This past Saturday saw the first day of Spring 2018 rolls! With only 6 short weeks until Raceday, this practice was eagerly anticipated; at least by a few teams. While the skies were bright and clear on Saturday, the temperature was just warm enough for pushers and drivers to do their thing. Sunday Rolls were called off on Saturday morning in anticipation of temperatures below 25F and subsequent low team turnout.
Saturday was an overall quiet day of buggy antics, with no major incidents to report. Although given that only 5 teams were out, the odds of any accident were low. We should specify that 5 humanoid teams were out because RoboBuggy has been formally added to the Roll Order. Unfortunately, they were unable to complete any course runs due to cold temperatures throwing off the sensors. While the team hoped that the sun could warm things up enough to roll, they eventually scrubbed for the day after having to miss several consecutive rolls.
In Attendance
| Org | Sunday |
|---|---|
| Apex | Phoenix |
| Fringe | Blueshift, Bissa, Bolt, Bumper |
| PiKA | Cliohdna |
| SDC | Inferno, Malice, Vice, Bane |
| Spirit | Inviscid, Zuke, King Pin, Seraph |
Observations (Saturday Gallery)
While there were no spins, there were still one or two hiccups on Saturday. Notably, teams seemed to have a little trouble keeping all their bits attached to buggies through the Chute. Spirit and Apex (Phoenix) both lost a hatch early in Rolls, but had them secured by their respective next go-arounds. Also, SDC surprisingly lost a wheel fairing towards the end of the day. We can chalk these relatively harmless mistakes up to first-day mishaps, but it might be wise to invest in duct tape stocks.
Both SDC and PiKA had stops on the Freeroll for no obvious reason, and both drivers were able to finish out their roll without leaving the buggy. PiKA’s Cliodhna stopped above the monument, coinciding with the flagger yelling for the follow car to stop. EMS and the Safety Chair spoke with the driver, and she was allowed to continue through the roll. SDC’s Malice came to a stop on her own just after the monument, but no stop flag was thrown earlier in the Freeroll and Vice pulled up and passed Malice. Vice eventually stopped near the Chute flag. Both drivers were given the all clear to finish the roll. It is possible there was some confusion over an attempted pass test, since later in the day SDC successfully completed at least one pass test with Inferno passing Malice.
Perhaps the biggest news of this past weekend was a new buggy on the course! Fringe proudly rolled out their NB2018 code named “Bumper”. Fringe reports exceptional performance for their brand new sticker-bombed buggy, and are looking forward to making it their fastest yet. The veteran buggies in the Fringe fleet displayed their characteristic smooth rolls and decent speeds despite the chill in the air. This is in no small part due to the dedication of their mechanics. In addition to the new buggy, Fringe was fielding some new faces on the backhills. It will be interesting to see how they tackle the course after spring break.
There will be no rolls this coming (3/10 & 3/11) weekend or the following (3/17 & 3/18) weekend due to spring break. Push practice is scheduled to start Monday March 19 and the CMU shuttles are being re-routed around the barricades during practice.
Stay warm and stay tuned for additional updates in a couple weeks!
Below is a running total of buggy/driver roll counts. An asterisk in the following table indicates a new driver:
| Team | Buggy | Driver | Fall Rolls | Spring Rolls |
| AEPi | Kamikaze | Rachel* | 0 | |
| Apex | Firefly | Sam | 9 | |
| Bethany* | 5 | |||
| Ari* | 1 | |||
| Phoenix | Ari* | 3 | ||
| Vicki* | 8 | |||
| Bethany* | 2 | 5 | ||
| CIA | Orca | Vicky | 2 | |
| Tanvi* | 6 | |||
| Emperor | Rachel* | 22 | ||
| Icarus | Rishi* | 7 | ||
| Impulse | Yushuan | 2 | ||
| Rachel* | 3 | |||
| Kevin* | 3 | |||
| Equinox | Emily | 16 | ||
| Tempest | Kady | 26 | ||
| Fringe | Boson | Helen | 13 | |
| Blueshift | Amy | 14 | 5 | |
| Nina | 8 | |||
| Bissa | Tishya* | 11 | 2 | |
| Nina | 8 | |||
| Bolt | Sarah* | 13 | 5 | |
| Bumper | Nina | n/a | 5 | |
| PhiDelt | Argo | Sarah | 2 | |
| Adeline | 2 | |||
| PiKA | Cliodhna | Victoria | 18 | 4 |
| Banshee | Victoria | 2 | ||
| Raptor | Archana | 1 | ||
| SAE | ||||
| SDC | Inferno | Annie | 21 | 5 |
| Kyoko | 3 | |||
| Malice | Annie | 3 | ||
| Kyoko | 18 | 5 | ||
| Vice | Elaine* | 16 | 5 | |
| Avarice | Amanda* | 16 | ||
| Bane | Amanda* | n/a | 1 | |
| SigEp | Beyonce | Nazil | 0 | |
| Haiwen* | 11 | |||
| Kraken | Nazli | 6 | ||
| Haiwen* | 2 | |||
| Barricuda | Sophie | 7 | ||
| Beccy* | 8 | |||
| SigNu | Krait | Claire* | 0 | |
| Alana* | 2 | |||
| Spirit | Seraph | Rebecca | 0 | 6 |
| Sarah* | 8 | |||
| Lillie* | 6 | |||
| Zuke | Diamond | 18 | 4 | |
| Kingpin | Rebecca* | 17 | 5 | |
| Lillie* | 0 | |||
| Sarah* | 1 | |||
| Inviscid | Beichen | 15 | 5 | |
| Menes | Sarah | 3 |
—
Rolls Report Contributors:
Natalie M.
Fringe
mccue says:
Fringe-centric, but so was the weekend I guess. Thanks for the great writeup!
Not Connor says:
Word from the hills is that someone saw that Fringe has some new wheels. Can you confirm/deny?
Not Connor's other Mom says:
Word from the web says that while not definitive, this image: https://cmubuggy.org/gallery/2017-2018/Spring-Rolls—Mar-3/IMG_2425
suggests something new might be holding up the arse end of buggy. The other image of bumper suggests that the ears are not big enough to contain a xooter sized wheel. My bet is “most likely”
Roger Stone says:
Those look new! How were the rollouts?
Shafeeq says:
So 8 practice days remaining? I predict half will rain out.
SigEp are the ones most needing to get in gear if they want a freeroll that’s equal to their push teams.
Ben says:
You’re halfway right so far…
Elon says:
My favorite part of this post was the shuttles being rerouted during push practice. That is SUCH A GOOD IDEA!!! Why did nobody ever think of that before?