Posted on | by ben

We’ve come to the last weekend before truck, which means there will not be a full Rolls Report next week. Instead all BAA members will receive the members-only Raceday preview. So if you haven’t done so yet, now is the time to become a member. Check out this page for more information on how to become a member. Be sure to check out the membership roster if you think you already donated this year.

With a disappointingly slow weekend to end March, April brought us what we have been waiting for and a small taste of what’s to come in under two weeks. There were still a few incidents, but sweepstakes picked it up over last week and was far more efficient at getting people off the course and keeping rolls on schedule. This weekend had pass tests a-plenty which, when combined with some very fast rolling buggies made for many exciting moments in the chute.

This was also the first weekend that we had every org out both days. Everyone is feeling the pressure, and there is no time left to take a day off. Drivers have been getting qualified, but there are still many that need a few rolls here and there, or haven’t yet been able to complete the pass test.  It will be a scramble going into truck weekend as teams try and qualify their remaining drivers.

In Attendance

Org Saturday Sunday
AEPi Kamikaze  Kamikaze
Apex Phoenix  Phoenix
CIA Impulse, Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Quasar Impulse, Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Quasar
Fringe NBXIII, Bissa, Bedlam, Banyan NBXIII, Bissa, Bedlam, Banyan
PiKA RD2013, Chimera RD2013, Chimera
ROTC Shrek Shrek
SAE Lucy, Rubicon Lucy, Rubicon
SDC Vice, Bane, Avarice, Malice Vice, Bane, Avarice, Malice, Rage
SigEp “Dora”, Peregrine, Barracuda Mamba,  Peregrine, Barracuda
SigNu Bungarus Krait Bungarus Krait
Spirit Kingpin II, Zuke, Haraka Kingpin II, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery)

