Sik

For several years now Flamingo Land has been known, probably quite fairly, for the quantity of its rollercoasters rather than the quality. It was not a massive surprise then to hear in 2019 that they had applied for planning permission to build yet another one. What was perhaps more surprising was the scale of the coaster they would be adding.

Sik is a second generation version of an Intamin Multi Inversion Coaster, a premium manufacturer and model vastly superior to the low to mid-tier installations from the ride catalogues of manufacturers such as Zamperla that Flamingo Land had been adding to date.

Although the ride is “new and unused”, it was originally manufactured for Brazilian theme park Hopi Hari in 2011, but sat for several years in storage before being purchased by Flamingo Land. It was supposed to open for the 2020 season, but delays caused by the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic pushed this back to July 2022.

With its ten inversions, Sik is a newer version of Colossus at Thorpe Park, a coaster infamous for its roughness and terrible restraint design. But Colossus was the first 10-looper in the world, and with all the updates included with Intamin's Revision B version, Sik is a much nicer ride.

One of the major changes has been to the restraint design, with the tediously restrictive and heavy chunky over the shoulder restraints being swapped for much more comfortable foam padded lapbars to hold riders in place and increase the feeling of freedom.

Secondly is the upgrading of the traditional chain lift hill with a speedy cable lift, which hauls the train to the ride's highest point in just a few seconds. This feels extremely smooth and is a great start to the experience.

Regular riders of Colossus will be intimately familiar with the layout, with element after element coming along like old friends. Friends, though, that on Sik seem glad to see you rather than wanting to punch you in the face like their Surrey-born counterparts.

Particular highlights are the vertical loop which exits out into a wonderfully floaty airtime hill, and the disorienting yet graceful cobra roll. Less spectacular though are the final five heartline roll inversions which, with riders' entire weight pushed against the lapbar restraints, are an endurance test for the thighs.

Sik is far from the perfect ride - the train takes on an extreme version of the characteristic Intamin vibrations as it rattles its way around the track - but, like its cousin Altair at Italy's Cinecittà World, is a remarkable improvement on Thorpe's Colossus and provides a much more comfortable and re-ridable way of experiencing the superb ten-inversion layout.

The rollercoaster's name comes from a deal with UK streetwear fashion brand SikSilk, thanks to the friendship between SikSilk and Flamingo Land's owners. The ride's shop (which riders must pass through both on entering and exiting the ride) sells a whole range of SikSilk branded clothing. There is also a small amount of ride specific merchandise including teddy bears dressed in a large variety of different outfits, and an exclusive Sik t-shirt. During the ride's first season there was even a barber inside the shop ready to give patrons an essential trim or touch up their skin fade.

The sponsorship can be clearly seen within Sik's station too with streetwear-inspired pictures on the walls and SikSilk advertisements playing on large TVs, which sit quite well with the pumping millennium era club music and roving lights. Complementing everything else are a multitude of coloured flags which hang from the ceiling.

While it might not be the absolute best rollercoaster in the world, Flamingo Land have chosen well with Sik. Despite a few flaws here and there it is a fantastic ride, and not something you would have expected to find in a relatively small Yorkshire theme park. In fact, the park may have created a problem for themselves as Sik easily outclasses most of the other rides at Flamingo Land and makes the rest look a bit rubbish in comparison.

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