This weekend saw some wet weather and Mini-Raceday! Rain and unsafe road conditions thwarted Saturday Rolls, but the demon Pittsburgh weather gods smiled on the undergrads, gracing the course with a balmy 35F and dry conditions for Sunday morning.
Sunday started with a long delay, as Sweepstakes became aware just after chairmen’s meeting that the entire second row of hay bales were missing from the inner Chute. The organization assigned to this chore had put out only one row. The delay lasted until approximately 7:18 with Sweepstakes and other organizations proving additional hands to get bales in place. Despite these delays we made it through the roll-order five times nearly without any incidents.
For Mini-raceday, Sweepstakes was timing the first Buggy of every org, timing from the crosswalk, Hill 3 line, and finish line. We don’t have the official times from Sweepstakes, but we can say that Fringe had two of the three fastest times of the day and was rolling slightly faster than SDC, CIA, and Spirit. From SDC, Malice was the only Buggy rolling fast, but none of those out had times resembling Raceday speeds. Spirit was by far the most consistent team rolling, with each of the Buggies moving at fair clips. CIA might have put up fast times all around if they were racing Equinox and Emperor up Hill 1. The proximity prevented the trailing Buggy from driving her course. All-in-all the teams performed how we might expect. We’ll be looking to Fringe, SDC, Spirit, and CIA this spring to starting tearing up the course.
Unrelated: Best pusher nickname of the morning: “Daddy Long Legs”
In Attendance
| Org | Sunday |
|---|---|
| Apex | Azula, Firefly |
| CIA | Emperor, Equinox, Tempest, Icarus, Orca |
| Fringe | Blueshift, Bumper, Boson, Sarah |
| PiKA | Banshee, Cliodhna |
| SDC | Malice, Vice, Rage |
| SigNu | Bungarus Krait |
| Spirit | Inviscid, King Pin, Seraph |
Observations (Sunday Gallery)
Apex – Despite a large stable showing of members, Apex was just rolling two buggies today. Phoenix was brought out, but never rolled. We’re hoping to see similar turnouts and more Buggy action in the spring.
CIA – CIA must have made their entire team sleep on the back hills Saturday night. They rolled 5 Buggies all day with enough pushers to cover each hill without doubling, including Hill 1! Still no follow car, though. You would think that if an org can find 15 pushers to wake up early on the weekend surely they find a student with a car willing to drive behind the fleet of buggies. The Hill 1 and 2 push teams for Emperor and Equinox were racing each other up Hill 1 leading to some close encounters at the end of the Chute and dueling up the back hills. Later in the day, the dueling spread as the second two buggies (which varied between the other three) met and paced each other up Hill 3 through the finish. Emperor held a close second for best rollout of the morning.
Fringe – was seen bringing Boson down to Hill 3 and putting it up on boxes. Initial assumptions were that the team wanted some neck-and-neck pushing up the back hills. Reality was much less exciting (as usual) but much more indicative of Fringe’s dedication to Buggy. Boson’s driver is waiting on new prescription goggles and does not feel comfortable navigating the freeroll without them. She still wants some practice, so Fringe set her up at the bottom of Hill 3 to be pushed up the back hills.On their second roll of the day Blueshift lost a hatch in the Chute which had been our biggest incident up to that point. As Bumper rolled around into Hill 3 the waiting Boson was placed on the road and pushed to the top. Blueshift held the best 2 speeds through the Chute turn, and tied for the second best observed rollout.
PiKA – PiKA continues to keep a hold on the top of Hill 2 staging location. They began their day rolling both Banshee and Cliodhna. Raptor was brought to the course, but didn’t make it to the roads.
Robobuggy – wasn’t holding up rolls today. They managed 3 rolls around the course without major incident. They were spotted offering Transistor a little help on Hill 2 but nothing came up on radio about it. After 3 remote control rolls they scratched for the day, but don’t worry guys we clocked your time for Race day seeding.
SDC – Malice came flying through the Chute fishtailing on its first roll, but hey, both fairings intact today. In what appeared to be an effort to keep those fairings together, Malice seemed to be staying a bit wide off of Hill 2 to weave between the patches and pockets. Still clearly a phenomenal build, Malice held onto the best observed rollout of the morning. Also, Rage is back this week. The Buggy debuted at RD ’96, making it the oldest rolling Buggy; 8 years the senior to Spirit’s Seraph, the next oldest. To note, the class of 2019 were born in Premiering in 1996 mait the oldest rolling buggy, 8 years older than Seraph the next oldest. This buggy is older than the undergraduates.
SigNu – SigNu was at Rolls!! Considering it was their first day out and the 4 massive bags taped to the push bar, they were moving fairly quick. Throughout the day they traded bags for speed The driver started to dial in his line after nailing the drain cover in the Chute turn and getting both front wheels off the ground. Twice. This was a textbook example of why the drivers need a mouthguard!
Spirit – rolled 4 buggies all day today dialing in lines, rolling smooth and nailing the rollout. After rolling 4 times perfectly on the very last roll of the day the front wheel of their second buggy in the line hit a pothole off of Hill 2 and collapsed into the shell. The Buggy’s nose hit the ground causing the driver to lose control and eventually came to a stop against the curb. EMS was called in and the driver was cleared without injury.
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Rolls Report Contributors:
Ethan G.
Ben M.
Natalie M.