Swarm

Swarm General [[File:|link=|center]] ' ' Park Thorpe Park Location Chertsey, Surrey, England Status Operating Operated Operated March 15, 2012 - Opened March 15, 2012 Opening Cost £20,000,000 Height restriction 55 inches (140 cm) Statistics Manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard Builder Designer John Wardley Type Steel- Wing Coaster Type Model Custom Wing Coaster Riders per train 28 Riders per hour 1,100 Lift/launch system Chain Lift Height 127 feet Drop feet Top speed 59 mph Length 2,543 feet Dimensions feet x feet Duration 1:25 Inversions 5 Steepest drop Maximum g-force 4.5G

The Swarm is a Bolliger & Mabillard sit down wind rider roller coaster at Thorpe Park in Surrey, England. The ride is the second design of its kind by the Swiss roller coaster manufacturer, the first being Raptor at Gardaland in Italy, which opened in April 2011.

Design

The Swarm's track layout is designed to take advantage of the theming. The ride has 5 inversions wich are taken slowly to allow some hang time.

Trains

2 trains with 7 cars. Riders are arranged 4 across in a single row for a total of 28 riders per train. For the start of the 2013 season the back two rows of the ride were rotated backwards.

• The ride features special Wing Rider trains with seats on either side of the track, not above or below it. This gives a more exposed feeling.

Theme

The ride's barrel roll drop element.

The Swarm is themed around a major disaster, with burnt-out vehicles and smoking objects that look like they have been blown up. The ride is said to give the experience of 'Flying through a crash scene'.

The station is themed to look like a burnt-out church. It has a glass roof which means you can see riders board the train at the top of the lift-hill. Often, the train comes close to the theming. On the first drop, a crashed plane acts as a head chopper and the train also comes close to the roof of the station. A devastated bilboard was added for the 2013 season.

Advertising

On 21 April 2011, Thorpe Park released an advertising campaign around the park. Hundreds of posters where "flyposted" around the park visible to all. The posters exclaimed that "The end is coming.. Uncover the truth" along with a website LC12.net. The website had a brief description of the possible theme of the ride and also had a countdown until the beginning of August, 2011. The site now redirects to TheSwarm.co.uk which has information about the ride.