This week, we set the clocks back and the buggies forward, as Saturday was Mini-Raceday! The shortest day of Rolls of the year saw a lot of excitement, as 8 orgs were out doing full Hill 1s and getting some times. Sunday saw a smaller crowd, as several orgs decided to get the extra hour of sleep instead of more Fall rolls, leading to a Rolls session that actually ended early.
Red sky in the morning, Buggy drivers take warning… that it’s Mini-Raceday!
It was Halloween weekend at the corner of Tech & Frew, which meant a very important thing: Buggy Costumes! Of course, it also meant that there were Halloween parties Saturday night, and as is pretty common, party nights mean tired* students that don’t want to wake up for Rolls at 4am the next day. Because of that, there was no quorum for Sunday rolls, leaving us with just 1 day of Rolls this weekend.
It’s a short rolls report this week, and it’s not because we didn’t have people out there (though you should still help us out by signing up to take notes/photos). Saturday’s rolls were cancelled early in the week due to a lack of quorum. But Sunday was still on, and with decent weather things were looking up…Until Sweepstakes got to the course. It didn’t take long before they discovered an Excavator parked on the shoulder of Schenley Drive just past Westinghouse Pond. Even worse, it was parked on the Flagstaff side of the road, leaving the construction equipment directly in the line of the drivers. Particularly with some new drivers out at rolls, the placement of the equipment was considered to be far too great a risk to buggies and drivers. Therefore, Sweepstakes was left with no choice but to cancel rolls.
The BAA History Committee will neither confirm nor deny that it is following up on a tip it received on the whereabouts of DU’s King Eider.
A few upcoming reminders to close this report out:
There are no Rolls for the next 2 weekends, as we’re coming up on CMU’s Fall Break. But stick around, as we should be back before Halloween (we’ll see if any teams dress up their buggies this year).
Next weekend may not have Rolls, but it’s Family Weekend at CMU (why they scheduled Family Weekend during the Fall Break is a good question, but neither the BAA nor Sweepstakes had anything to do with it). If you’re on campus, make sure to check out Tom Wood’s History of Buggy Presentation – Family Edition, at Noon on Saturday, October 14 in Connan Room – CUC.
Mini-Raceday is currently scheduled for the weekend of November 4-5, and we’ll need LOTS of help, especially when it comes to timing. If you’re in Pittsburgh or considering going back for that weekend, please let us know.
CMU Homecoming is the weekend of November 11-12, and there should be Rolls. If you’ll be back that weekend, make sure to come out and join us!
Last but not least, if you’ve submitted a BAA Endowed Fund Grant Proposal, reminder that your feedback responses are due this week!
Heavy fog rolled in to Pittsburgh this weekend, but even that wasn’t enough to stop CMU students from showing up for both days of rolls. Overall, it was a pretty quiet weekend of rolls, with teams that have been out taking it a bit easier this weekend. But it did include the return to the course for a couple of teams, and one new “organization”?
I’m pretty sure I remember the Cathedral being taller than that
If rain on your wedding day is a sign of good luck, what does it mean if there’s Buggy on your wedding day? With the Great Race on Sunday, there was only 1 day of Rolls this weekend. But with 6 teams on the course, even some more wildlife and vehicular traffic couldn’t stop rolls for too long and teams got a fair number of clean rolls in.
Shana Tova to those who celebrate! This weekend marked the start of not only Year 5784 on the Hebrew calendar, but Year 103 on the Buggy calendar! That’s right – We’re back for the 2023-2024 Buggy Season! And what a weekend it was. It was a mix of new and returning this weekend – new and returning students, new and returning teams, new and returning wildlife, and new and returning road hazards.
As is tradition, this rolls report will be a very light report, acting as an appetizer for the raceday preview. If you’d like to see the thorough report, it’s not too late to sign up to be a member of the BAA! This year’s beautiful report (props to the fabulous Linna Griffin) contains the full set of times from truck weekend, sassy predictions, team descriptions, and more buggy goodness.
