Rollercoaster superfan selects the best thrills around the world

Medical consultant Martin Valt has spent three decades riding more than 3,000 roller coasters around the world in 56 countries, and picked his top ten rides thrills

Martin Valt riding Montanh Russa at Parque Marisa in Brazil (

Image: Richard Bannister/themeparks.ie)

After delighting pilots in Lightwater Valley since 1991, The Ultimate has finally reached the end of the line.

Demolition of the 7,442-foot roller coaster - the longest in the world until Steel Dragon opened at Nagashima Spa Land in Japan in 2000 - is underway.

And one roller coaster enthusiast who will miss him is Martin Valt, 61, a medical legal adviser from Cheshire who has spent three decades visiting 3,000 rides in 56 countries.

“I was there for the opening of The Ultimate,” he says. "Frank Bruno opened it up and I remember riding in the front seat with him. He was terrified!"

Martin took his first ride aboard Blackpool Pleasure Beach's Wild Mouse, and he wished he'd never got along jokingly, "Maybe I would have had a normal life!"

Jurassic World Velocicoaster in Florida ranked first in Martin's list (

Picture:

ORLANDO UNIVERSAL)

But he adds of their attraction, "Roller coasters will never go out of style, because the fun will never go out of style."

The Ultimate didn't live up to its name for Martin, but here are his top 10 to live the scream...

1. Jurassic World VelociCoaster, Universal's Islands of Adventure, Florida, USA

Opened in 2021, 155 feet high with an 80 degree drop, 140 feet, four inversions, a 53 mph barrel roll and 0-50 mph in two seconds.

Martin says, "The best there is, that was, and that may ever be."

2. Nemesis, Alton Towers, UK

Opened in 1994, the 43-foot-tall inverted ride allows legs to dangle during corkscrews, 180-degree turns, and zero-g rolls, while making a...