Posted on | by Sam Swift

AEPi 2010Two days of genuine good spring weather (45-50°F and mostly sunny) provided the first real weekend of rolls, and the teams made it an exciting one.  With three new buggies and enough incidents in the chute to make a driver blush, it took extra long to sort out and write about here at headquarters.  Our apologies for the delay, we plan on sticking to Monday mornings in the future.

In attendance (2010 buggies)

Org Saturday Sunday
AEPi Kamikaze, Camo, AEPi-2010 Zephyrus, Kamikaze, AEPi-2010
Beta Problem Child Problem Child
CIA Firebird, Renaissance, Freyja Freyja, Quasar, Conquest
Fringe Bedlam, Banyan, Bantam, Blizzard Bedlam, Banyan, Bantam, Blizzard
KKG / ZBT Volos Volos
PhiKap Schadenfreude, Celerity
Pioneers Chaos Chaos
PiKA Chimera, Nemesis, Zeus Chimera, Knightfall, Zeus, Nemesis
SAE Rubicon Rubicon
SDC Malice, Psychosis, Envy, Rage, Avarice Malice, Psychosis, Envy, Rage, Avarice
SigEp Barracuda, Peregrine Pandora, Barracuda, Peregrine
SigNu Skua, Bungarus Krait Skua, Bungarus Krait, KoS
Spirit Haraka, Fuko Seraph, Haraka, Fuko

Observations (Saturday gallery, Sunday gallery)

  • AEPi brought out their yet-unamed new buggy, and it looks like a big leap in build quality.  As one commenter said, “KDR called, they want their buggy back.”  I’d venture to say that AEPi would take that as a compliment and they should.  This is their 3rd buggy in their 4 years of resurgence and while Kamikaze showed that they had figured out the composite fundamentals, this new buggy looks like it came out just how they designed it.  Weigh in on the name right here on cmubuggy.
  • CIA also debuted it’s new buggy, Freyja (a Norse mythological goddess), their second new buggy in a row.  CIA has a lot more general build experience than AEPi, but when it comes to composite monocoque construction they are still about as green as it gets.  Freyja is their second attempt at modern buggy construction (sorry frame loyalists) after last year’s Renaissance, and it looks like they too got what they wanted out of the build process.  Freyja is a bit angular, but it’s symmetric and looks well formed.  The front wheels are classic CIA thin rubber, but the rear is a pneumatic in the PiKA tradition larger requiring that familiar wheel hump shape.
  • SigEp also debuted their new buggy Peregrine.  There don’t seem to be any pictures of it yet, but word was that didn’t get off to a very quick start.  That could, of course, be the result of overly conservative mechanics slowing their new creation on purpose, but it needed to be pushed downhill more than once on Sunday.  More on Peregrine next week.  Cool name.
  • KKG/ZBT was out with their buggy which they have apparently renamed Volos (as in the Greek city?).  We don’t have much of a read on the co-ed Greek partnership since they only made it out once last semester, but it’s great to see them back and rolling.
  • Every org except DTD rolled on this first “real” (as in not spring break) weekend of the spring.  DTD was held out for the time being because of those pesky capes and some Greek Sing conflicts.
  • Beta made their first appearance on the course for the year, showing up with Problem Child and a healthy sized push team.  They made it around the course without incident for the weekend.  Good to see the interest in the house materialized in the spring after doing chores all fall.
  • SDC’s new Avarice was rolling on their white wheels this weekend after debuting on practice-grade standard xootrs.
  • AEPi has said that Camo may be officially retired after its left rear axle failed in the second half of the chute.  After a 25-ish (?) year career, and facing competition from increasingly capable AEPi fleet, I can see why they’re not motivated to break out the welder and put things back together again.  Let’s hope they at least lug it to design comp.
  • PhiKap hit the curb near the transition flagger, Fringe spun in the chute, and Spirit stopped in the chute … all on Saturday.  PhiKap’s incident seems to have been the most problematic as impacts on that part of the course are always fast and uncushioned.  Reports were that the left side axle was significantly damaged.  There are also rumors about the house being on thin ice with the school which is not unusual on the quad these days, but we hate to hear about orgs having to worry about surviving rather than focusing on buggy this time of year.
  • Spirit spun twice on Sunday, setting up a continuation of last spring’s unnerving pattern of spins.  It seems their combination of wheel types or weight distribution is just not going to cut it, but I’m sure they’re working things out.
  • Sigma Nu also had a flashback they’d rather not have when their ’09 vintage Bungarus Krait lost control and flipped onto its side near the outside bales at the end of the chute.  That last time that happened was on raceday 2005 when their then year-old Skua flipped.  Maybe it’s a right of passage.  I thought that the design flaw with Skua had been definitively corrected, but perhaps the track just can’t be wide enough in the nice smooth Zoo shape.
  • SigEp’s Barracuda hit the inside curb at the end of the chute after her helmet obstructed her vision.  That’s a common problem, and lately a common place to crash into the curb.
  • In general, course conditions were not great this weekend. Hill 5 is deadly with a line of potholes that could swallow a buggy. The chute was extremely dusty and slippery, causing a lot of corrections (and overcorrections) that probably account for the huge incident count.  Hopefully some of the spring rain we’ve been getting will clear up the grime left by the snow melt.

15 thoughts on “Rolls Report – March 20 & 21”

    • Sam Swift says:

      Haha, shows what I know. This is what I get from trying to write a whole rolls report from a few pictures and some notes here and there.

  • mccue says:

    Hey SigEp, thanks for taking the best buggy name ever that starts with a P and is also KDR’s national animal. You all suck.

  • CRStengel says:

    I was both encouraged and then dismayed to see that when sigma nu flipped, nearly every flagger got in a line and waved that stop flag…it was like the Coca Cola commercial on the hilltop.

    But then neither of the 2 subsequent buggies stopped. Maybe they can’t hear…did they see all those yellow flags? Couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, or had no sense to stop when 10 yellow X flags were flashing up and down on top of them…thankfully there wasn’t a 90 degree spun buggy in the middle of the chute.

    Maybe that should be a component of driver safety education…I’m just sayin…

  • blue says:

    Just a note: Banyan was out and rolling both days. There were pass tests, so Banyan was bagged and slower than normal, but still rolling.

  • jess thurston says:

    Braking for a yellow flag is definitely part of driver safety training, and I remind chairmen almost every morning of rolls to remind their drivers. Some still make the mistake. We’re working on it. Any suggestions are always welcome.

  • Sam Swift says:

    thanks for the correction. sweepstakes hasn’t posted the rolls counts for sunday yet, so I was working from pictures and observations. apparently a slow banyan is so unexpected that it escapes detection. Please, if there are other corrections, let us know here in the comments.

  • vincent says:

    while we’re being nitpicky about corrections;

    mccue, that would be the kkg/zbt buggy, not the dtd buggy.

    also, sam: “satury gallery”?

  • vincent says:

    well, i’d say DTD’s poor buggy has been through enough without having to suffer a second renaming in one year :p

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