KIRMES & Park REVUE (English) Special: Rouen (Vorschau)

PORTRAIT
The “Extreme” from
Albert Evans
ly Crow. Supplied with Move-It style seats in addition
to a large name sign, superb airbrushed
backflash by the artist Paul Wright and “continental-style”
sloping floor, this slick-looking machine
(now travelled by Dane Crow) has been a
familiar fixture at some of the UK’s premier fairs
ever since. Two years after acquiring his Hard
Rock-themed ride with standard Orbiter cars,
the Scottish showman Henry Evans has his ride
converted by Tivoli with shorter arms to
accommodate the suspended seats now being
manufactured by Woolls. The ride’s new name
was most apt: ‘Remix.’ A year later the machine
was shipped to the USA, but has since returned
to British shores under the ownership of Wesley
Gill. A ride for the Adventure Island amusement
park in Southend-on-Sea in 2001 would be the
last of the old-style Orbiters built by Tivoli. Two
years later, the East of England showman John
Parrish picked up a second-hand Tivoli ride from
Wood Amusements in the United States. It too
would receive a Paul Wright backflash, as did Albert
Evans’ ride, delivered new in 2005 complete
with the giant lightning flashes in the centre that
would become the signature feature of these
machines. Seating 24 rather than 36 riders, this
was the first four-arm version built by Tivoli and
by now the name Extreme was beginning to
stick. A further four-armed version called ‘Evolution’
followed in 2006 for Tommy Wilson, to replace
the six-arm Tivoli Orbiter he had travelled
since 1991.
Things then went quiet for a couple of years, before
Irish showman Albert Cassely ordered a sixarm
‘Xtreme’, delivered in time for St Patrick’s
Day 2008. Since 2009 a steady stream of new
machines have followed for Stanley Gamble (6-
arm), Stanley Thurston (4-arm), Jimmy
Botton/Skegness Pleasure Beach (4-arm), Jason
Hebborn (6-arm), Billy Danter (4-arm) and,
in April 2011, Wayne Smith (4-arm). Several of
these have been decorated by the young showman
artists Frazer & Jonathan Day, evolving
something of a corporate look.
Extreme Tribute
Although the Orbiter has become Tivoli
Engineering’s signature ride, overseas companies
have also produced variations on the theme,
including the Italian manufacturers Fabbri and
Soriani & Moser. Other developments such as
Moser Rides’ Speed Flip, KMG’s Experience and
“Remix” from Wesley Gill
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