After a few weeks of smooth, calm rolls, taking the midsemester weekend off seemed to undo all of that with several spins and  some scary crashes. On top of that a truck made it onto the course and an ambulance was called for the second time this year. Teams are moving faster and apparently drivers are still working on keeping their control through the chute in some cases, and in others drivers continue to race through or spin out while stopping for flags when they’re thrown. There are 4 potential weekends left for teams to make their move, but after a weekend like this, we are looking to see who returns and who might not.

EDIT: There has been some concern about inaccurate information regarding Spirit’s crash in this report and to that end we will making updates as more information makes it to us. If you have any information regarding the incident, please email news@cmubuggy.org so we can correct any inaccuracies. To this end, it is imperative that no one treat this incident lightly and we will not remove any information for the sake of making it seem less than it was.

In Attendance 

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →

To all those alumni and parents that made it out this weekend, it was great to see you and I hope you were able to have a great time enjoying the Ceilidh festivities. We here at the BAA had an overall great time with only a couple setbacks at rolls. This was the first weekend where both days started with buggies rolling around the course even though one of them threatened to be wet. Saturday rolls not only saw Robobuggy continue to roll and gather data, but also got to see FSAE race around the course in both their gas and new electric race cars. Unfortunately, after only a couple buggies hit the course, an exhausted pusher took a scary tumble and was rushed to the hospital forcing rolls to be called short.

Those of us on campus Saturday afternoon had the great opportunity to witness Tom Wood’s fantastic and up to date “Evolution of Buggy Technology” presentation. In addition to the presentation itself, there was a great group of current students who stuck around after the talk to mingle with, answer questions for, and show off their buggies to the parents and alumni who were in attendance.

Before all the excitement over the weekend, CMU honored one of our own for the annual Alumni Awards. The very man who used to tell you all about what was going on each weekend, Sam Swift, was given the Alumni Service Award for his tireless efforts with the other founding members of the BAA to get this site up and running, and his continued work to keep the BAA strong and on message year after year. We owe a lot of thanks to his sleepless nights and we couldn’t be more proud of his achievement.

In Attendance  (Those who Rolled)

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →

This weekend we had some wet roads on Saturday morning and enough teams called it off on their own that Sweepstakes called it off completely. Fortunately, the weather held up on Sunday and rolls went on mostly without a hitch. Teams are definitely speeding up and veteran drivers are closing in on their desired lines. The newly paved road might look awesome, but the newly painted lines might be causing more of an issue than we might have been expecting. Fortunately, The entrance to the chute is still very much fixed up, and there should hopefully be a lot less spinning and crashing compared to last year.

In Attendance 

Observations (Sunday) Continue reading →

It was another one day weekend for buggy this time because of the conflict with the Great Race that consumes most of the length of Forbes ave. Not to be deterred, teams made a fantastic showing on Saturday with a few surprises from some of them. Like the first weekend, everything rolled smoothly with only one major mishap early in the morning and even that is hard to call major.

In Attendance 

Observations (Saturday) Continue reading →

This weekend was the first rolls of the season and I unfortunately was out of town and missed the whole thing. Fortunately, Dan Marsh was around to pick up the ball and got me a bunch of notes from this weekend. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten any pictures from this weekend, so I’ll do my best to paint you a word picture.

Rolls didn’t have a chance of happening on Saturday since there were no permits. The morning was pretty chilly compared to what it could have been the day before, but of course it should only get colder the rest of the year. This was also the first time that teams had to deal with the new barriers around the bike lane, but more on that later. From some accounts, this was one of the smoothest first days of rolls ever seen.

In Attendance 

Observations (No Pictures) Continue reading →

As usual, this report is going to be a bit trimmed down from what’s been coming out so far this year. If you want to get the full report make sure you join up and become a member to get this year’s Raceday Preview. Due to some technical difficulties, the Preview is going to be a little delayed and should hopefully get out by tomorrow if not earlier, so you still have a chance to be first in line for all of the juicy details.

