This year’s Raceday looked very different from those in the past. The years 2020 and 2021 brought a lot of challenges for students and the buggy community as a whole. However, despite all odds, I’m excited to report that CMU once again got to see some buggies racing around the course.
This year’s timed trials ran similarly to the Mini Racedays that typically occur in the fall. Before getting to the times and observations, I thought it would be helpful to preface this report with some of the changes and rules that were established to ensure that these rolls were carried out as safely as possible.
No, not really. To be honest, not all that much happened at rolls and there certainly wasn’t any pandemonium.
Luckily there are no stops or accidents to report this weekend (although, it makes for boring reading). However, teams were out with full push teams in preparation for next week!
This upcoming Saturday, the early morning will serve as practice time for some teams and then Spirit will have timed runs a little bit later. Sunday will consist of timed runs for the remaining teams (CIA, PiKA, Apex, SDC, Fringe, and SigEp). You can watch the livestream of this year’s Rolls/Raceday hybrid with the following link:
The College of Engineering social media team also recently put together this video spotlighting buggy! Watch how the current students are managing to keep the sport alive even in the midst of a pandemic:
I do want to give a shoutout to SDC! Congratulations on Bane’s 47th roll this semester. An incredibly impressive number given well… everything going on this year. Keep up the good work!
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Buggies in Hollywood:
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To make up for the lack of content please enjoy some more memes. Stay tuned for next week’s theme: Buggies in Geography!
This week I’ve found a number of buggies appearing on the silver screen. Name the buggy characters and their movies!
I don’t have the energy for anything creative this week RIP
The Rolls Reporting Officer doesn’t usually report on rolls during Carnival (that’s someone else’s job). But these rolls weren’t technically Raceday so I suppose it weirdly falls under my jurisdiction… just another unprecedented buggy first. Anywho, there were a few hiccups, but overall teams were able to get some practice and show off their newest additions this past weekend. Most buggies got between 3 to 5 rolls each day with a couple of exceptions. The lower numbers were likely due to some Rolls holds (something very much not unprecedented.)
Our usual fleet of buggies was out this weekend (sans SigEp) and with the addition of Atlas stopping by for some data collection. Saturday saw some delay when a pusher was checked out for an injury on the backhills, but things were soon back on track. There was a bit more of a serious accident on Sunday, but we’ll get to that later (everyone’s okay now!). Sunday Rolls were also temporarily put on hold when the course had a very ominous amount of fog. Students were given the choice of waiting out the fog or becoming part of a Stephen King novel, and very luckily chose the former. Check out these spectacularly spooky pictures taken just before Transition and in the Chute.
That’s just creepy…
It’s too late for this nonsense
This weekend’s practice sessions were not timed, but don’t worry Buggy fans! Sweepstakes is working on some timed Rolls coming up in place of a traditional Raceday. However, it was Carnival weekend and Design Comp carried on. Congratulations to Fringe and Apex for placing this year. Fringe’s Baltic and Blind Faith placed first and second respectively, and Molotov won Apex’s first ever Design Comp win with third place! Congrats guys, you’ve made this old, irrelevant alum quite proud.
A Post-Design Comp Photo Shoot
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Since it was Carnival Weekend, we do have some good news! Students and staff were able to get some cameras set up and livestream last weekend’s practices. If you weren’t able to catch the livestreams, checkout the two highlight videos below!
Atlas was back out this weekend with Baby Buggy. Hopefully they were able to collect some good data before nap time.
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Apex unveiled Molotov’s paint job this weekend. I think teams really brought out their A game with this year’s paint jobs. Molotov seemed to steal the spotlight from Firefly who was also out this weekend with the team’s first ever Design Comp win, but I am VERY okay with that. Congrats again!
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CIA was out on Saturday with its two newest buggies: Aurora and Kingfisher. This is the first time Aurora has been out this year, and for those of you unaware, Aurora is the first CIA buggy in decades to feature a dropping pushbar. For any 70’s CIA alum, your legacy is still very much alive!
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Fringe shared the course only with PiKA on Sunday, rolling it’s two newest buggies: Baltic and Blind Faith. Both these buggies also took home 1st and 2nd place at this year’s Design Comp continuing their winning streak. Fringe sure does know how to build ’em. Here’s a picture of Baltic sporting a new look too:
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PiKA returned after mysteriously vanishing last weekend, but ran into some trouble. Unfortunately, Sunday’s practice session was put on hold after an accident where Cleo crashed straight into the Chute’s outer bales. It’s unclear what caused the accident and when we’ll see Cleo back on the course. Luckily, the driver was checked out by EMS and is doing just fine now!
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SDC and Spirit rolled on Saturday incident free and shared the highest number of rolls this weekend with Bane and Seraph both making it around the course 8 times.
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Movie/TV Parody of the Week:
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Stay tuned for next week’s Rolls Report because I’m going to be playing with this section a bit more. Guess the buggy related title!
