Aaaannnnnnnnnd we’re back, Buggy Time!
Conditions around the course this Sunday morning were mostly good; warm for rolls and the roadway remained in much the same condition that it was during Raceday. However, the inclusions of construction around the Posner building displaced CIA to the bottom of Hill one. In addition, three dumpsters on the back hills required some extra bales to be distributed and the pushers to be more awake than usual. Well, just awake anyway.
Police were not secured for the outer barricades this weekend causing all teams to contribute additional personnel to stand guard around the course.
Our new Sweepstakes chairpeople for this year have developed a rotating system of overseeing Rolls. The new chairman, Hunter Rideout, was absent this weekend, but some familiar faces were present: Elyce Milligan, last year’s Assistant Chairman, has returned as Safety Chair, at least for the Fall Semester. Joyce Chen, the SDC chair RD18, has taken the mantle of Assistant Chairman for Sweepstakes. Jasio Santillan is back running things, but we aren’t quite sure of his official position. All of them grooming are “Bonnie” for the safety chair role she will fill in the spring semester. It’s all a little unconventional, but given the breadth and depth of knowledge at the top of the hill, we predict smooth rolling.
The first Roll was scheduled for 7:00am, so the 7:10 start due to some frantic last-minute Chute sweeping was not bad at all. The delay also gave Atlas a chance to sneak in an early Roll. We started the Roll order with 9 teams present, missing only SigNu and SAE from the predicted list. Hopefully we’ll be seeing those teams later in the semester.
In Attendance
| Org | Sunday |
|---|---|
| Apex | Phoenix |
| CIA | Emperor, Equinox, Icarus, Orca, Tempest |
| Fringe | Boson, Blueshift, Bolt, Bumper |
| PhiDelt | Argo |
| PiKA | Banshee |
| SDC | Inferno, Malice, Vice |
| SigEp | Barricuda, Hydra, Kraken |
| Spirit | Inviscid, King Pin, Seraph |
Observations (Sunday Gallery)
SigEp starts off by tentatively dropped their heavily bagged buggies as one might expect for a new year, and possibly a new driver. But when one rolled to a stop shortly after the Westinghouse memorial it simply stayed there. Last year sweepstakes relaxed the rule requiring teams to field a follow car behind their fleet of buggies during rolls. Another victim of these damn millennials. But without teams fielding their own support vehicle more responsibility falls on sweepstakes to keep Rolls moving. After this hiccup and the unceremonious discarding of the offending oversized target bag SigEp rolled the rest of the day reducing the number of bags and getting all the way around the course.
CIA started the day with only three buggies, but don’t let that fool you. On their second time around the course they opened the field way up and were rolling 5 buggies! Unfortunately out of those five buggies only three made it all the way around, one stopped at Panther the other managed to complete her Freeroll, but put on the brakes at Scaife just as she exited the Chute citing a visibility issue. Orca was making noticeably wide turns as she skirted the outer bales on each Roll. Later in the morning, Tempest managed to catch a little air after hitting the grate in the Chute, despite 4 bags. Isn’t there a rule about points of contact with the ground?
Spirit out this morning with what we expect is a new driver who decided to explore a little bit more of the course. She took the right turn at the transition flag navigating safely around the right side of the monument and managing to find her way into the chute. Who knows, maybe it’s faster to go that way when you’re heavily bagged. They had an otherwise uneventful weekend.
Apex lagged early in the morning and was still walking to the line when they are called clear for their first roll of the year. After the ol’ hurry-up-and-push, the rear hatch popped off the Phoenix and after an unsuccessful attempt to hide the evidence we have our first loss of mass for the year. They only rolled phoenix today despite the expanding fleet and many of members in attendance.
You could hear PhiDelt coming from a ways off as their Argo rattled its way around the course. However, their lack of incidents bodes well for the coming year. Another pair of round wheels and they’ll be flying!
Robobuggy started the year off with a bagged Transistor. Apparently even our robot overlords stay within the rules. They rolled well right up until a spontaneous brake deployment in the Chute. Their Hill 3 pusher got in some extra cardio with that Roll. All-in-all it seemed to be a good day for Transistor.
PiKA was seen staking out the coveted spot at the top of Hill 2 as early as 10:00pm the night before Rolls. This effort, harkening back to the days of old, was for just one Buggy rolling on Sunday, Banshee. The driver was quickly off bags and zipping around the course. Pika did make sure to keep everything safe by bagging their follow car. Every little bit helps.
SDC and Fringe resumed their status as the strong, silent types at Rolls. They are hitting the course smoothly and both teams already appear to be working on their Chute lines. A new pothole in the outer portion of the Chute turn is playing mind games (and probably causing literal headaches) with some of the drivers. In homage to how smoothly SDC and Fringe made their return to the course and because we can’t think of anything else to say, here are some pictures of their awesomeness:
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Rolls Report Contributors:
Ethan G.
Lou C.
Natalie M.