DTD down for the year, but not out

Sweepstakes has officially decided, and DTD has confirmed, that 2010 is not going to be the year they break back onto the raceday scene.  DTD made its first appearance on the buggy course in recent history in October and got off to a good start.  They had their share of incidents, but in the fall that’s just part of being new.  Problem was that the incidents kept piling up regularly into the spring and it didn’t seem like they had a reasonable chance of making it around the course on raceday.

One of the BAA’s stated goals is to encourage greater participation in the sport, so we’re interested in their experience and how we can help teams like them in the future.  We got in contact with DTD’s co-buggy-chair, Ian McIntyre, and asked a few questions: Continue reading

Rolls Report – April 3 & 4

SigEp's Barracuda on Hill 3The carnival weather was out already for the last weekend of rolls before truck weekend.  Temperatures were in the low 60s on Saturday and low 50s on Sunday to greet the 14 orgs ramping up to raceday.  The list of incidents is long compared to the details about who is doing well, but don’t let that fool you, it’s just easier to note the mishaps.  Many of the mid-tier teams are making serious charges towards competing for trophies, and the regulars are quietly perfecting their skills and building their teams.  Every roll is being timed and reviewed.  Every transition matters to pushers old and new.  It’s almost raceday.

In attendance (spring 2010 buggies, qualified w/ at least 1 driver)

Org Saturday Sunday
AEPi Kamikaze, Aether, Zephyrus Kamikaze, Aether
Beta Problem Child
CIA Conquest, Firebird, Quasar, Renaissance Conquest, Firebird, Quasar, Freyja
DTD Bethany Bethany
Fringe Banyan, Blizzard, Bantam, Borealis Banyan, Blizzard, Bantam, Borealis
KKG / ZBT Volos Volos
PhiKap Schadenfreude, Svengali, Celerity Schadenfreude, Svengali, Celerity
Pioneers Chaos
PiKA Chimera, Nemesis, Zeus, Knightfall Chimera, Nemesis, Zeus
SAE Rubicon Rubicon
SDC Malice, Psychosis, Rage, Avarice, Envy Malice, Psychosis, Rage, Avarice, Envy
SigEp Barracuda, Pandora, Peregrin Barracuda, Pandora, Peregrin
SigNu Skua, Bungarus Krait Skua, Bungarus Krait
Spirit Haraka, Fuko, Kingpin Haraka, Fuko

Observations (Saturday gallery, Sunday gallery) Continue reading

Golf, water bottles, and t-shirts

It’s that time of year when everyone has things to announce, and thanks to all yinz, cmubuggy.org is one of the best places to do it. Sweepstakes and Alumni Relations both have our back when we’re trying to get things done, so we’re happy to spread the good word from them:

Spring Carnival Alumni Golf Outing

Murrysville Golf Murrysville Golf Club, Murrysville, PA
Sunday, April 18

Join alumni for the Spring Carnival Alumni Golf Outing.  Breakfast, a snack at the turn, cart, 18 holes of golf and a closing lunch are included.  Shuttle service is available and will leave from the University Center Circle at 8 am.  Registration on-site and breakfast begin at 8:30 am.  Registration Required/Event Fee: $95 & due upon registration.

To register, please visit:
http://www.cmu.edu/alumni/involved/events/carnival/registration-golf/index.html

Pre-order Sweepstakes Merchandise

Sweepstakes has tshirts, buggy books, and those stainless steel water bottles that are all the rage.

Sweepstakes Tshirt 2010Sweepstakes water bottle 2010The tshirt design and waterbottle designs are at left, click for a bigger version.   T-shirts and water bottles are going for $10 each.  Buy any two items for $18.  That’s a $2 discount!  Tshirts come in sides Youth Medium, Youth Large, and then Adult Small through Adult 2XL.

Buggy books are $5 to everyone other than active participants.  The cover of the buggy book is a secret until raceday to build that suspenseful atmosphere.  Don’t count on getting the buggy book PDF on cmubuggy for free, we’ll wait a year to post it so that we don’t undercut the way buggy book printing gets paid for.

Pre-order now to avoid the hustle and bustle on raceday by e-mailing sweepstakes chair Jess Thurston: jessicathurston532@gmail.com.  Pickup would ideally be at design comp, but raceday pickups are possible, arrange by e-mail.

Thursday Poll – Finding a home for the jumbotron

Jumbotron chute locations

As we announced recently, we are very excited to be helping to bring not one, but two jumbotrons to buggy this year.  The first will be at the top of hill to next to the leaderboard just as it was last year.  The second will be down in the chute so fans in either of the primary viewing areas will be able to follow the entire race for the first time.

After the general idea was announced, we were happy to facilitate a spirited discussion about which particular location in the chute area would be best for the new jumbotron.  If you haven’t been following, you can catch up here in the forums.  There are pros and cons to almost any location, but the some of the things to consider include:

  • Placing the optimum viewing area somewhere that a large number of people can see it.
  • Not using up too much prime space on the ground that people like to stand in with the unit itself .
  • Not creating a tempting hazard by putting too much of the prime viewing area in the road.
  • Staying “outside” the course because it is not possible to get cables over the road this year.

The black rectangles are the actual size of the jumbotron’s footprint.  The beige rectangle is the rough size and location of the cmuTV scaffolding.  The actual viewing area is a bit larger and wider than depicted.  Let it be said that this can not be a purely democratic decision.  In the end, sweepstakes is responsible for this decision, and they are responsible to more concerns than us fans.  Getting a sense of the popular opinion is important to them though, hence this poll.  So, if you were in charge, where would you put it?

Click through to vote and see results Continue reading