Posted on | by Natalie McGuier

This week’s report is a different format and trimmed down compared to previous weeks. If you want to get a complete lowdown on buggy happenings, be sure to join up and become a member to get this year’s Raceday Preview. The Preview will be coming out in the next few days and will be full of great info and some fun articles. We’ll give you the scoop on who to look out for this season.

Thanks to inclement weather and the new arrangement for the trucks, a lot was happening this weekend. The new truck order was necessary to accommodate Midway taking place on the CFA lawn. Several weeks of poor weather and single-day weekends caused many teams to scramble to get in those final few rolls and pass tests. Amazingly, every team got at least one of their buggies fully qualified for Raceday. Perhaps even more amazingly, every new buggy from this semester also squeaked in enough rolls to qualify. All-in-all we have 11 organizations and 27 buggies ready to in the (cross your fingers) sunny and warm weather next weekend.

Several of our alumni were out and taking speed data this past Sunday. Three different timing mechanisms were used: a camera system, a stopwatch system, and the laser speed trap. Data were collected at the top of the Freeroll between the crosswalk and Westinghouse pond (note, baseline speed was not taken for this position so speeds are relative, not absolute), just after the monument in the Freeroll, and halfway between Scaife and the bicycle racks on Hill 3. The percentages are relative to the fastest roll. To note, any Hill 2 pushoff <90% is likely a women’s team.

Qualified

Org Buggies
AEPi Kamikaze
Apex Ember, Phoenix
CIA Equinox, Icarus, Impulse, Orca, Tempest
Fringe Balius, Beacon, Bissa, Bolt, NB16
PhiDelt Perun
Fishing Club RD16
SAE Lucy
SDC Avarice, Havoc, Malice, Bane
SigEp Kraken, Richard Hydra
SigNu Krait
Spirit Inviscid, Zuke, Seraph, Fuko

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery)

Saturday

  • Despite snow and damp roads, Sweepstakes setup and stayed out on Saturday. The main issue was that the road paint was very slick and potentially dangerous to cross. After an hour delay and at least one top-of-the-hill chairmen’s meeting, rolls were on, but it was strongly recommended that buggies be bagged.
  • Although all the organizations showed up to rolls, Fringe, Spirit, and AEPi did not try to push their luck with the weather, and didn’t send any buggies out. SigEp, SigNu, and Fishing Club were amongst the most desperate to get rolls in. This was the first time SigNu had been out all spring and Fishing Club still needed several more rolls to qualify. SigEp finished their build just in time for Truck, and needed 10 rolls as well as a pass test if they wanted to show off their new buggy come Raceday.
  • Questionable weather aside, rolls went relatively smooth until Fishing Club attempted a near-full-speed, bagless roll with RD16. The driver took a relatively clean chute line, but spun around multiple times before ultimately coming in contact with the outer hay bales. Both driver and buggy seemed to be okay after the crash. This was Fishing Club’s one and only roll for the day, and rolls were canceled after the incident.

