Thanks again to those who joined us for Homecoming and Mini-Raceday last week. We hope all of you enjoyed reviewing some actual buggy data! This weekend had two smooth days of rolls with no buggy incidents. The most notable thing was a little rain Sunday, and the most notable thing about that was how notable it was (as Pittsburgh is in the midst of a drought)!

Credit to Guillermo Gomez for this Scorch action shot

• Saturday was another beautiful day with very few incidents. The leaves really dropped this week as it got colder, keeping the sweepers very busy in the early morning.
  

No rest for the sweepers

• A few trucks tried to get onto the road, but were mostly very patient. One of them drove over the grass in front of Phipps rather than wait for Sweepstakes to give permission to drive down the road. Since they stayed on the grass the whole way (until they were past the next barricade), they did not cause a disruption. We did again have a close call with a biker from Schenley Bridge getting too close to a buggy. Sweepstakes will be taking further action to guard the bike path in the future.
  

A very patient truck

• Sunday for the first time this semester, we had rain! The teams knew the forecast of potential rain starting during rolls, and decided to brave the elements and try anyway. It was fairly dark at first roll with follow cars using their headlights for a bit. We still had a decent day of rolls. Rolls began at ~7, paused for a shower at 7:38 and resumed at 7:53. CIA and Robobuggy decided to just pack it in during that rain delay and did not return. Then more rain rolled through at 8:39, ending the day.

It was a Sunday season debut for SigNu’s Jaeger

• As we near the end of the Fall Semester, one thing many people have been asking for are rolls counts for the fall. Some of the drivers have logged quite ludicrous numbers of rolls. Roll count highlights are included in the team write-ups below, and look for a full total in a future report!

Your current roll leader- SDC’s Minion Vice!

• Apex. Apex was experimenting with lines a bit on Saturday, taking a very wide start and tight turns into the chute. No incidents. With rain in the forecast, they were not seen out Sunday. Lily in Firefly leads the way with 24 logged rolls.

Molotov

• CIA. CIA had a strong turnout with 3 buggies Saturday. They were rolling consistently and cleanly throughout the day. Some slight line experimentation was noticed on Saturday. They were a little short on pushers, so several folks did a 3-4 double hill. Amber in Roadrunner has logged their most rolls, an impressive 38 rolls so far this semester.

Sunrise for Kingfisher and Schenley

• Fringe. Fringe rolling with 2 buggies on Saturday and just Blackbird on Sunday. On Saturday we noticed in the chute some alternating wide and tight lines, maybe they were also experimenting. No incidents to report. They have done more experimentation with driver/buggy combinations this fall, with Arini in Blackbird accumulating the most rolls with 19.

Burnout Hill 5

• Robobuggy. The robots rolled in the regular order again this weekend, including with pushers all the way around the course. On Saturday when they rolled all the way around, SDC actually overtook them on the back hills! The Hill 2 pushers pictured here both technically committed a transition violation, as they kept pushing past the monument :p . The second time around they didn’t have pushers on the freeroll and just barely made it over the rise near Panther, and then stopping in the chute. Their rolls aren’t tracked but they’ve been out most weekends!

Robo Hill 2.5 race

• SDC. The biggest note on SDC I got this week was Sunday their follow car was lacking flags! What gives? They also kept some of the buggy costumes going another weekend. And, they kept rolling very quick. Elizabeth in Vice (46 rolls!!) and Ezrin in Bane (40!) have come out almost every weekend, leading the entire buggy field!

Bane pickup

• SigNu. SigNu was rolling on a rare Sunday-only weekend for them. They also brought out Jaeger for its 2024-2025 season debut! A clean day for them with 7 rolls for Jaeger to join the 4 rolls for Bungarus Krait in a previous week. They always make the most of the days they do come out, getting permission from other orgs to join their rolls.

Jaeger

• Spirit. A note from intrepid reporter Rob S. Sunday “Spirit seemed to be attracting things to the front of their buggies around panther in the freeroll. First roll, Inviscid had a squirrel jump in front of it. Later, Kingpin had the same thing. Much later, Kingpin stared down a pedestrian who couldn’t figure out how to walk across the road.” They were rolling cleanly if a bit slower than last week. Nanz in Zuke sets the pace for them with 38 rolls.

Hill 3-4 shove!