under the codename Secret Weapon
2, with rock blasting occurring to allow a larger ride to be built. However, the project
was again abandoned when Wardley rode the prototype, describing it as slow, boring,
cumbersome and energy inefficient. The park began to look for an alternative.
Wardley became aware of rumours surrounding a new roller coaster design being installed
by Bolliger & Mabillard at Six Flags Great America. He subsequently entered into discussions
with Six Flags who agreed to privately disclose information about the new ride, in exchange
for a similar favour in reverse at a later date. Jim Wintrode, the general manager of
Six Flags Great America at the time, had proposed the concept of an inverted roller coaster
which featured inversions. Although Wardley believed this would be impossible, Wintrode
worked alongside Bolliger & Mabillard to develop Batman: The Ride. Wardley rode Batman: The
Ride prior to its May 1992 opening and wanted to add a similar ride to Alton Towers.
The inverted roller coaster, then dubbed Secret Weapon 3, was developed throughout 1992. Wardley
and Nick Varney, marketing director of Alton Towers, came up with the name Nemesis and
pitched a theming concept around an alien creature trapped beneath the park. Tussauds
Studios elaborated on this, creating visuals for later promotion. Wardley also worked alongside
Stengel Engineering to develop a layout for the ride which was exciting for both riders
and non-riders; for example, the final inversion was built at the eye level of an observer.
Operational history The £10 million Nemesis officially opened
to the public on 19 March 1994, following a soft opening three days prior. It opened
as the first Bolliger & Mabillard ride to be installed outside of the United States.
In August 2004, Nemesis gained the Guinness World Record for the "Most Naked People on
a Rollercoaster". The ride set the record at 32 riders – the number of seats on a
single Nemesis train. It took the record from Thorpe Park's Nemesis Inferno roller coaster
which set the record at 28 just three months prior. The ride lost the record in 2010 when
40 naked riders boarded Green Scream Rollercoaster at Adventure Island.
In 2009, Alton Towers received several complaints from nearby residents regarding increased
noise levels emitted from the ride. New wheels had to be installed on the two trains before
the ride returned to normal operation. Characteristics
The 716-metre-long Nemesis stands 13 metres tall, however, due to the modified terrain,
it features a drop height of 31.7 metres. With a top speed of 80.5 kilometres per hour,
the ride features four inversions including two corkscrews, a zero-g roll, and a vertical
loop. Riders of Nemesis experience between 3 and 4 times the force of gravity on the
1-minute, 20-second ride. Nemesis operates with two steel and fiberglass trains, each
containing eight cars. Each car seats four riders in a single row for a total of 32 riders
per train. Ride experience
Once the train is locked and checked the floor beneath it is lowered before the train then
departs the station making a 45-degree, right-hand turn towards the lift hill. Once at the top
of the 13-metre hill, the train makes a small dip and turns around 180 degrees to the left.
The train then descends 31.7 metres down the first drop into the first inversion, a right-handed
corkscrew. The train then navigates a right-handed, 270-degree downward helix that features 90
degree banking. Then the train rises up into the second inversion, a zero-g roll, where
riders experience the feeling of weightlessness. It then makes a 180-degree right-handed stall
turn into the third inversion, a vertical loop. After a left stall turn the train enters
the second corkscrew. The train then passes through an underground tunnel, and through
one more 180-degree turn, before being stopped by the brake run and returning to the station.
Reception "Nemesis" has received overwhelmingly positive
reviews, by park visitors and the industry as a whole. The roller coaster has continuously
ranked high in worldwide polls and, as of 2007, featured queues in excess of an hour
due to its popularity. More than 50 million people have ridden Nemesis since opening.
In Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards, Nemesis has consistently ranked highly.
It is also one of only seven roller coasters to appear in the top 50 every year since the
award's inception in 1998. It debuted at position 10 in 1998, before peaking at position 7 in
2003.
In Mitch Hawker's worldwide Best Roller Coaster Poll, Nemesis entered at position 7 in 1999,
before dropping to a low of 12 in 2012. The ride's ranking in subsequent polls is shown
in the table below. Due to the success of Nemesis, park owners
Merlin Entertainments have created two related rides. The first is Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe
Park, another Bolliger & Mabillard inverted roller coaster. The ride opened in 2003. Alton
Towers hosts the second related ride, Nemesis: Sub-Terra. The drop tower opened on the former
Dynamo site in 2012. As a result, Nemesis is commonly compared
with its Thorpe Park counterpart – Nemesis Inferno – with many citing Nemesis as the
superior ride. Nemesis has ranked favourably in Amusement Today '​s annual Golden Ticket
Awards, being one of only seven roller coasters to appear in the top 50 steel roller coasters
for all 15 years. Nemesis Inferno, on the other hand, has never made an appearance.
In Mitch Hawker's worldwide Best Roller Coaster Poll Nemesis Inferno has an average ranking
of 80, while Nemesis' average ranking is 6. In a poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times,
Nemesis received 37.93% of the vote for title of best roller coaster in England, while Nemesis
Inferno received 0.32%. Jeremy Thompson of Roller Coaster Philosophy describes Nemesis
as "a vastly superior ride" to Nemesis Inferno. References
External links Official website
Nemesis at the Roller Coaster DataBase