Additionally, the prelim truck auction is now LIVE! The Finals Lead Truck Auction will be in person at Buggy Bash, Friday 7PM in the Schatz Dining Room. Huge thank you to Wade Gordon for getting this set up for us this year.
All that being said, please see below for some wonderful guest chute reporting done by the Cook on Saturday of truck weekend:
Fringe: Nothing notable other than rolling a new buggy called Barbie, passing another buggy in the second roll
DG: Both rolls required pusher assist to make it to the driveway, scratched 3rd and 4th round
CIA: rolling four buggies, consistently quick on all and saving fastest roll for Roadrunner in 4th round – 3rd fastest chute time of the day.
Apex: Rolling two buggies consistently, mid-pack for speeds, no incidents
SigEp: Worked up to speed and completed a pass test on 2nd round, and broke off the 2nd fastest chute time of day for Kraken in round 4.
SDC: Modest speeds (for SDC) but the big news is that Avarice experienced a loss of the left rear wheel and spindle in front of the 3rd window on Hill 3, with a loud scraping noise due to axle-ground braking. Interestingly the buggy’s usual fairly loud rattling changed cadence over the black strip mid-chute, gaining the attention of this observer, and the wheel parted company some 10 seconds later.
Spirit: Spirit turned in their fastest roll on the first buggy of the 1st round despite a lurid chute turn. Unfortunately all three stablemates were stopped in the transition due to the second buggy having some sort of reported fairing failure, out of view of this observer. All three were cleared from the course without injury or further incident after a painful 15-minute delay. Rounds 2 and 3 went without incident although also without the pace shown in the first roll, and without fairings.
SigNu: SigNu showed good pace in all three rolls with Jaeger, turning in the fastest chute time of the day and 3 of the top 6. No incidents other than a very wide line in round 2 that was well-controlled after a trip to the bales looked like a distinct possibility.
PiKA: PiKA had an eventful day with an unforced wild slide and recovery near the transition flag with Cleo on the second roll. This observer feared an unpleasant trip to the monument was possible, but Cleo continued only to show a similar but not as severe instability mid-chute. Banshee also completed its 3rd round without a rear hatch.
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
Thank you to Veronica for her guest reporting this weekend (and for her boyfriend for taking photos)!
The windy Sunday morning started with Robobuggy walking the course.
Apex: Apex brought out three buggies Solaris, Molotov, and a double bagged Scorch their newest buggy, incognito in white. They seemed ready for raceday, showing off a strong hill 1 and 2 transition.
CIA: CIA looked fast (I blinked and the follow car was gone!) with four unbagged buggies, Equinox, Kingfisher, Roadrunner, and Emperor.
DG: DG brought out Insite and executed a pass test with some help from Zuke.
Fringe: Fringe brought out Bumper and Burnout which needed 5 bags to slow it down! They also brought out Batman, looking impressive with its black wheel covers. Baltic emerged later in the day, steered by Burnout’s intended driver.
PiKA: PiKA came out with Banshee, Raptor, and Cleona. They seemed to struggle with their tent (as always) which kept being knocked over in the wind, but it seems like it was all worthwhile for them as Cleona needs only one more roll to qualify.
SDC: We were happy to see SDC back out on the course after a tumultuous few weeks. They had Avarice and Inferno out today, practicing smooth passes for both buggies via strategic hill 2 push-offs.
SigEp: Sigep brought out Kraken, followed by Barracuda with a strong hill 2 push off.
SigNu: SigNu emerged for the second round of rolls with Jager and Krait, with Krait picking up speed on its second go around the course.
Spirit: Spirit brought out Seraph, Inviscid, and Zuke which needed four bags to slow it down. Spirit hustled as always, somehow managing to squeeze in several rolls throughout the morning and sending off their buggies with strong hill 2 push-offs.
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
Thank you to Molly (and Ozzy) this week for their help with reporting!
