Apologies for the delay in reporting, folks. The usual writers for the weekly Rolls Report all became terribly distracted with our real jobs…
Due to lacking permits, Buggies were only rolling this past Sunday, but the teams just packed a full weekend of enthusiasm into one day. Pittsburgh’s weather was still functioning on its own calendar and by 6am it was a balmy 74F. Though, the warm temperatures allowed some teams to pick up some decent speed and impressive roll outs for this early in the season.
In Attendance
| Org | Sunday |
|---|---|
| Apex | Firefly, Phoenix |
| CIA | Emperor, Equinox, Orca, Tempest |
| Fringe | Bolt, Boson, Blueshift, Bumper |
| PhiDelt | Argo |
| PiKA | Banshee, Cliodhna, Raptor |
| SDC | Avarice, Havoc, Malice, Vice |
| SigEp | Beyonce, Kraken |
| Spirit | Inviscid, King Pin, Seraph |
Observations (Sunday Gallery)
The Spirit Buggies and drivers spent most of their day completely smoking their Hill 3 pushers. It’s great to see such impressive roll outs this early in the season, but you guys need to better caffeinate your pushers if they stand a chance at keeping up.
SDC was also amping up the excitement, but in an anxiety-inducing kind of way. During their first roll of the day Avarice (3rd buggy in the lineup) with a new driver hit a city police barricade that, for some unknown reason, had been left on the road. The barricade instantly sheered off the axle and sent the Avarice spinning to a stop in the middle of the street. The transition flaggers had time to throw stop flags but Havoc (also piloted by a new SDC driver) came through, and she eventually hit the brakes. From across the hill, it appeared that she glided up along very close to the inner bales just before the Chute near the Gazebo. Both drivers were checked out and reported as alright. SDC’s hillside extractions took a while, but all things considered, the delay was minimal. Avarice did not return to Rolls (duh). Malice and Havoc also got the heart pounding with some excessive fish tailing and recoveries coming into the Chute. It appears that the drivers are still getting used to just how fast the Buggies can go.
We constantly refer to Fringe and steady, fast, and smooth. Now we can add color coordinating in there as well. By chance or purpose, a Hill 3 pusher was matching the Bumper color scheme from shorts to hair. Near the end of the day came an exciting turn when Bumper and Boson came flying into the Chute. As Boson gained on the lead Buggy and by the time they made the turn into the back hills there was a pass! With Boson now in the lead the pushers take off it’s easy to keep everyone motivated when you are hot on the heels of your friend.
Both PiKA and Apex brought some fan-favorite Buggies back into the mix on Sunday. Firefly was back on the course with Phoenix, but the team could only run one during any given Roll. We also saw the return of Raptor! Top-loading ain’t dead yet, friends! PiKA has had 3 Buggies over the last two weekends, which is great to see from a team that has been mostly sticking to one Buggy up to this point in the year.
Phi Delt, Sig Ep, and CIA had fairly uneventful Rolls and focused on getting drivers comfortable and pushers more knowledgeable. Phi Delt did have to scratch their first Roll due to brake issues and Argo sounds a bit like she’s rolling on hexagons (see: loud). CIA’s Orca continues to scare the begeezus out of on-lookers with her ridiculously wide turning radius. If she gets moving any faster, she’ll be kissing the outer Chute hay bales.
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Rolls Report Contributors:
Ethan G.
Lou C.
Natalie M.