  • AEPi – Out both days for the first time this semester, AEPi seems to understand their situation and has kicked it into high gear to get at least one of their drivers qualified. AEPi has been trying to find anyone else to roll with and pass, but it’s been a tough struggle as some other teams have the same plan in mind. At the start of Sunday, their primay driver had a pass test and was close to her total roll requirement but still a few short. Assuming Sunday went well for them, they should have qualified their one driver or are at least very very close. At this point, They might be able to get their other driver qualified, but it will be tight to fit in if they want to also get some good practice for Raceday.
  • Apex – Having come out every day they can this year, Apex had little issue getting their last required rolls on Sunday. Once they got qualified, they decided to cut it to a half day and give their driver the rest she needs. Come next weekend, I imagine they will be right up there with everyone else. While a few teams tried to pass them, they kept pretty quick and were somewhat elusive. Now that they have their own buggy, it will be exciting to see what they bring to Raceday. Phoenix seems to have finally settled on a paintjob and it looks pretty great.
  • CIA – After their fairing troubles last weekend, Ascension again was sporting some new fairings, but this time they stayed in the right orientation and didn’t cause any issues. As an org that has continuously been out to rolls with their entire fleet, it comes with little surprise that every buggy they have is qualified, except for Impulse. Before rolls on sunday, Impulse was down 7 rolls total and still needed a pass test. The quick and efficient rolls could have possibly knocked out 4 of those, which would make truck weekend a very easy place to find the remaining few needed for qualification. Ascension was getting a full experimentation work out this weekend with the new fairings on saturday, and some new, tiny roller blade wheels on sunday.  So far her rollout doesn’t seem to have changed much, but who knows what goes on in that giant tent at the top of the hill, they might have a few tricks left up their sleeve. Aside from Impulse not yet qualified, she’s also still missing her painjob while Freyja has been getting fully repainted, now with more gold.
  • Fringe – Coming into Sunday, Fringe had a decent number of rolls but still many to go. The more surprising thing was that they had no successful pass tests. They had clearly tried a few times, but apparently missed the timing, so on Sunday we saw them attempt several passes, and from our view from the chute, it looks like they’re finally on the board. Getting these pass tests have oddly seen some difficulty as twice they have had phantom stop flags thrown on an earlier buggy, bringing the passing buggies to a halt before being able to complete the maneuver.  Despite seeing Bonsai out the first weekend of the year, Fringe’s fastest buggy has not seen the course since and will likely not race on raceday. Rumors are that there’s an issue with the steering and with only 4 drivers, they are opting to spend the time on rolling buggies as opposed to fixing up a newer one. Even without Bonsai, Fringe is looking hot and will be in it to win it after last year’s Women’s A crash and the disappointing loss to the SDC Men. NBXIII is still unpainted (as is their tradition), and was covered in trash bags all weekend.
  • PiKA – After the loss of their house last year, Pike was no longer the top Fraternity which hadn’t happened in a few decades. This year, they are looking faster than ever with a tiny new buggy, looking very similar to something along the lines of SDC and their tiny wheels to go along with it. Raptor hasn’t seen the course this semester, favoring the older Fringe-esque Chimera. Pike has been quite consistent this year and has plenty of rolls going into truck weekend. RD2013 already has a pass test to boot. Unfortunately on their first roll on sunday, Chimera took her normal chute line just a bit too wide and ran right into the bales about half way into the chute. The bales seemed to do their job as both the buggy and driver seemed to be OK. Though both ended up with a few cuts and bruises, I don’t see this as a game changer, but it does mean that Chimera has a little catching up to do if she wants to qualify for Raceday. RD2013 had free reign for the rest of the day and continued to narrow in on her chute line and pick up speed. The Go-Pro that they had mounted on RD2013 broke off one roll and was collected by the local Chute wildlife. The FOADs came by not long after to collect it, being sure not to let anyone be able to see their line.
  • ROTC – Having not seen a ROTC team since the late 80’s with AFROTC, they have finally found the time in their busy schedule to join us on the course, and we couldn’t be more excited. ROTC was out for both Saturday and Sunday rolling as much as possible with an old SigEp buggy, Shrek which last rolled in 2007. Saturday was a very slow day for the returning org where Shrek had several bags throughout the day, but seemed to be going extra slow probably due to some unknown rubbing. On Sunday Shrek was seen rolling with AEPi, where Kamikaze had a narrow inside pass just before entering the chute. She was able to pick up some speed over Saturday, which I can only assume will increase come Truck weekend. ROTC looks like they have a strong group of pushers, so if they are able to build a reliable fast buggy of their own, I imagine they could easily make their way to second day.
  • SAE – In an exciting twist, SAE brought out their new buggy for the first time this weekend and wow was she fast! Lucy (as she was listed in the roll counts) is similar in shape to KapSig’s Apache, and is yet unpainted. If you look closely at the carbon, it seems like they’ve added some ribs down the buggy for added strength. Word is that the buggy is super light and with those white wheels, Lucy could be a real contender for the top 10. Neither buggy had pass tests going into Sunday and Lucy has a severe lack of rolls. Rubicon attempted a pass on Saturday, but even with a bag, the new buggy was just too fast. After missing the pass, Rubicon decided that the course wasn’t long enough and headed toward the barricade. Before it was too late, she saw the barricader who was frantically waving at her and she made a very tight corner, just barely missing the bales and was able to continue though. Everyone in the chute was amazed at the tight turning radius, and we were all thankful that she didn’t crash, though she wasn’t rolling super fast at that point. Later on Sunday, Rubicon made a very wide pass at the transition flag looking like she might hit the monument, but fortunately made a last second swerve to make it safely past and into the chute. She lost enough speed though that Lucy passed her by the end of the haybales.
  • SDC – Where last week SDC seemed unfortunately incident prone, this week we got to see them start pulling out the stops as they showed us what the previous champions are capable of. Bane and Malice are clearly still some of the fastest buggies on the course, and Vice doesn’t look half bad herself. While all of the SDC buggies still slide and bounce a bit in the Chute, Avarice is taking it harder than any other and had a few near scares by the haybales. As of Saturday, Avarice and Rage were still looking for pass tests. In an attempt to get their 5th buggy qualified, Rage still had bags on this weekend and was rolling smooth and steady. The new driver seems to be settling into her line, though she missed her line slightly on Saturday and slowly touched the bales, slow enough that she wanted to continue through and not be extracted. I expect her to be rolling a little quicker come next weekend, but likely won’t be full speed until the end of Sunday.
  • SigEp – Missing several rolls on the new buggy, “Dora” was unseen on Sunday, making me wonder if they have just decided to work on it more next year. They have two drivers with pass tests in Barracuda, and one in Mamba going into Sunday, and I expect they got plenty of rolls to qualify everyone on sunday. Peregrine was having some trouble  getting her pass and has been rolling the slowest I have ever seen her, even with bags on Mamba, it was hard to tell if she ever got her pass. Regardless, SigEp is in great position going into truck with Barracuda rolling her fastest all year, and is in definite contention with the top teams. If I had times to share, I’m sure Barracuda’s would be awesome.
  • SigNu – Despite running low on brothers this year, SigNu has been able to come out to rolls very frequently. Unfortuantely, Krait was still down a much needed pass test, as well as a few rolls by the end of Saturday. They’re not quite going as fast as they have in the past, but I expect something magical will happen come truck weekend and we’ll see what the veteran team is really capable of. Skua never made a retrun to the course this year as I think her crash last year did more damage than the brothers were able to repair with their limited manpower. SigNu was again having fun with their follow car, bringing out a  blue Mazda Miata to go along with the green Mustang that came out the weekend before. The Miata’s lights were seen flipping up and down one roll as if it were blinking.
  • Spirit – Seemingly to have cured themselves of their spinning woes this semeseter, Spirit has really started to push things to the limit. Going into Sunday, their 5 buggies had plenty of rolls, but less than half had completed pass tests. I believe they completed a couple on Sunday, but they will likely be using truck weekend to finish out their qualifications. Spirit has been rolling very consistently this year which is great to see given the uncommonly reduced number of weekends. I expect next weekend to see some naked buggies assuming they continue their tradition of repainting all of them before Raceday

Live Streaming

We had the most people ever watching and chatting on the stream this weekend which made it a lot of fun for those of us in the chute as well as those watching from home. Since I broke each day up into segments, I’ve made another playlist to make it a bit easier to find and watch this weekend. There was a lot of fun conversation to be had, but some of it is very one sided and you might not get it if you weren’t watching live. I will definitely be streaming next weekend and I plan to be grilling again on Sunday as well. So those of you in the area should definitely come by for some tasty grilled food and join us as we watch the teams get in their final prep before Raceday.

