Can you believe it, buggy fans? We are just days away from the event we’ve been waiting all year for!!! Raceday 2017 is upon us, which means that this past weekend was our annual buggy dress rehearsal, a.k.a. Truck Weekend. Due to significant rain Sunday morning, it was really more like Truck Saturday, but that didn’t stop all 9 human teams and 2 robotic buggies from getting in those final few precious rolls.
After a grueling Heat Selection meeting last night, it is now confirmed that 22 women’s teams will roll in 10 heats and 27 men’s teams will roll in 12 heats. Stay tuned for the official schedule to be posted.
As per tradition, this rolls report isn’t going to contain too much information as we prepare to send out the much anticipated Raceday Preview. This year’s preview is jam-packed with team summaries, photos, alumni interviews, and predictions amongst other awesome buggy-ness. How do you get access to this amazing document? Simple: pay your BAA dues ($10). BAA dues go a long way to helping us keep you up-to-date on the latest buggy news as well as provide critical support to the current students. Plus, you get the Raceday Preview; that alone is worth the measly $10. You can join the BAA or renew your membership here.
Without further ado, the buggies that were rolling this Saturday and some sweet, sweet timing data!
In Attendance
| Org | Saturday |
|---|---|
| Apex | Phoenix, Ember, Kyle |
| CIA | Equinox, Tempest, Orca, Impulse, Emperor |
| Fringe | Boson, Bolt, Bissa, NB17 |
| PhiDelt | Argo |
| PiKA | Cliodhna, Raptor, Banshee |
| SAE | Lucy |
| SDC | Malice, Havoc, Bane, Avarice, Rage |
| SigEp | Barracuda, Kraken, Beyonce |
| SigNu | Krait |
| Spirit | Inviscid, Zuke, King Pin |
Observations (Saturday Gallery)
The following data is a compilation of the laser-based system and the video-based system we have reported data from in the past. SDC, PiKA, Spirit, Fringe, and CIA are all, unsurprisingly, at the top of the pack. We’ll let you pour over the numbers though.
Remember, for a final wrap up of how the teams are looking before Raceday, pay your dues and check out the Raceday Preview!
| Team | Buggy | Monument (mph) | Steps (mph) | Jumbotron (mph) | Loss (%) |
| Apex | Ember | 28.5 | 21.6 | 24% | |
| Apex | Ember | 26.3 | 27.6 | ||
| Apex | Kyle | 31.8 | 26 | ||
| Apex | Kyle | 32 | 25.4 | 21% | |
| Apex | Kyle | 30.6 | 32 | ||
| Apex | Phoenix | 30 | 24.8 | 17% | |
| Apex | Phoenix | 30.8 | 25.1 | 18% | |
| CIA | Emperor | 30.7 | 26.6 | 13% | |
| CIA | Emperor | 29.2 | 30.4 | 26.4 | 13% |
| CIA | Emperor | 31 | 26.8 | 13% | |
| CIA | Equinox | 34.1 | 29.2 | 14% | |
| CIA | Equinox | 34 | 35.3 | 29.5 | 16% |
| CIA | Equinox | 36.1 | 29.7 | 18% | |
| CIA | Impulse | 32.2 | 26 | 19% | |
| CIA | Impulse | 29.9 | 31.3 | 25.5 | 18% |
| CIA | Impulse | 31 | 25 | 19% | |
| CIA | Orca | 32.9 | 27.5 | 16% | |
| CIA | Orca | 31.1 | 32 | 27.5 | 14% |
| CIA | Orca | 31.7 | 26.4 | 17% | |
| CIA | Tempest | 34.8 | 29.5 | 15% | |
| CIA | Tempest | 35.7 | 28.9 | 19% | |
| CIA | Tempest | 34.7 | 29.5 | 15% | |
| Fringe | Bissa? | 28.7 | 22.4 | 22% | |
| Fringe | Bissa? | 32.9 | 25.4 | 23% | |
| Fringe | Bissa? | 35.3 | 28.2 | 20% | |
| Fringe | Bolt | 33.5 | 27 | 19% | |
| Fringe | Bolt | 29.6 | 25.4 | 14% | |
| Fringe | Bolt | 32.5 | 34.7 | 27.5 | 21% |
| Fringe | Boson | 28.2 | |||
| Fringe | Boson | 31 | 26 | 16% | |
| Fringe | Boson | 36.1 | 28.9 | 20% | |
| Fringe | NB17 | 36.1 | 28.4 | 21% | |
| Fringe | NB17 | 29.2 | |||
| Fringe | NB17 | 33.2 | 34.8 | 28.9 | 17% |
| PhiDelt | Emily | 27.3 | 28.6 | 23.5 | |
| PhiDelt | Emily | 25.6 | 21.1 | 18% | |
| PhiDelt | Emily | 26.6 | 27.9 | 20.5 | 26% |
| PiKA | Banshee | 33.4 | 34.5 | 29.5 | 14% |
| PiKA | Banshee | 35.5 | 36.8 | 29.7 | |
| PiKA | Banshee | 34.5 | 35.7 | 28.4 | 20% |
| PiKA | Cliodhna | 34.7 | 27.3 | ||
| PiKA | Cliodhna | 32.6 | 34.2 | 27.7 | 19% |
| PiKA | Cliodhna | 33.2 | 34.7 | 27 | 22% |
| PiKA | Raptor | 30 | 31.8 | 23.9 | 25% |
| PiKA | Raptor | 30.7 | 32.2 | 26.2 | |
| PiKA | Raptor | 33 | 28 | ||
| SAE | Lucy | 34.1 | 27 | 21% | |
| SAE | Lucy | 33.5 | 26.8 | 20% | |
| SAE | Lucy | 32.7 | 25.4 | 23% | |
| SDC | Avarice | 32.3 | 33.3 | 28.2 | 15% |
| SDC | Avarice | 31.5 | 27.5 | ||