Sunday

  • The second day of Truck Weekend was still quite cold, but significantly drier and the sun even managed to come out. Given how many teams still needed pass tests or rolls, no apparent roll order was being followed and the organizations combined their rolls with little semblance of order. At least one roll consisted of buggies from 3 organizations. This behavior lead to confusion to the point where Sweepstakes occasionally didn’t know which buggies were rolling. With the hectic mess, some rolls may not have been counted. To add to the chaos, a tow truck had to remove one vehicle from behind the library. Also, a car tried to enter the course from the barricade at Phipps, claiming that they were going to Phipps. This is usually no issue as the vehicles immediately turn right into the driveway after the barricade. This vehicle had other plans and instead started up the Freeroll when a Spirit buggy was coming down. Fortunately all parties were stopped in time, but it had the potential for disaster.
  • Considering the low temperatures several teams, including SDC, Spirit, Fringe, Fishing Club, and CIA were getting reasonable speeds and impressive rollouts with many buggies making it to the Porter Hall door. If you’ve been following along this year, those teams in the top 5 are unsurprising. No one was going as fast as we know they are capable of though, so what they pull off on Raceday  – with predicted warm weather and the freshest pavement on the course in a long time – should be quite exciting. Worth noting is that the new Fringe buggy is now their fastest one. SDC is looking good at the top of the hill, in the Freeroll, and in the Back Hills, but Fringe and Fishing Club are not far behind. Compared to the other top teams, CIA and Spirit are a step slower with their Hill 2 push offs. Spirit will be able to make up for this with their speedy Freerolls, but CIA will not. In years past SigEp dons their fast wheels for Truck weekend and we have seen a large bump in speed. This year there was certainly  a bump, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be enough. The team’s otherwise fast push team are doomed by a slow freeroll.
  • Fishing Club had all 3 buggies out this weekend in a last push to get them qualified. Banshee was struggling with her rollouts where RD16 and Raptor were quite speedy and making it to the fire plug. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like either Raptor or Banshee qualified for Raceday this year. Raptor Banshee was close, but on one roll, the driver tried to snake between the manhole cover and hay bales during the turn with a wobbly chute entry. Although it looked like she had regained control, she ultimately ended up broadside in the hay bales. It took a while to clear the scene, but the driver seemed fine afterward. The crash cost Fishing Club any extra rolls that Raptor Banshee needed to get qualified.
  • This spring CIA, Fringe, Fishing Club, and SigEp all debuted new buggies, and all managed to get qualified for Raceday. SigEp really pushed their luck and brought Richard Hydra out for the first time this weekend. However over the course of Saturday and Sunday they got in 11 rolls and a pass test. That might have set the record for getting a buggy qualified.

Timing Data for Sunday April 10, 2016

Team Buggy Pushoff (relative) Monument (mph) Monument (relative) Mid-Chute (mph) Mid-Chute (relative)
CIA 26.67 92%
CIA 24.6 85%
CIA 13.94 48%
SDC 27.56 95%
Fringe Bissa 95% 0%
Fringe Primer 88% 27.38 95%
Fringe Beacon 89% 19.67 68%
Fringe Primer 65% 18.36 63%
SigNu Krait 0%
Spirit Inviscid 94% 23.96 83%
Spirit II 84% 22.46 78%
Spirit Zuke 90% 12.08 42%
PhiDelt Perun 84% 20.6 71%
SigEP New 84% 18.77 65%
SigEP Kraken 90% 15.09 52%
PiKA Raptor 89% 17.92 62%
PiKA RD2016 96% 0%
PiKA Banshee 66% 20.81 72%
SigEP Kraken 88% 26.45 75% 19.72 68%
SigEP New 81% 26.71 76% 20.6 71%
AEPi Kamikaze 83% 25.62 73% 19.39 67%
SAE Lucy 87% 26.04 74% 20 69%
Apex Ember 85% 19.2 55% 0%
Apex Phoenix 82% 23.68 67% 0%
CIA Icarus 84% 33.49 95% 28.42 98%
CIA Equinox 93% 30.91 88% 22.64 78%
CIA Impulse 87% 28.61 81% 0%
SDC Malice 100% 34.34 98% 26.59 92%
SDC Orange 97% 33.54 96% 25.2 87%
SDC Bane 93% 30.64 87% 24.75 86%
Fringe Bissa 87% 33 94% 28.92 100%
Fringe Primer 95% 34.4 98% 28.62 99%
Fringe Beacon 92% 30.29 86% 24.6 85%
Fringe Primer 90% 29.62 84% 23.15 80%
SigNu Krait 87% 29.95 85% 0%
Spirit Inviscid 94% 34.66 99% 0%
Spirit II 90% 32.56 93% 0%
Spirit Zuke 89% 32.06 91% 0%
PhiDelt Perun 86% 28.79 82% 0%
SigEp New 27.92 80% 0%
SigEp Kraken 68% 22.95 65% 24.53 85%
PiKA Raptor 94% 27.64 79% 23.89 83%
PiKA RD2016 98% 34.92 99% 21.8 75%
PiKA Banshee 27.28 78% 22.64 78%
SigNu? Krait? 22.91 65% 19.3 67%
PhiDelt Perun? 25.99 74% 22.64 78%
SigEp Kraken 24.25 69% 0%
Apex 23.12 66% 0%
Apex 28.51 81% 0%
CIA Equinox 34.43 98% 0%
CIA Icarus 30.34 86% 23.15 80%
CIA Orca 28.58 81% 18.86 65%
CIA Impulse 28.78 82% 0%
SDC Malice 35.11 100% 28.92 100%
SDC Bane 29.93 85% 24.53 85%
SDC Havoc 28.82 82% 17.99 62%
SDC Orange 30.72 87% 24.46 85%
PiKA Banshee 30.42 87% 0%
Spirit Inviscid 33.37 95% 25.75 89%
Spirit Black 31.99 91% 22.4 77%
Spirit Black 31.9 91% 22.4 77%
Unknown Blue 30.53 87% 21.8 75%
Unknown Multicolor 27.56 78% 21.3 74%
Unknown Black 14.26 41% 23.82 82%
PiKA RD2016 34.7 99% 0%
PiKA Raptor 28.48 81% 21.19 73%
SigEp Kraken 28.28 81% 22.1 76%
PhiDelt Perun 27.46 78% 21.13 73%


