9:09am UK, Sunday May 23, 2004

A band of brazen students have set a new form of world rollercoaster record - stark naked.

Cheeky students bare all

Around 100 students from 15 universities dropped all inhibitions and rode the terrifying 360-degree Nemesis Inferno rollercoaster at Thorpe Park, Surrey.

The cheeky stunt earned the shameless students a place in history, and organisers think they could even set a new trend...

But it has helped raise cash for good causes. The park is promising to pay £1,000 to a university Rag committee for the best group photograph on board the ride.

Staff at Thorpe Park hit on the idea for a birthday-suit record to mark the park's own 25th birthday.

Wearing only safety harnesses, the intrepid participants found themselves flying through mid-air over a 750-metre course experiencing gravity at up 4.5 times its normal strength.

But parents planning to take their children to the family-orientated park did not need to fear, the students were respectably dressed by the time the gates opened to the public!