| SDC | Avarice | 33.6 | 28.4 | 16% | |
| SDC | Avarice | 34.4 | 35.5 | ||
| SDC | Bane | 35.2 | 36.1 | 30.6 | 15% |
| SDC | Bane | 33.1 | 28.2 | 15% | |
| SDC | Bane | 32.1 | 33.3 | 28.2 | 15% |
| SDC | Bane? | 32.2 | |||
| SDC | Havoc | 33.8 | 26.2 | ||
| SDC | Havoc | 32.9 | 27.7 | 16% | |
| SDC | Havoc | 31.4 | 32.4 | 26.2 | 19% |
| SDC | Malice | 34.5 | 35.3 | 29.5 | 16% |
| SDC | Malice | 35.7 | 30.3 | ||
| SDC | Malice | 36.6 | 30.8 | 16% | |
| SDC | Malice | 33.4 | 34.2 | 28.7 | 16% |
| SDC | Rage | 30.8 | 31.7 | 26.4 | 17% |
| SigEp | Barracuda | 33.9 | 27.3 | ||
| SigEp | Beyonce | 21.8 | |||
| SigEp | Beyonce | 27.3 | 28.7 | ||
| SigEp | Beyonce | 29.4 | 31 | 25.4 | 18% |
| SigEp | Beyonce | 29.7 | 31 | 24.8 | 20% |
| SigEp | Beyonce | 28.7 | 29.7 | ||
| SigEp | Kraken | 29.1 | 23.7 | 19% | |
| SigEp | Kraken | 29.3 | 30.7 | 24.6 | 20% |
| SigEp | Kraken | 27.9 | 29.1 | 23.7 | 19% |
| SigNu | Krait | 33.5 | 35.3 | 27.7 | 22% |
| SigNu | Krait | 34.5 | 28.4 | 18% | |
| Spirit | Inviscid | 34.7 | 28.4 | 18% | |
| Spirit | Inviscid | 34.7 | 28.9 | 17% | |
| Spirit | Inviscid | 33.4 | 34.8 | 29.7 | 15% |
| Spirit | Kingpin | 35.1 | 28.4 | 19% | |
| Spirit | Kingpin | 34 | 35.3 | 27.5 | 22% |
| Spirit | Kingpin | 36 | 37.1 | 28.9 | 22% |
| Spirit | Zuke | 34.5 | 27.3 | 21% | |
| Spirit | Zuke | 28.5 | 29.7 | 23.7 | 20% |
| Spirit | Zuke! | 35 | 36.8 | 27.5 | 25% |
See you on Friday for prelims!
Rolls Report Contributors:
Shafeeq
Natalie M.
Grumpy old Bordick says:
Not sure what the accuracy margins are here, but Spirit is currently rolling the fastest buggy on the course.
Raceday is gonna rock!
Shafeeq says:
The video system can only resolve top speeds of 37.1 (Kingpin), 36.8 (Banshee, Zuke), 36.6 (Malice), 36.4 (nobody), and 36.1 (Bane, Boson, Bolt, NB17, Equinox), so anything in-between is going to land in one of those bins. The difference between the top 4 and the rest is probably real, but I wouldn’t read too much into the 1 “tick” differences within the top 4.
Definitely Not Compubookie says:
Where is compubookie?!
Shafeeq says:
How come so many 2-buggy heats? Avoiding back-to-back heats for the big teams? Or avoid tight races?
3 4-buggy teams, 4 3-buggy ones, 3 1-buggy ones. But no obvious bumper-car heat.
mark estes says:
Loving having data to sift through. The above data has a few holes in it including missing both the high speed traps on a roll by Fringe’s NB17 that could also have been quick).
Yep, Spirit is quick this year. The weekend prior to truck, spirit was right at the top of the speed trap times with SDC. (PKA was AWOL from the time sheets that day). On Saturday, that 35.7 from Malice @ the monument projects to a speed close to Spirits’ fastest at the steps. Banshee is in that elite mix as well. Spirit does seem to be giving up a bit of speed vs SDC in the chute (higher % loss) but they are indeed moving very well.
What is clear is that at least 5 teams (SDC, Spirit, Fringe, CIA, PKA) can put multiple fast buggies down the hill. SigEp also had one quick roll with ‘cuda so they can be expected to crank out something quick/entertaining or both on race day with at least one buggy.
The 20 fastest speeds at the monument were generated by 14 different buggies and all were within the 2.25 MPH of each other.
As for the best of the rest:
SigNu was quicker than one would expect given their limited exposure to the course this year. Their roll was the 21st quickest roll of the day.
SAE’s Lucy continues to improve with the 34th quickest roll of the day. Might be enough for them to make the finals.
Shafeeq says:
Also, Malice owns the rollout speed this year in a way it didn’t last year. Partly due to their driver’s good work, and partly because nobody else with a standard trike is dealing with the trench as well – catching air with both your back wheels when you’re trying to turn doesn’t help. Equinox missed couple of weekends, so CIA is in the odd position of being the ones who’d benefit most from more practice. Then again, I believe their A driver was last year’s B driver who had the mind-blowing rollout vs Fringe A, despite not much race-speed practice, so who knows what happens on raceday, especially later in the day.