The end of daylight savings meant Saturday was a super short day while Sunday was nice and long, leaving time for a full mini-raceday-esque event.  Weather was in the low 30s but nice and sunny which is better than we might expect for November.  Zach Waldman and Ben Matzke covered the rolls report while I was out of town so thanks to them, and no thanks to me for taking this long to get it posted!  Fantasy buggy times were collected on Sunday and the winner will be announced very soon.

In Attendance

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery)

• As the shortest day of the year, Saturday didn’t have a ton of excitement to offer. Rolls started at about 8:00. and lasted for just 51 minutes from first buggy cleared to last released.  Temperatures continue to drop, and the weekend settled in at the low 30’s for both days with lots of teams tossing blankets on buggies and pushers as they waited for their roll. At this stage of Fall, any weekend could be the last of the semester, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen to mini-raceday this year with the mornings getting colder and the teams already having a competitive day of rolls.
• In a callback to several years ago, Spirit seems to be getting more protective of their secrecy and working to protect their buggies from camera-happy spectators. These writers had no less than two mechanics fighting to block some of his shots on the top of Hill 2, but a good challenge can be perfectly enjoyable. There were a variety of techniques used to block the pictures from standing in front of the camera, to sitting on the windshield. This is a bit of a change from their old method of throwing a T-shirt over the windshield.
• <SigEp gave Peregrine her season debut, coming out to collect a pair of rolls and give spectators a thrill by giving Mamba an exciting drag race down Hill 5.
• Delta Force continues to make a strong showing for a new team. As the weather gets colder, they are out and speeding up in their still-unnamed borrowed buggy, with few complaints despite normally staging out and exposed on the sidewalk, and maintaining a perfect record of safe rolls. According to mechanics, work on a name continues, even if terms of their lease prevent their giving Perun a fresh paintjob.
• cmuTV came out for both days of rolls this weekend, collecting footage of rolling buggies and making a Hill 2 time lapse.
• Going from the shortest to the longest day of the year, the teams were out and ready to up their roll counts. After a short delay due to SigNu reportedly not covering their sweeping area, the teams managed to clear the roll order nearly five times, a welcome change from the last few weekends.
• There seemed to be at least some lack of energy over the idea of being timed for fantasy buggy. The showing was seven teams, and there were quite a few drivers being dropped off Hill 2 and a some being held back by bags. Fringe, SDC, and CIA seemed to give some energy to the day, floating buggies out and giving Hill 2’s on their A-teams.
• As first roll on Sunday, SDC was psyched up and ready kick things off, but preemptively set up and started to push before the sweepers were finished and the clear was called. They stopped and waited in the cold for the clear, choosing to go back in their tent at the last minute before coming out again for their roll. Sporting a set of fairings over the rear wheels, they were likely heating and that false start probably caused a less than optimal first free roll.
• In another ding to Fringe’s longstanding aesthetic dominance of Sweepstakes, Bonsai seemed to be a bit beaten up from some mystery accident.
• DeltaForce and AEPi were out and working their drivers up to speed, with no incidents to be held against them. As an additional mark to their devotion despite the late start, DeltaForce, as of Sunday, has the maximum number of fall rolls that will roll over to the spring. Congratulations to the new team, and we hope they continue to come out add to the excitement.
• Since we’re mentioning new teams, a few guys from the Residence on 5th were out at rolls watching and talking to orgs. Their involvement is still mostly unknown through it seems to becoming less likely that we will see them out at rolls in the spring. Despite this, there still seems to be plenty of enthusiasm from the freshman dorm so it would be too soon to say that we can’t expect to see them around in the next couple of years.
• Spirit was out there and giving it their all, but the day seemed to be stacked against them with the only accidents of the day. Haraka spun twice late in the chute in her first two rolls, being unloaded and carried back on the second roll. Fantasy buggy competitors might like to know that the first spin caused Seraph to come to a safe stop, and the second spin cost both Seraph and Mapambazuko a roll. Haraka was retired for the rest of the day. Seraph also collected a spin behind Mapambazuko on Spirit’s fourth roll.
• There were some spiffy looking electronics that I don’t normally see on the course out there today. Mapambazuko was sporting a pretty large mounted camera on her head right behind the windshield, and SigEp brought back what appear to be GPS loggers or accelerometers for Barracuda and Mamba near their pushbars. The SigEp mystery devices were seen last year, but Mapambazuko’s equipment was new as far as I recall.
• I would like to take a moment to thank Guillermo Gomez for many of the photos contributed to the Saturday and Sunday galleries (you may recognize his photos as the ones that don’t look like they are from a cheap point and shoot). We would appreciate anyone who got photos from the chute to add them to the gallery. A great deal of thanks also goes out to the small army of Fringe and CIA timers who made fantasy buggy possible by sitting still for two hours in the below-freezing temperatures.