Truck weekend went surprisingly smoothly, thanks to some organizations cutting back on how many teams they will have on raceday. Several drivers managed to pickup their last few rolls and/or pass tests to qualify, but as usual, there are some stragglers who will probably be seeking forgiveness.

Qualified

Key: Qualified with at least one driver | Short on Rolls | Missing Pass Test

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →

We’ve come to the last weekend before Truck. Heat selections are tonight, which means tomorrow the auction is planned to launch tomorrow! Once it’s up, be sure to share it with all the people who might be attending the races.

The orange cones make the chute look like a slalom course, but it looks like the line that most teams use is actually free of potholes. The potholes don’t leave much margin for error though, and the penalty for missing your line is big. The fastest buggies don’t have much margin for error anyway, so this shouldn’t be a big additional complication for their drivers. Chute passes are likely impossible without hitting something, though. Word on the street is that some of the potholes might be getting filled in, more on that later this week.

I unfortunately couldn’t make it to rolls on Saturday while working an event down at Cal U, but thankfully Shafeeq was able to take some notes, and Lou Conley managed to take pictures, so many thanks go out to them for filling in.

In Attendance 

Observations (Saturday Gallery) Continue reading →

This weekend was a monster, so much happened that this if this comes out around the usual time it will be a miracle. BUT, before I can get into the craziness that was this weekend I have one thing that I need to mention first. Next weekend I will be indisposed with another event down south at CalU. I need will need help writing next weekend’s rolls report, so if you have wanted to contribute, or have ever thought about getting some notes in this’ll be your best chance to do so. Please email news@cmubuggy.org if you’re interested in helping and I’ll get you the info you need.

Saturday was as windy as Sunday was COLD. Pittsburgh’s winter party keeps on going, everyone at this point is either drunk or asleep on every possible surface. Despite the sun coming up, Pittsburgh just keeps blaring the winter music not getting the hit that it was fun, but we got things to do. With the weather aside, CIA, Fringe and Spirit all brought out new buggies on saturday who now have 4 potential days left to get qualified. It’ll be a hard battle for all of them. With a significant lack of time this year, it was amazing to see rolls end at 8:43 on Satuday. All the bundled up alumni that showed up on Sunday were treated to dusty slick roads and some amazing driving.

In Attendance  (new buggies in green)

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →

There were only 5 orgs out on sunday for the 1.5 hours of rolls and it was one of the smoothest yet. Teams that came out were generally the most skeleton crews that have ever seen the course, but they were all very efficient and organized. The cones were back out on the course flagging those awful potholes. Despite Lars being the only regular sweepstakes person there, a few pass tests happened on the frigid Sunday morning and we also got to see our first new buggy of the year!

It was so cold that morning that my phone died  midway not leaving any chance for me to even think about the livestream. Hopefully in the last few weeks we have left I’ll be able to get one going as well as charge up the GoPros for some Freeroll timing.

In Attendance 

Observations (Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →

AND WE’RE BACK! Well… by we, I mean buggy, and by back, I mean rolls… The snow gave a one day reprieve and Sweepstakes jumped on the opportunity to start off the year. It was a cold start to the year, but boy was it a start, everything under the sun happened that Saturday. Some barricades were still missing so where there would normally be double barricades there would only be one. Cars tried to sneak on the course when the barricaders weren’t looking, some getting very close.

After the relentless winter that Pittsburgh has had this year, the course is in its worst condition yet. There are not many students (if any at this point) that will remember how bad lane 2 used to be before it was paved, but the roads have now gotten to the point where Sweepstakes is using Carnival cones to mark the egregious potholes and ice patches around the course. These new obstacles slowed down a lot of buggies and seriously effected their line in some cases. Then again, that was probably a good thing given the size of some of the holes out there.

In Attendance 

Observations (Saturday Gallery) Continue reading →