Ozzy Sniff test: Ozzy conducted a sniff test on all the buggies and his ratings are below. This test was performed by luring Ozzy near the buggies with a treat and then observing his response. An immediate run away is a thumbs down, one sniff is a thumbs up, and sustained interest is two thumbs up. Ozzy would also like to say that he is very appreciative to everyone who gave him pets today.
APEX?
SigNu ?
Pike ?
SigEp ?
CIA ??
Fringe ?
Spirit ?
Apex: Apex had a pretty smooth day with three buggies out. Seems like they’re working to qualify their returning buggies early to prepare for a potential newbuggy release?
CIA: In addition to some weird sounds from their buggies today, CIA seemed to be attempting a new kind of pass test. During their first roll of the day, two CIA buggies were racing up hill 1 and we noticed a super weird hill 2 swerve from one of CIA’s buggies – one went super wide outside of lines, one went the proper way. They fixed themselves going into freeroll but garnered a strict yell from the safety chair.
Fringe: Fringe had a relatively straight-forward day, other than a crash during their third roll of the day. While making the chute turn, one driver accidentally hit the outer bales. The driver was cleared quickly and both the driver and buggy are okay. The hatch popped off in the crash, but there was no visible damage. The second buggy safely stopped up by the transition flag and was safely extracted.
PiKA: PiKA had an uneventful day with the exception of a successful PiKApex pass test.
Robobuggy: Robobuggy had a slight brake incident in the beginning of the free roll – stopped around Westinghouse pond. After an extended pause (and some duct tape), NAND continued at walking pace, but was rolling fully autonomously.
SigEp: After scratching their first roll, SigEp came out strong – looking quite fast in the freeroll. Maybe they’re the ones to watch this raceday.
SigNu: SigNu scratched their first roll as well, but came in slowly and bagged once they started rolling. They seemed to be slightly wobbling but and needed a slight boost to get up to hill 3, but the (new) driver handled the chute like a champ and got through safely.
Spirit: Spirit is pushing forward strongly in their prep for raceday. We noticed a bit of sliding during their chute turns, but they seemed in control!
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
Thank you to Molly and Declan this week for their help with reporting! We also had a speed trap set up for rolls. See here for the data.
Apex: Out today with Solaris and their new buggy Scorch. Scorch has yet to be painted and the current chalk design is reminiscent of the iconic Bumper’s meme menagerie. Kids these days and their Tick-Talks! Rolls wise they made it around the course slow and steady with some strong efforts by their push team.
CIA: Equinox lost a wheel in the chute and spun into bales. Kingfisher drove through a stop flag but came to a stop in the chute just past Equinox. The remainder of their rolls seemed to go by without much issue. They showed some good speed but are certainly still looking to pick up more speed before race day.
DG: rolling with Insite today, clean and smooth throughout their rolls. Bagged and therefore not exceptionally fast but it’s cool to see Insite on the course. They had some of the longest hill 3s of the day, picking up the buggy deep in the chute, but some encouragement from the follow car driver helped the pushers power through to hill 4.
Fringe: Bumper and “Batman” were out today. Their new buggy is showing promising speed and is perhaps even more smooth and quiet than the typical Fringe buggy. Bumper however gave them some issues with trying to conduct a pass test due to its lack of speed. On the third and final roll of the day Bumper stopped in the free roll because the driver’s hands got too cold.
PiKA: On their second roll of the day a driver hit a grate quite hard and came to a stop in the chute. Driver seemed to be fine but Cliona did not roll the third time around. Otherwise PiKA showed some speed and purpose even with bagged buggies.
Robobuggy: Robobuggy had it’s first autonomous roll since 2019! They finally made it around the course with no interventions nor crashes. Video footage can be found here. Check out that chute turn!
SigEp: Kraken rolling well around the course with some fast pushers behind.
SigNu: Rolling clean and smooth, appeared to be one of the fastest on the course today as well.
Spirit: Had some mechanical issues at the top of the hill, but seemed to be the fastest team in the freeroll by a good margin. They rolled their buggies tight enough to have some close foot races on the backhills. Very excited to see Zuke and KPs new paint jobs and to see how this team performs on race day!
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
