Hyperia: How the UK’s fastest rollercoaster came to a halt

Andy Hine, chairman of the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain, echoed this line of thought.

He is currently in the United States where he was set to ride on Top Thrill 2 at Cedar Point in Ohio – billed as the world’s tallest rollercoaster – which was also recently opened and abruptly closed due to a “mechanical failure”.

But he was lucky enough to have experienced Hyperia at a launch party last week. “The speed that it comes down the twisting first drop was very, very fast,” he said.

“It’s got lots of airtime, which is what coaster enthusiasts like – that feeling of being out of your seat like when you’re going over a humpback bridge in your car. It was very exciting.”

He added that for Thorpe Park, one fortunate “side effect” of the current situation could be that when Hyperia reopens, there’ll be even more hype.

“There will only be a [few people] who’ve been on it, and if you look online, of course people are boasting that they’ve ridden it!”