It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a post up but it’s time that we get started. Due to the oppressive cold still here in the burgh, the first planned rolls for this weekend have been preemptively cancelled. This will give teams a bit longer to get things organized and hopefully a bit more time to finish up any new buggies that they have been working on. As well as allowing the remaining snow and ice to melt that still litters the course.

Sweepstakes Chairman Elon Bauer has been busy getting things ready for this season and would love some feedback from everyone that is a buggy fan. It doesn’t take too long to fill out and will greatly help the Raceday plans. Please take the time to follow this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/buggy. We’re starting up our planning meetings soon and we would love to hear from as many of you as possible.

CMU has launched a new crowdfunding initiative for all organizations to raise money. Spirit seems to be the first to bite from the buggy world and is attempting their own campaign to raise $7,400 to help their program. From the page it sounds like they’re working on some new tech and recording devices though it seems that the info gathered will all be kept private within the org. If there are any other teams that are looking to take part in this new crowdfunding platform from the university, please let us know and we would be happy to share what you’re working on.

For more info on how to submit your project idea: https://crowdfunding.cmu.edu/faq

Read more about Spirit’s Campaign: http://proj.at/1LIDseU

12 thoughts on “2015 – off to the races”

  • If they roll this weekend, and every weekend through Truck weekend (which would include Easter weekend) then there will only be 5 weekends of rolls. It seems like this will lead to an interesting raceday.

    Also, have the current students worked with the BAA on planning? I’ve heard very little and we’re just over a month out.

    Bordick

    • As little as one month sounds, 5 weekends of regular rolls is fairly typical of the past few years (2012-5, 2013-3, 2014-4). Whether all those weekends will cooperate is probably your real concern and that’s always a crapshoot.

      I am surprised not to have heard more on here but I hear that teams are caping buggies and prepping new builds on campus.

    • He doesn't even go here says:

      There are no rolls this weekend, and the weekend after break only has rolls planned for the Sunday… It’s going to get very tight quickly if the weather decides not to cooperate

      • Yeah, last year was hairy until some very nice final weekends and particularly well-organized, quickly moving roll orders seemed to save a lot of skins. Been saying this for a bit now (and have been proven wrong so far), eventually we will have some bad weather before and during truck weekend, and we are going to see some teams caught flat footed as they speed up.

  • Another week, another cancellation. I’m about to go stir-crazy for lack of buggy news. I can imagine how the teams must be feeling, with only three weekends of rolls possible before truck.

    In the meantime, a question for the community: what is the most memorable reason you’ve seen rolls cancelled for?

    I humbly submit: “Rolls are cancelled because the safety chair deep-fried his cell phone”.

  • so are “we” planning a luncheon/history talk again this year? 95th anniversary of Sweepstakes and all…
    And if so, that’s Friday, right?

  • Also, I hear from the kids that Design Comp has been renamed, and shortened by two hours, (unless a team is submitting a buggy for design trophy competition). My comment: way to keep the campus, alumni and community involved: make it even more secret! I mean even a Hot Rod Car Show is more than two hours…
    Now that the campus is (IMO) more “fun”, I sometimes wonder how this sport stays afloat.

    • From what I understand, the event is renamed “Buggy Showcase” (as the Design Competition is just a subset of the event) and it hasn’t been shortened, but pushed back two hours from start to finish, since attendance during the beginning of the event was historically very low. This move is expected to be a net positive for the event and the community. However, the carnival events calendar only lists Buggy Showcase as going from 9AM to 11AM.

      But I’ve just heard this through people I know who are still at CMU, as a result of only being one year removed from the community. Carnival is a month away and I need to make travel plans. The more information that can be provided to alumni, the better.

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