This Rolls Report will be relatively short. Unfortunately, Sunday was rained out, but the few teams that were out were able to get some good practice in. Saturday rolls ran smoothly without any incidents with fou… three teams out.
Good luck
In Attendance
Org
Saturday
Fringe
Blind Faith, Baltic
SDC
Bane
SigEp
Kraken, Hydra
Painting those lines
Observations (Gallery Currently Unavailable)
At least it’s not as cold as when we did it.
Fringe rolled stop free with their newest members of their Fringe framily. Blind Faith and Baltic got 8 and 7 rolls, respectively.
‘Twas quite unpleasant…
SDC‘s Bane got 13 rolls in one day! Wow! Congrats to SDC for that achievement. It’s very rare we see roll counts in the double digits for a single day of rolls.
Elyce is still salty that I didn’t help both days.
SigEp‘s Hydra and Kraken got 5 and 4 rolls, respectively before scratching for the day. With SigEp out of the picture, Fringe and SDC racked up rolls with some rollarounds similar to the first weekend.
The good thing is
PiKA was scheduled to show up this weekend, but bailed at the last minute leaving behind this ominous scene (their team’s tent in total disarray).
Welcome to 2021’s third Rolls Report! This week brings us a new buggy, the return of an old team, movie references, and a whole lot of rolls.
is reading these,
In Attendance
Org
Saturday
Sunday
Apex
Phoenix, Molotov
CIA
Emperor, Kingfisher
Fringe
Boson, Baltic
PiKA
Banshee, Clyodhna
SDC
Bane
SigEp
Kraken, Hydra
Spirit
Seraph
you can blame Tishya
Observations (Gallery Currently Unavailable)
and Vidya
Apex debuted their their newest buggy, Molotov! Phoenix and Molotov got 7 and 8 rolls in respectively.
for it taking so long.
CIA, thank you for being the only team to update your Instagram account with pictures. I appreciate it <3. Emperor and Kingfisher got 7 and 8 in respectively.
And maybe me
Fringe encountered some vision problems, but managed to get 10 rolls in Baltic (the most of any buggy this weekend) and Boson returned for two rolls.
a little bit…
PiKA has returned! Banshee was reported to have some windshield problems and scratched after its first roll, but Cleo got in 7 roll this Saturday.
My b.
SDC, SigEp, and Spirit rolled problem free this weekend. Bane and Seraph rolled 8 times each. SigEp also got 8 rolls if you combine Hydra and Kraken’s counts.
Welcome back everyone! Sweepstakes has done what may have seemed impossible at first by pulling off another successful day of rolls. Even though Sunday was rained out, teams were able to get up to 7 cycles in on Saturday morning. Saturday was also the debut of SpIApex (more on that later)! Just another example of how students are rising to the challenge of continuing the tradition of buggy in creative and safe ways.
We’ve also got some questions about rolls and the potential Raceday they may be leading up to. Just as a reminder, these rolls practices are strictly for the students participating only and this will likely also be the case for this year’s “Raceday”. It’s still unclear what that may look like, but no matter what happens, these weekends of rolls are major victories for the buggy community.
Another quick note:
If you’ve enjoyed these roll reports or even if you haven’t and think you can do better, my term is coming to an end this year. If you or someone you know is interested in becoming the new Rolls Reporting Officer, feel free to reach out to me (jasiosantillan@cmubuggy.org) and make sure to fill out the nomination form by May 3rd.
Gonna try something new here.
In Attendance
Org
Saturday
Apex
Phoenix
CIA
Emperor
Fringe
Blueshift, Blind Faith
SDC
Bane
SigEp
Kraken, Barracuda
Spirit
Seraph
Let’s see how much free time you have.
Observations (Gallery Currently Unavailable)
Muahahaha
Fringe brought out Blueshift and Blind Faith out this weekend with the former getting 1 roll in and the latter getting an impressive 6 rolls in. There was one stop during Fringe’s run, but it was accident free and things were soon back on track.
…. .. – .. … …. -.– .- –..– .-.. . – …
SDC returned with the fearsome Bane styling some bright yellow wheels. It’s good to see that the SDC teddy bear is still coming out to rolls. Bane shared the top roll count with CIA’s Emperor making it around the course 7 times.
… . . …. — .– –. — — -.. -.– —
SigEp was out this weekend in full force rolling Kraken and Barracuda. Both buggies made it around the course 5 times.
..- .- .-. . .- – — — .-. … . -.-. —
SpIApex. This is a new one. In the past we have seen teams team up before (especially when they’re scrambling for qualifying rolls *cough cough Pike cough*). I remember times when CIApex rolled together and shared a follow car. But this weekend we saw a 3 team conglomerate with Spirit, CIA, and Apex joining forces to roll together (while still abiding by the Sweepstakes Covid-19 restrictions). Even in these crazy times, teams are finding creative ways to work together and overcome some unprecedented challenges. Good work SpIApex (though, you should probably workshop the name a little bit more).
-.. .