Lead Truck Auction – Will be live Tuesday at 9am! Check it out and bid on some sweet sweet Lead Truck action!

—
Rolls Report Contributors
Ben M.
Shafeeq S.
Ben B.

11 thoughts on “Rolls Report: April 9 & 10 – Truck Weekend”

    • Natalie McGuier says:

      The Pushoff column is sort of irrelevant, and I will remove it promptly. My understanding is that it was a calculation column in the spreadsheet I received (converting frames to time). We don’t have absolute speeds because of an error when measuring baseline, so really the Pushoff (Relative) column is where you should be looking.

    • Shafeeq says:

      Pushoff (s) was the time needed for the buggy to cross the (3-4 foot long) timing zone. If we knew the exact length of the zone, it’s an easy conversion to speed. The camera takes a frame every 0.83 milliseconds, which is how we end up with 1/10ths and 1/100ths of a millisecond, even though we can’t resolve units of time smaller than 0.83 ms.

  • Carl N says:

    I’m kind of rooting for Fishing Club because I don’t think that a first year org has ever won buggy (took Spirit 3 years if my memory serves me correctly).

    • Zatch says:

      I hope fishing club wins because I enjoy inane trivia that will confuse people looking at results in the future.

  • THE SORTER says:

    very nice to have this data.
    so much to sort, so many ways to sort it….

    I think there might be a bug or 2 in the workbook. I see 2 buggies ( unknown black and sigep kraken) that got faster between the monument and the chute. everyone else slowed down by between 12% and 30% over that gap.

    • max says:

      Interestingly enough, I believe unknown black is sigep’s new buggy, hydra.

      I’m also sure that unknown blue is phidelt and that unknown multicolor is sigep’s kraken. There are also two buggies that are mislabeled as phidelt – the last roll and the one that’s labeled “phidelt perun?” following krait a bit earlier.

    • max says:

      OH! I forgot. “Unknown black” stopped before the chute flag and had to be pushed into the chute, according to the follow car driver.

  • Shafeeq says:

    There were a bunch of pass tests, so I would’nt be surprised if we have mistakes where the 1st buggy to the monument was the 2nd buggy to the chute but got assigned the 1st buggy’s chute time. Especially when multiple teams combined into one roll, and 3 people’s imperfect buggy recognition, it took some detective work to try to figure out who was who. All the top-10 is pretty recognizable, so I’m confident we got those right at least.

Comments are closed.