Posted on | by ben

The time has come, Raceday will soon be upon us and teams are in the home stretch. Buggies are qualified, Heats to be selected and prep is to be made for Friday this week when everyone will hit the course and compete for the trophy. Going into truck, Many teams were missing rolls or even pass tests, but everyone put the pedal to the metal and with a little help from Sweepstakes managed a staggering amount of rolls. The teams that were all missing pass tests were able to grab them on Saturday, leaving only one real past test on Sunday, but several accidental passes.

Lead Truck Auction is on its way: For those of you who have been wondering, we are in fact doing the lead truck auction again this year. Heat selections are tonight, so the bidding will be ready to go tomorrow morning. More info later in this article.

Raceday Preview: This report will not be nearly as comprehensive as previous weeks since we will be coming out with our famed members only Raceday preview. So make sure you check out this page for more information on how to become a member and be sure to check out the membership roster if you think you already donated this year.

Site Issues and Updates: I try and pride myself on being timely with these reports, but because you all have been so awesome in uploading your fantastic pictures, we ran out of room and had to pull a quick shuffle to get us enough space for what is sure to come this week. So I apologize for this being later than usual, but with all that’s coming out this week, I’m sure you’ll forgive us.

In Attendance

Key: Qualified | Short on Rolls

Org Saturday Sunday
AEPi  Kamikaze
Apex Phoenix  Phoenix
CIA Impulse, Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Quasar Impulse, Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Quasar
Fringe Beacon, Bissa, Bedlam, Banyan Beacon, Bissa, Bedlam, Banyan
PiKA RD2013, Chimera RD2013, Chimera
ROTC Shrek Shrek
SAE Lucy, Rubicon Lucy, Rubicon
SDC Vice, Bane, Avarice, Malice Vice, Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp Kraken, Mamba, Peregrine, Barracuda Peregrine, Barracuda, Pandora
SigNu Bungarus Krait Bungarus Krait
Spirit Kingpin II, Zuke, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko Kingpin II, Zuke, Seraph, Haraka, Fuko

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery)

  • Dora “Kraken” the Explorer finally got her name and simultaneously postponed her Raceday debut with a debilitating crash on Saturday of this weekend. She hit the bales hard early in the morning on her second roll after her pass test losing a wheel and really messing up her steering if the pictures are anything to believe. Since she was still down several rolls, SigEp pulled their own switcheroo and brought out Pandora on Sunday getting her a pass test and a few rolls. She rolled in the fall, so she’s up to 7 rolls in just Pandora, but she’s collected several from other buggies which puts her up to 14 total from my counts, a mere one roll away. If past precedent is to be believed, this should be no problem for the Chairmen to agree with.
  • During their first roll on Sunday, Pike hit the bales hard with Chimera dislodging part of her fairing into the haybales. She was out the next couple rolls, but the driver and buggy must have turned out pretty well since the safety chair gave them a thorough spot safety and allowed her to roll again for 2 more cycles so she could grab her final rolls before Raceday
  • In a double blow to SigEp this weekend, Barracuda found the same spot Chimera did earlier that morning and Kraken the day before. The damage doesn’t seem to be as bad since the wheel didn’t pop off, but since it was already their last roll of the day, we are left to wonder what will happen to what was recorded as the fastest rolling buggy of the weekend.
  • Being so low on rolls, and working with a timid Drive, Rage was droped from SDC’s roster after last weekend and the powerhouse will only be rolling 4 buggies of their attempted 5. After seeing what came out of this weekend, they probably could have gotten her qualified, but that means nothing if she doesn’t feel ready to go all out on Raceday.

Roll Counts

Because I did it last year, here are the top 10 rollingest buggies for the Spring of 2013. In reverse order, I’ve listed the Org – Buggy – Roll Total below:

10. TIE: ROTC – Shrek & SigNu – Krait & Spirit – Fuko & SAE – Rubicon – 15

9. TIE: PiKA – RD2013 & CIA – Freyja & Fringe – Banyan, Beacon – 16

8. TIE: CIA – Quasar & SigEp – Peregrine – 17

7. Spirit – Zuke – 18

6. CIA – Impulse – 19

5. TIE: SDC – Avarice & Spirit – Haraka, Kingpin – 20

4. Apex – Phoenix – 21

3. TIE: SDC – Bane, Malice & CIA – Ascension – 22

2. SDC – Vice – 23

1. CIA – Orca – 24

Lead Truck Auction

It’s time for our 5th annual lead truck auction!  It seems like just the other day that we announced the first iteration of our biggest fundraiser of the year.  It continues to be a fan favorite, so we’re back at it again.  If you haven’t ridden in the lead truck before, you should definitely get in the mix and snap up a heat you like the looks of.  If you’re a veteran, you know that it’s a great way to mix up your raceday experience.   Bidding starts tomorrow morning (Tuesday) at 9am and will run for 36 hours until 9pm Wednesday.  Full description of the rules can be found on the auction page.  We’re using the same system that we put together last year, so hopefully it makes it easy for everyone to come back to and use.

