13 times through the order in one weekend is enough to wear out fresh, energetic teams in September. For the teams running a little lower than they’d like on manpower (almost all of them) here in mid-November, this weekend was a real endurance test. But the drivers got huge amounts of practice and for the most part everyone had their act together. We also had some fun producing content this weekend with black and white photography on Saturday and a live streaming broadcast from the chute on Sunday.
In attendance
| Org | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|
| AEPi | Kamikaze | |
| CIA | Ascension, Freyja, Firebird, Quasar | Ascension, Firebird, Freyja, Renaissance |
| DeltaForce | (Perun) | (Perun) |
| Fringe | Bonsai, Borealis, Banyan, Bedlam | Bonsai, Borealis, Banyan, Bedlam |
| KapSig | ||
| SDC | Bane, Avarice, Malice, Rage | Avarice, Malice, Rage |
| SigEp | Mamba, Pandora | Mamba, Barracuda, Pandora |
| SigNu | Bungarus Krait | |
| Spirit | Zuke, Seraph | Zuke, Seraph, Haraka |
Observations (Saturday Gallery in B&W | Sunday Gallery) Continue reading
The end of daylight savings meant Saturday was a super short day while Sunday was nice and long, leaving time for a full mini-raceday-esque event. Weather was in the low 30s but nice and sunny which is better than we might expect for November. Zach Waldman and Ben Matzke covered the rolls report while I was out of town so thanks to them, and no thanks to me for taking this long to get it posted! Fantasy buggy times were collected on Sunday and the winner will be announced very soon.
34 degrees at sunrise; now we’re talking real hardcore rolls weather, and it seems it was too real for 4 of our teams, but DeltaForce wasn’t scared and joined the roster of rolling orgs. Warm sun made it seem warmer than it was and a lack of wind kept the leaves off the course. Saturday was cancelled in advance to allow some mid-semester break relaxation, and Sunday was only 80 minutes long (as the sun rises later and later) but managed to fit in plenty of excitement.
Fall continues to cooperate, giving teams another dry weekend to get their routines down. We’re definitely into hoodie weather now though, and leaves were blowing across all parts of the course like crazy. SigNu was absent but a new team called Delta Force came close to joining the ranks of the rolling. Read on for the nitty gritty.
The weather this week made up for the total rain-out last weekend with two gorgeous sunny mornings in the 50s. The Zoo made it out on the course, so we’re up to 8 teams. This was another week of collaborative rolls-reporting, and the much of the same crew came through this time. Many thanks go out to Ben Matzke, Zachary Waldman, Andrew Hundt, and Katherine Crawford for notes, pictures, and radar gun data. That’s right, radar gun data. Keep reading for the numbers on the early-season speed demons and a number of incidents and conflagrations.
2 weekends of rolls in the books and we’re up to 7 orgs, we’re seeing some speed, and also the usual assortment of challenges to overcome. This also marks the first edition of our collaborative rolls report format. I was out of town and a these fine folks stepped up and got the job done for us: Ben Matzke, Zachary Waldman, Hannah Rosenblum, and Andrew Hundt. I also very much appreciate everyone who contributed pictures (either by uploading them which is still a bit tedious, or by sending me a link to their collection). Without further ado or any editing on my part …
I hope the rolls report faithful weren’t too distraught today given the lack of rolls report following an exciting truck weekend. As you may remember, after truck weekend the large and well compensated BAA staffers spend the night producing an in depth and comprehensive report for our generous supporters: the Members-Only Raceday Preview. Lucky for you, there’s still time to become a member or renew your membership via our 
SAE had a gnarly wheel failure while entering the chute on Saturday. It looked familiar in many ways to the failures Spirit and CIA had and it ups the expectation that the road quality will inflict some casualties this raceday. SAE has their act together though, and they whipped up a spare in time for rolls on Sunday.
Fringe and CIA both lost rear hatches in the chute. Figure out those tape strategies before next week everyone! On a general note, chairmen, take a moment and remind everyone in your org how they can avoid DQing the team. Sounds simple right, but every year there are tons of DQs for stupid stuff. Don’t be in the stupid club next week.
SigEp had some cool looking transponders on their buggies. I’m guessing they were GPS or accelerometers of some sort. Barracuda was flying all weekend so I’m guessing the data looks good no matter which variables they were measuring.
Fans in the chute were fairly well entertained this weekend. Not to be lowbrow about it though, there was lots of speed on display and some thrilling driving. Both SDC and PiKA’s RD2011 are routinely drifting through the turn at full speed. PiKA was losing big chunks of rubber in the process but rolling out well. AEPi hit the inside curb after the hay bales in what looked like a visibility issue. SN’s Skua ended the semester of rolls with a distinctly squirrely entrance line and then a pretty quick spin that sent her into the bales tail first. SDC took the cake for most exciting incident without even stopping when Avarice swung out all the way outside and tapped the bales with her outside rear wheel with enough force to throw some hay in the air. The recovery was truly impressive though as she got back on track and managed to roll out a number of windows. Youtube of those three below.
How do you know it’s late March in Pittsburgh? 1) It was 20 degrees or less at rolls 2) 8 of the 11 orgs put up their fastest time of the semester this weekend (and the other three were the 1 buggy orgs). The cold was killing walkie-talkie batteries, fogging windshields, and fogging my brain, but impressively the buggies were flying.