Meme of the Week:
While rolls went on mostly hitch-free, it looks like there was a delay at the start. Drone footage caught this wacky scene where the Ever Given caused yet another traffic jam that students are calling the “Suez Chute”.
Welcome to our special quarantine edition of Rolls! It’s been a bit over a year since buggies have graced the streets of Pittsburgh, but they’re back. Slow and steady will win this race.
After a series of unprecedented and very unfortunate events, Sweepstakes has found a way to keep the spirit of buggy alive and return to the course. Rolls look very different this year and Sweepstakes is working with the university to ensure the safety of all its participants. A couple of changes include a limit to 4 teams per day of rolls and a limit of 2 buggies per team along with the allowed number of team members. This weekend we saw (not in person of course) a solid start with 7 teams making an appearance. Saturday, teams were able to get up to 5 rolls in and Sunday saw an incredible 8 cycles.
The weekend was not without its hiccups, but hey that’s just buggy for you. Even some pesky hooligans moving bales to Flagstaff Hill and some very unfriendly window washers weren’t able to stop our determined students!
Atlas made a return to the course as this year’s only robotic buggy team (for now). The youngest org on the course was unfortunately unable to wake Baby Buggy up from its nap and get it around the course.
But there really isn’t all that much I can do with WordPress
Apex decided to stick with the classics and brought out Firefly on Sunday for an impressive 7 rolls.
Always makes me happy to see my baby out on the course :’)
Soooooooooo…..
CIA unveiled Kingfisher’s stunning paint job! It was reported that Kingfisher had some technical difficulties leading to a stop and was benched for the rest of the day, but the team managed to get the most rolls (8) of any team in Emperor.
Check out Kingfisher’s gorgeous colors!
Fringe and SDC hit the ground running quite literally with Saturday rollarounds. Fringe brought out Blind Faith and their newest buggy, Baltic.
Looking forward to seeing Baltic post paint job!
SDC rolled back to back with Fringe on Saturday racking up 4 rolls in Vanity.
Definitely my favorite color.
SigEp had a bit of a rough day, but we hope to see them out and around the course this upcoming weekend! After two stops (one from a bad wheel and another from a loose helmet), the team decided to scratch for the day leading to the Fringe/SDC rollarounds.
See you guys next week!
Spirit. Got some alliteration for you here since Spirit snagged six cycles with Seraph. That’s all I got.
Hi.
Meme of the Week:
Trying something new here since I had to do something with this picture of Carl (this year’s Design Comp. Chair). Carl was making all the girls swoon with the way he was carrying all those barricades on his own.
Welcome back everyone! After Sweepstakes playing with our hearts for the last few weeks, we finally had our first day of uncancelled rolls! Despite the cold, teams were off to a great start making it through the roll order 7 times. It was a nearly incident free day, with most teams getting in a good number of rolls and being able to shed their bags. We also saw the debut of a new team (kind of) and two new buggies!
Atlas. Baby Buggy’s back! Atlas made an unexpected appearance when they showed up with Baby Buggy to collect data. Glad to see Atlas after a long hiatus from the course. The team was almost a little too eager to get going, as they tried to squeeze in another walk-around minutes before rolls started.
Apex found themselves rolls ready but short a few drivers this weekend. Fortunately, it looks like Solaris had plenty of fun sunbathing on Sunday.
CIA came out with some new kicks and a new buggy! CIA’s latest build, Kingfisher, flew around the course while Emperor was spotted with some new clothes (a sleek new fairing).
DG. Delta Gamma? More like Doing Great! Yeah, that was pretty bad. Sorry about that. Point is, they’re doing well and only a day’s worth of rolls away from qualifying!
Fringe showed off it’s newest buggy build this weekend as well. Word on the streets (Tech and Frew to be exact) is that this buggy is equipped with the latest in pushbar technology.
KKS (the shortened name for the Kap Sig and Kappa Kappa Gamma fraternity-sorority buggy collaboration) came out with their loaner buggy, Insite. They unfortunately had some vision and helmet issues that kept them from rolling, but we’re all excited to see them take the course next week!
PiKA was out with their usual squad of black buggies. They rolled incident free… unless you count Raptor going into convertible mode mid-roll.
SDC was out and moving FAST. Maybe a little too fast for their catchers… Bane gave Sweepstakes a bit of a fright as it was caught a little uncomfortably past the finish line.
SigEp rolled incident free for three cycles. Just keep swimming, Cuda.
SigNu was spotted at drops prior to rolls, but was mysteriously absent for the rest of the day. Some say they had helmet issues and couldn’t roll, but in any case please refer to the flyer below.
Spirit started off the first rolls of 2020. KP came to a stop by the Westinghouse memorial from some hardware problems, but was quickly cleared and fixed for the following rolls. In better news, according to our man in the chute, a couple of Hill 3 pushers were smoked by Zuke zipping up Hill 3.
I know how much you’ve loved the “Rumor of the Week” segments, so hang in there. I’ve got some new stuff in the works that’ll be just as fun. Stay tuned!
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.
