By Erica Solvig
Enquirer staff writer

A BMW Mini Cooper drives into Paramount's Kings Island on Thursday for the announcement of the amusement park's new attraction for 2005, The Italian Job: Stunt Track. The Enquirer/GLENN HARTONG

MASON - Paramount's Kings Island will play off one of its parent company's blockbuster films when guests put the pedal to the metal on a stunt track next year.

Park officials announced the new attraction, The Italian Job: Stunt Track, on Thursday by showing a video presentation of the "fast-track" coaster to a crowd of 200-plus at the park's Paramount Theatre. The ride will open in the spring.

Guests served as stunt drivers using Mini Cooper S coaster cars to re-enact the 2003 movie's chase scene, dodging police cars, driving down stairs and avoiding gunfire from a helicopter. Specific details on the ride's height and speed are still being worked out. .

"You actually feel the engine revving and hear the tires peeling out," said park spokesman Jeffrey Siebert.

The multimillion-dollar attraction is not the typical Kings Island ride. There are no high-speed loops on the coaster track. The Mini Coopers actually stop for interactive scenes and there is audio in the coaster cars.

Experts say it's the future of amusement park rides: more interaction, special effects and broader appeal. Cynthia Whitson of the Maryland-based Premier Rides Inc., which is working on the project, said, "It still draws the younger people and teens as well as adults."

Kings Island has 3 million guests a year, making it Greater Cincinnati's largest tourist attraction.

The Italian Job: Stunt Track replaces the antique car ride in Coney Mall. The antique car ride will close Sunday and the stunt track construction begins Monday.

"It's much more in line with what you see at MGM and Universal Studios instead of your backyard theme park," Siebert said. "It's a perfect combination of enough coaster thrills with family entertainment."

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com