The UK's first beyond vertical drop rollercoaster...
| Theme Park | Oakwood Theme Park |
|---|---|
| Type | Rollercoaster |
| Audience | Thrillseekers |
| Opened | 13 April 2006 |
| Manufacturer | Gerstlauer |
| Model | Euro-Fighter |
| Height | 115 ft |
| Length | 1969 ft |
| Inversions | 2 |
| Max Speed | 59 mph |
| Vertical Angle | 97° |
At the top of the 97° drop
Speed was the UK's first Euro-Fighter, and holds the records for the fastest, tallest and steepest rollercoaster in Wales.
The ride opened at the Pembrokeshire theme park in 2006 as Oakwood's second large rollercoaster - the other being the Megafobia wooden coaster.
Unlike traditional rollercoasters, Speed features a vertical lift hill which hauls the ride's eight seater cars straight upwards before they roll over the top of the lift tower and plunge down the other side in a beyond-vertical 97° drop.
The drop is followed by an airtime hill, overbanked turn and then a vertical loop which is much more circular than the tear-drop shaped loops more commonly seen. After the mid-course brakes comes a heartline roll followed by a double helix, before the train is brought to a halt by the coaster's magnetic brake run.
While it has been eclipsed by better Euro-Fighters since it opened, Speed: No Limits gave the UK its first taste of the Gerstlauer ride model, and remained the tallest and fastest Euro-Fighter until Fluch von Novgorod opened at Hansa Park in Germany in 2009.
Ride sign
Speed station
Vertical lift hill
Looking up the lift
Nearing the top
Top of the lift
Starting the drop
97 degrees
Airtime hills
Top of the hill
Upside down
Vertical loop
Heartline roll
Exiting the inversion
Speeding on Speed
Double helix
Twisting through the helix
Final turn
Brake!
Slowing to a stop
Final brakes
Back to the station