Hello buggy-goers, I hope you had a fun and spooky Halloweekend like our students did. CIA gave us a taste for buggy identity theft, but this weekend’s practice was a real head-scratcher. Teams went all out, with all sorts of wacky costumes for their pushers/mechanics and for their buggies. If you missed out I’ve included some of my favorites here, and as usual there’s the link to the BAA’s gallery as well.

This weekend we had a couple of delays (which I’ll get into later), but teams were still able to get up to three and six rolls each day.

Saturday rolls were running on time despite the Sweepstakes Chairman’s mysterious absence, though she eventually did show up after a few rolls. It seems she may have been “studying” too hard the night before. Maybe she was just prepping the rest of Sweepstakes for her absence the following day (for an out of town trip). Either way, we hope she’ll grace us with her presence at Mini Raceday.

In Attendance 

Org	Saturday	Sunday
AEPi		Kamikaze
Apex	Chickenix, Superfly, Icaris	Phoenix, Firefly, Solaris
CIA	Equinox, Emperaph, Aurora	Bempest, Emperaph, Aurora
DG	Brazen
Fringe	Bofaith, Bluebus, Bumson, Blumper
PiKA	Banshee, Cliodhnuh	Raptor, Banshee, Cliodhnuh
SDC	Bane, Vanity	Bane, Vanity
SigEp	Hydra, Kraken
Spirit	Kingpin II, Seraph, Zuke, Inviscid	Kingpin II, Seraph, Zuke, Inviscid

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery)

AEPi had a day of firsts. They managed to get their first roll around the course! Congrats, AEPi! Unfortunately they also had their first accident when Kamikaze hopped onto the curb by the Westinghouse memorial. The driver was extracted and rolls held until the driver was evaluated by EMS. She was cleared and rolls resumed.

Apex brought out all sorts of wacky costumes for their pushers and their buggies. I’m pretty sure I saw the Green Goblin and a T-Rex pushing their buggies. Solaris grew wings in a nod to Icafly, Phoenix was mysteriously missing, although there did seem to be a chicken buggy on the course, and Firefly’s alter ego, Superfly, was out to save the day.

CIA did not disappoint with their latest buggy costume. They had teased the a preview of the costume on their Instagram story, and I’m quite happy that I guessed it right. So without further ado, Emperaph!

DG was out for the second time this semester in Brazen. They got a few rolls in by coupling with SigEp in the roll order. Unfortunately, they missed out on the last roll of the day when an automobile related incident (discussed later) brought things to a halt.

Fringe took two-faced to a whole new level this weekend. If Fringe’s roll counts for the week look wrong, you’ll understand how they got so mixed up after looking at these pictures. Fringe was also quick to capitalize on the Port Authority mishap with the sinkhole (as seen by Blueshift’s design).

PiKA was keeping the mood up with some club music and was rolling fast as usual. Banshee was out with a stylish new reflective windshield, confusing a couple alum who thought Malice had returned to the course. It also looks like Pike flaggers found a way to kill some time in between rolls with a cornhole set up outside Phipps.

SDC was back with the costumed buggies as well! Vanity was a brightly colored sea monster tentacle and Bane was sporting some sinister looking horns and a tail. Bane had a spin in the chute on Sunday, but was quickly moved off the road for extraction and Vanity was cleared to be pushed up for the remainder once the safety vehicles were out of the way.

SigEp was only out on Saturday rolling with DG in the roll order. They got a couple rolls in before their Hydra driver had a close call by the monument with the car incident.

Spirit seemed pretty flattered to have a fan and their Seraph driver was happy to pose for this adorable picture.

Saturday came to an end at 8:40 after a more serious incident involving a car driving onto the course from the Schenley Bridge. During SigEp/DG’s roll, an Uber driver dropping off a passenger at Phipps Conservatory drove around the chute barricade and up towards the entrance. The Hydra driver turned to the right of the monument and came to a stop upon seeing the car, and the DG driver stopped up at by the transition flag. It was a close call, and EMS was quick on their feet to hop in their emergency vehicle and pull over the confused Uber driver. Pittsburgh police was called to talk with the driver, but from what I understand they were not ticketed.

Sunday saw a lot more traffic of the non-buggy variety. Two cars drove through the Scaife Hall entrance during Apex’s roll towards the chute. Radio Club quickly got them off the course and alerted Sweepstakes, who were able to pass down the information to the flaggers who were able to stop both buggies at the transition flag. The Safety Chair was also conveniently in the Apex follow car trying to warm up, so the rolls were back on track in no time. Later in between rolls, a driver supposedly working for CMU at Skibo Gym drove onto the sidewalk and around the Panther Hollow barricade, up to the top of the hill. They were welcomed by some angry Radio Club, Sweepstakes, and PiKA members. The driver did not seem to understand the severity of their actions and went on to park on the cobblestones at the top of the hill.

While no serious harm came of the car related incidents, Sweepstakes was quick to work on resolving the issues holding meetings and discussions on possible solutions including buying additional barricades and redistributing chores to make sure the Scaife Hall entrance is monitored now that the ANSYS construction has been completed and the road reopened.

This weekend may have looked a little too much like a Fast & Furious movie with all the cars, but everybody’s taking the matter very seriously. Saturday rolls have been be cancelled for inclement weather, but Sunday will be Mini Raceday! It should be an exciting day, so make it out if you can. We’ll be timing and have some fast times to report next week.

Rumor of the week:

Good vs. Evil. The never ending struggle between the light and darkness. A war as old as time itself.

Rumor has it Apex accidentally mixed the wrong proportions of epoxy and created a toxic slime that turned their buggy into Superfly. Meanwhile, SDC, determined to maintain their winning streak, made a deal with the Devil. This led to the speed demon known only as BeezleBane.

We seem to have found ourselves caught in the middle of a fierce standoff between two buggies on opposing sides. Who shall prevail?!

Stay tuned for the next rolls report and any buggy related updates!

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Rolls Report Contributors:

Jasio S.
Ben M.
Ethan G.