If there are any other places you guys would like to have the stream on Saturday, leave a comment below, and I’ll see what we can handle.

28 thoughts on “Rolls Report: April 6 & 7 – Picking up Speed”

  • Will Motley says:

    I don’t know how the loss of their house will affect them, but I, for one, would like to see a competitive PiKA, and I’m glad to see them back out. Without PiKA, there’s not a villain to hate!!! LOL

    Seriously, having PiKA back is good for the sport. Buggy without PiKA is like baseball without the Yankees (and as an old school Spirit alum, it kills me to compare Pike to my favorite baseball squad).

        • Walking on Thin Ice says:

          until they cost everyone push practice by sitting at the bottom of hill one with Music blaring out of their jeep and chanting like the hill one pusher was doing keg stands. Seriously Pike, don’t ruin this shit for everyone

          • Will Motley says:

            If you’re going to talk shit, especially to another org, be a man and put your name on it. This “Anonymous” crap, and other clever names to conceal your identity when commenting about other organizations’ past shortcomings, is pure cowardice.

          • Connor says:

            Put your name on it and get called out for “knowing nothing” or piping in where you shouldn’t. Don’t put your name on it and get called out for being a “coward.” I don’t blame people for coming up with fun names to use instead of their own honestly. By the way this should be ignored as I still know nothing :P

          • Will Motley says:

            “this should be ignored as I still know nothing”

            – Conner, finally!!! You’ve said something we can all agree on!
            (just kidding dude, you left the door wide open, I had to walk through it)

  • the Pope says:

    Hate to say it but the new PKA buggy looks great.. I liked the idea of them returning to a trike format and their first attempt had a good shape but was just too big.

    Seems like a lot of new buggies are in peril of not getting enough rolls in.

    If spirit has solved their chute woes, and I hope they have, then it will be a very interesting race day indeed.

    What McCue said: awsome!!!

  • the Pope says:

    Are those white wheel on spirit from ZE? If they can make the chute on the speed those can deliver, then the race will be very interesting indeed.

  • Martinez says:

    On Saturday, SAE wasn’t trying to do a pass test with Ruby. We thought Lucy would be slow enough with the bag that Ruby would stay ahead. Boy we’re we wrong.

  • Shafeeq says:

    SDC was looking fast but not as fast as they can go. PiKA and SigEp just behind them. Barracuda’s driver was doing some of the smoothest and controlled driving I’ve seen, while RD2013 was demonstrating a little oversteer slide each time, costing them a little rollout and will make things “exciting” when they turn the speed up a notch. SigNu looked good with potential for more speed. Fringe looked very comfortable on the freeroll, but just not moving at the speeds we’ve come to expect from them. Unless this is part of a strategic misdirection plan, they’re going to have their hands full holding off SigEp, let alone challenging for the win.

    The SAE driver’s attempt to escape the course might have something to do with her windshield appearing to be near-completely fogged over. Spirit seems to be losing their back end just as often as they used to, but get it back under control much more quickly than they used to. The white wheels actually seemed the least troublesome, but I didn’t keep track of whether they rotated between buggies. Apex looks to have found a set of familiar bright green wheels and moving at a decent clip this weekend. With all variety that Spirit & CIA have been using, I don’t think we’ve seen either one on those.

    There appeared to be more than the usual amount of haste, confusion, and profanity around and within the team tents at the start of practices on both days, which raises the point that the weather hasn’t just cost the drivers practice time, but also that the mechanics haven’t had to run through their prep routines as often as they usually would. The first step in the race is getting the buggy to the start line on time, and given how close some teams like to cut it, hopefully we won’t see a contender miss its race.

  • rlbrowne says:

    Actually, with Sunday rolls, CIA’s Impulse is fully qualified. She had seven rolls going into Sunday, not seven left.

  • Eric L. says:

    “PiKA – After the loss of their house last year, Pike was no longer the top Fraternity”

    The last time PiKA had the top Fraternity finish was 2009. Just sayin.

    • the Pope says:

      i keep forgetting about their issues in 2010 (really really bad free roll in the finals leading to a 2:27) and the 2011 dq. To me ,they were still top dog until someone could best them with no confounding factors. . I think this happened in 2012. I think it will all depend on how rd2013 does this year. The lack on data on how fast anyone is going probably makes this more exciting at this point than it should be.

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