19/10/2007

World renowned escape artist and 7 times Guinness World Record holder, David Straitjacket, faced one of his toughest tests ever today, when he completed an amazing escape whilst travelling at speeds of up to 80kmph and experiencing +4.5Gs on Pleasure Beach, Blackpool’s brand new rollercoaster - Infusion. David was triple handcuffed, chained and locked into the parks newest, most exciting, and most extreme thrill ride, Infusion. Although there were no time stipulations to how long David had to escape the restraints he managed to free himself in 3 circuits of the ride in a time of less than 5 minutes. The stunt is was carried out in tribute to the late escape artist, David DeVal, who carried out a similar escape at Pleasure Beach, on the Irn-Bru Revolution, over 20 years ago. The original stunt was filmed for the popular entertainment programme, Hotline. The same locksmith who challenged Mr DeVal, Mick Hanzlik, challenged David Straitjacket to what was a much tougher stunt. On completing this amazing feat David commented, “Wow! That was incredible. I did struggle a little bit with the G forces but I’m so pleased I managed to escape. Mick Hanzlik certainly set me a difficult challenge, the surprise combination lock he added definitely proved the toughest. I feel honoured to follow in David DeVal’s footsteps, and I’m delighted to have completed a world first on one of the world’s most exciting thrill rides. Thanks to everyone at Pleasure Beach for letting me carry out this stunt on such a fantastic rollercoaster.” Since it’s launch in May, Infusion has wowed visitors to Pleasure Beach with its stunning water features and 5 incredible loops and rolls.