Corkscrew ( Alton Towers ) - wikipedia Corkscrew ( Alton Towers ) Corkscrew View of Corkscrew from ground level Alton Towers Park section UG Land Coordinates 52 ° 59 ′ 05 '' N 1 ° 53 ′ 26 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 52.984701 ° N 1.890421 ° W ﻿ / 52.984701 ; - 1.890421 Coordinates : 52 ° 59 ′ 05 '' N 1 ° 53 ′ 26 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 52.984701 ° N 1.890421 ° W ﻿ / 52.984701 ; - 1.890421 Status Removed Opening date 4 April 1980 ( 1980 - 04 - 04 ) Closing date 9 November 2008 ( 2008 - 11 - 09 ) Cost £ 1,250,000 Replaced by Thirteen General statistics Type Steel Manufacturer Vekoma Designer Arrow Dynamics Model Corkscrew with Bayerncurve Track layout custom Lift / launch system Chain lift hill Height 75 ft ( 23 m ) Drop 68 ft ( 21 m ) Length 2,400 ft ( 730 m ) Speed 44 mph ( 71 km / h ) Inversions Duration 1 : 45 Max vertical angle 43 ° Capacity 1,100 riders per hour G - force 3.1 Height restriction 47.3 in ( 120 cm ) Corkscrew at RCDB Pictures of Corkscrew at RCDB Wikimedia Commons has media related to Corkscrew ( Alton Towers ). Corkscrew was a steel roller coaster manufactured by Dutch company Vekoma to a design by Arrow Dynamics. The coaster was located in the Ug Land area of Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. It was the park 's oldest ride and is considered the greatest factor in promoting the new theme park to the British public. It was one of the first double - inverting coasters in Europe ( the first in the UK ), so it received much publicity and avid popularity in the 1980s. Waiting times for the ride frequently reached 6 -- 9 hours during the first few months of operation at Alton Towers, and the park would often be forced to close early as it found itself swamped with visitors long before the evening ever came. Contents 1 History 2 Ride Experience 3 Popular culture 4 References 5 External links History In 1979, John Broome, director of Alton Towers, wanted to make the Towers and Gardens into a new style of leisure attraction. On 4 April 1980 Corkscrew opened to a crowd of 30,000. It became the main attraction of the park, and lead to attendance numbers doubling from 500,000 in 1979 to over 1,000,000 in 1980. It was a Vekoma MK1200 Corkscrew with Bayern curve. The track was yellow, the supports were black, the cars were red, white, blue and black and the station was blue and white. In 1984 more attractions were built in the new ' Festival Park ' along with Enterprise and the Twirling Toadstool ( then Wave Swinger ). In 2005, Rita was built ( then called Rita : Queen of Speed ), as well as there being several other changes to the park. This resulted in Corkscrew becoming dated and eventually a decreasingly popular attraction of the park. Customers also reported that due to its age, it had become increasingly uncomfortable to ride. In October 2008, after 28 years of service, Alton Towers confirmed that the ride was to be dismantled at the end of the 2008 season, to make room for the 2010 attraction TH13TEEN, then named Secret Weapon 6. On 9 November 2008 the park held a special event in honour of the attraction in which the Corkscrew completed the final circuit of its 730 m track. The official date for the last day in regular service was 2 November 2008 - the last day of the season. After being dismantled, the section of track which formed the two iconic corkscrew inversions was saved and is now displayed at the entrance to the park near the ticket booths. Ride experience The ride started by a slow ascent of 22 m. Once it had reached the top, the car went round a turn and down the 20.7 m drop reaching 44 m.p.h. The train then pulled through a camel hump and a 180 degree turn before entering the two Corkscrew inversions. Once the train exited the two inversions it then went around a 180 degree turn and into some trim brakes. After that the train went across another camel hump and in to the bayerncurve ( a helix type manoeuvre ) and around the perimeter of the coaster again before going into the brakes and station. The Coaster became very rough toward the end of its life, and contributed to the decision to dismantle it 2008. Popular culture One of the coaster 's cars was put up for sale on eBay. The car was sold on 15 December 2008 for £ 7,200, and these funds went to good causes. Alton Towers retained the famous corkscrew inversions which were refurbished and placed as an artwork feature in the entrance plaza. The opening title sequence used by The ITV Chart Show between January 1989 and November 1991 was created by digitally rotoscoping footage of the Corkscrew. A photograph of the Corkscrew was used on the cover of the 1991 single Everybody in the Place by The Prodigy References Jump up ^ Roller coaster database http://www.rcdb.com/ir.htm?model=14 Jump up ^ BBC News - ' Iconic Ride to be Dismantled ' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/7648401.stm Jump up ^ Amiga Computing magazine, November 1991 issue. External links BritishCoasters homepage Corkscrew at RCDB Corkscrew on Alton Towers Net Corkscrew data on Theme Park Junkies BBC News - ' Iconic Ride to Be Dismantled ' Alton Towers Roller coasters Runaway Mine Train ( 1992 ) Nemesis ( 1994 ) Oblivion ( 1998 ) Galactica ( 2002 - 2015 as Air ) ( 2016 ) Spinball Whizzer ( 2004 ) Rita ( 2005 ) TH13TEEN ( 2010 ) The Smiler ( 2013 ) Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure ( 2015 ) Other rides The Blade as Pirate Ship ( 1980 ) Enterprise ( 1984 ) Congo River Rapids ( 1986 ) Hex -- The Legend of the Towers ( 2000 ) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back ! ( 2003 ) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory : The Ride ( 2006 ) Driving School ( 2006 ) Marauder 's Mayhem ( 2008 ) Battle Galleons ( 2008 ) Twirling Toadstool ( 2009 ) Nemesis : Sub-Terra ( 2012 ) The Ice Age : Dawn of the Dinosaurs - 4 - D Experience ( 2012 ) Past rides Doom & Sons ( 1981 -- 1992 ) Around The World In Eighty Days ( 1981 -- 1993 ) Thunder Looper ( 1990 -- 1996 ) The Beast ( 1988 -- 1997 ) Nickelodeon : Outta Control ( 1997 -- 1998 ) Boneshaker ( 1995 -- 2003 ) The Black Hole ( 1984 -- 2005 ) Dynamo ( 1993 -- 2005 ) Toyland Tours ( 1994 -- 2005 ) Corkscrew ( 1980 -- 2008 ) Beastie ( 1983 -- 2010 ) Submission ( 2001 -- 2013 ) The Flume ( 1981 - 2015 ) Ripsaw ( 1997 -- 2015 ) Theme park areas Towers Street Katanga Canyon Gloomy Wood Forbidden Valley Adventure Land X-Sector Mutiny Bay Cloud Cuckoo Land Dark Forest CBeebies Land The Towers & Gardens See also Alton Towers Waterpark Merlin Entertainments John Wardley History of Alton Towers The Grand Knockout Tournament Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Corkscrew_(Alton_Towers)&oldid=794989198 '' Categories : Removed roller coasters Roller coasters by name Roller coasters introduced in 1980 Amusement rides that closed in 2008 Steel roller coasters Roller coasters manufactured by Vekoma Alton Towers 1980 establishments in England Hidden categories : Use British English from January 2015 Coordinates on Wikidata Use dmy dates from December 2011 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Français Edit links This page was last edited on 11 August 2017, at 08 : 39. 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Question: when did the corkscrew close at alton towers
Answer: 9 November 2008