A couple things to keep in mind:

  • If you want to participate this year, you will have to reregister from last year. Feel free to get it out of the way now so you’re ready to go tomorrow morning.
  • VERY IMPORTANT: If you don’t give us a phone number, we won’t be able to call you. This is imperative if you bid on and win a finals heat.
  • We will have a check in spot in the Alumni tent for you to turn in your waivers and make sure you have the right heat.
  • Sweepstakes will not wait for you to be in the truck to start the race. If you are late, you will miss it, and miss out on the best and most exciting view of the race!

Other things from this weekend

To those of you that tried to join me in the Chute for some rolls grilling, I’m sad to say that the legs broke and I had to abandon the attempt. These are the issues you have when you make the grill yourself in a short amount of time

Once again, I’ve made a playlist of this weekend on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. A big thanks to Kathrerine Crawford for helping with the camera and allowing me to walk around and grab some different angles during the weekend.

Be sure to check out our extensive gallery from this weekend and get yourself psyched for RACEDAY 2013!

25 thoughts on “Rolls Report: April 13 & 14 – Truck Weekend”

  • the Pope says:

    wait, wait, wait….

    did you say this “the fastest rolling buggy of the weekend.” with respect to barracuda?

    It was truck weekend right?

    PKA, SDC, Fringe were all there too right?

    WTF?

    • ben says:

      Yep, from our trusty recorder, within his trap timing Barracuda edged out everyone else by a second. Be sure to check out the Raceday Preview for full results from this weekends timing.

    • Shafeeq says:

      The usual suspects were present and accounted for, but SigEp seems to have found some serious go-juice. It’s one thing to go into chute with that speed and another to come out of it fast … or at all …

      • the Pope says:

        So, did they come out of the turn with that speed? You had indicated that they were smooth last week.

        If this speed is accurate, that would drop about 2-3 sec off their roll of late. That would put them right in the mix depending on their push team.

        This should be interesting.

        • Shafeeq says:

          Their were looking more ragged this weekend but their rollouts were up there with the best; if they had another day of practice, their driver could probably save them a little more speed. If they did something about the understeer, they’d have a monster on their hands. PiKA might find enough to match them going into the chute, but I give them a 90% chance they lose enough to have the longest Hill 3 of the contenders. It’ll be interesting, indeed.

          Lots of drivers were driving like they haven’t gone this fast in a year (or ever). Krait’s managed to find the grate at full speed, catch a couple inches of air, land and continue as if nothing happened. No hatches flew off, no wheels imploded, nothing rattled around in the buggy and the driver didn’t even say “OW!” I doubt that many other buggies would have dealt as well. Spirit seems to have decided not to push the boundaries of wheel prep any further than they did the week before, so odds are good they make it through.

    • McCue says:

      Why is compubookie asking why there’s no compubookie this year?

      But yeah, doesn’t appear to be. Sad.

      • Eric L. says:

        It’s been so phoned-in so badly the last couple of years that I’m barely disappointed. I was basically just looking forward to hating it.

  • Jake M says:

    You all sound so surprised that barracuda is fast…. Remember when it rolled a 2:08.55 in 2008? And no, I didn’t have to look that up, I spent two whole days screaming that number drunkenly.

    Can we just all agree that Pandora the Explorer is the best name for a buggy since… ever?

  • the cook says:

    not surprised it is fast, but to top the sheets is a change. Inquiring minds want to know if SigEp is faster, or are SDC and Fringe and PiKA slower? If under 50s I will be impressed. SigEp has had some pretty monsterly pushers, I believe I called the hill 3 pusher Sir when I handed him back his wheel a few racedays ago.

    • Will Motley says:

      I’ll tell you what, I didn’t have a stop watch in my hand, and I was observing from the 3-4 transition zone, but by my observation, I really am not surprised that SigEp had the fastest time. Their buggy came SCREAMING into the chute on their last roll of the day (the one they ate hay). I was very, very impressed with the speed they entered the chute. If they can figure out how to come out on the other end of the chute at that speed, they may……….. just MAY be the last org on the podium during the awards ceremony.

      • Jake M says:

        I’m hella pumped!
        Not just barracuda, the whole team should be named that….

        two hours. eight minutes. 55 seconds. Thanks for being chaffee, chaffee.

  • Spud says:

    Interesting comments all around but the biggest factor in most of these races (provided any chute mishaps, abberations) is the push teams. Arguably SDC has had the fastest push teams in recent memory with Fringe, SigEp and PiKA behind. Curious to see how the field is shaping up this year.

  • Bordick says:

    Can somebody point me to where the 2013 rules are, so’s I can reference them during the broadcast? Thanks.

    ab

Comments are closed.