Just a couple quick announcements before diving into all the Buggy-goodness:

1. The BAA needs you! With Carnival just 15 days away, we are looking for volunteers to help out with various Raceday-related events including the WRCT broadcast, Design Showcase Panel, Tabling, and updating the official race times on the BAA website. If you can help, please sign up. We will have small tokens of our thanks for your time, as well as a free buggy book!
2. If you are currently reading this rolls report you should feel obligated to call, text, tweet at Pittsburgh 311 and to tell them that the road at the intersection of Tech Street and Schenley Drive is in an unacceptable condition. Coming over the top of hill two took more than a few drivers by surprise to the tune of lost hatches and catching air and possibly influenced worse mechanical issues. Phone Number: 3-1-1 (Pittsburgh Area) 412-255-2621 (Outside PGH)
   Online Form and Twitter
   

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This past Saturday saw the first day of Spring 2018 rolls! With only 6 short weeks until Raceday, this practice was eagerly anticipated; at least by a few teams. While the skies were bright and clear on Saturday, the temperature was just warm enough for pushers and drivers to do their thing. Sunday Rolls were called off on Saturday morning in anticipation of temperatures below 25F and subsequent low team turnout.

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This past weekend, Pittsburgh saw some more wintry weather. While snow wasn’t flying, a 20F morning on Saturday lead to cancelled Rolls. Fortunately the temperature on Sunday crept up above freezing and we were able to have Mini-Raceday! The tl;dr is that Spirit took fastest Freeroll, the PiKA women were the swiftest on the backhills, and SDC took both fastest men’s backhills and fastest overall time. The official Sweepstakes times are towards the end of the post along with timing data from the BAA’s own Shafeeq S.

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This past weekend foul weather again kept us to one day (Saturday) of rolls. Perhaps the Pittsburgh weather wanted to celebrate the release of the new Thor movie. Regardless of the reason, the constant rains and cooling temperatures are unpleasant reminders that winter is coming to the ‘Burgh.

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Thanks to rain and Halloween shenanigans, teams only rolled for one hour this weekend. Saturday was designated the official evening to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve, so Sweepstakes polled the chairmen and canceled Sunday rolls due to a projected low turn out (and high hangover rate). Unfortunately around 8:30am, Pittsburgh decided it was truly fall and it started to rain. Rolls were immediately called and the course was cleaned up for the weekend.

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The parents were out in force this weekend! Thanks for everyone who came out to support the insane sport of buggy bright and early this past Saturday and Sunday. It was awesome to have an enthusiastic audience that was either knowledgeable about buggy, asking great questions or even participating; and did we see some folks pushing the back hills?

Shenanigans started before the first buggy was one its way. At 7:15 am on Saturday, bales were still being set up along the Chute. Sweepstakes put out a call for anyone with a broom to clean off the copious amounts of loose hay, after last weekend seems like our fearless leaders are doing everything in their power to reduce the number of incidents.

That said we did start rolling Robobuggy on Saturday while a buggy related vehicle was still parked down in the Chute. The buggy and follow car passed through without incident. Immediately following the first robobuggy roll, the Sweepstakes chair drove down the course and parked between the groups of flaggers to inspect and then correct the placement of the hay bale on the staircase. Unfortunately, Robo still got the all clear even with a car parked in the middle of the road. To their credit they were able to complete the roll without any incident by dodging between the monument and the Sweepstakes vehicle. Atlas was not out this weekend.

With autonomous rolls wrapped up we got started with human filled buggies.

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This past weekend of rolls was a doozy, and we don’t mean that in a “everyone got 6 rolls” sort of way. Between several crashes, a twisted ankle, and a rather angry motorist, we only got through the roll order 2.5 times. In addition, wet weather on Sunday meant that this was not a very productive weekend for the teams.

In Attendance 

Org	Saturday
Apex	Firefly, Phoenix
CIA	Orca, Emperor, Impulse, Equinox, Tempest
Fringe	Boson, Blueshift, Bissa, Bolt
PiKA	Cliodhna
SDC	Inferno, Malice, Vice, Avarice
Spirit	Inviscid, Zuke, King Pin, Seraph

Observations (Saturday Gallery) Continue reading →

Welcome back Buggy fans! It’s that time of the year again! The leaves are falling, temperatures are dropping, and students are suffering through the first round of exams. We all know what that means: time for Buggy! This past weekend our beloved tradition got started on the right wheel with clear skies and tolerable temperatures. 8 teams were out rolling their buggies tallying up 49 rolls between Saturday and Sunday, although SigNu and AEPi are expected to be joining the roll order soon.

In Attendance 

Org	Saturday	Sunday
Apex	Firefly, Phoenix	Phoenix
CIA	Orca, Icarus, Impulse, Equinox, Tempest	Orca, Emperor, Equinox, Tempest
Fringe	Boson, Blueshift, Bissa, Bolt	Boson, Blueshift, Bissa, Bolt
PhiDelt	Argo
PiKA	Cliodhna	Cliodhna
SDC	Inferno, Malice	Inferno, Malice, Avarice
SigEp	Kraken, Barracuda
Spirit	Inviscid, Zuke, King Pin, Seraph	Inviscid, Zuke, King Pin, Seraph

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →

Can you believe it, buggy fans? We are just days away from the event we’ve been waiting all year for!!! Raceday 2017 is upon us, which means that this past weekend was our annual buggy dress rehearsal, a.k.a. Truck Weekend. Due to significant rain Sunday morning, it was really more like Truck Saturday, but that didn’t stop all 9 human teams and 2 robotic buggies from getting in those final few precious rolls.

After a grueling Heat Selection meeting last night, it is now confirmed that 22 women’s teams will roll in 10 heats and 27 men’s teams will roll in 12 heats. Stay tuned for the official schedule to be posted.

As per tradition, this rolls report isn’t going to contain too much information as we prepare to send out the much anticipated Raceday Preview. This year’s preview is jam-packed with team summaries, photos, alumni interviews, and predictions amongst other awesome buggy-ness. How do you get access to this amazing document? Simple: pay your BAA dues ($10). BAA dues go a long way to helping us keep you up-to-date on the latest buggy news as well as provide critical support to the current students. Plus, you get the Raceday Preview; that alone is worth the measly $10. You can join the BAA or renew your membership here.

Without further ado, the buggies that were rolling this Saturday and some sweet, sweet timing data!

In Attendance 

Org	Saturday
Apex	Phoenix, Ember, Kyle
CIA	Equinox, Tempest, Orca, Impulse, Emperor
Fringe	Boson, Bolt, Bissa, NB17
PhiDelt	Argo
PiKA	Cliodhna, Raptor, Banshee
SAE	Lucy
SDC	Malice, Havoc, Bane, Avarice, Rage
SigEp	Barracuda, Kraken, Beyonce
SigNu	Krait
Spirit	Inviscid, Zuke, King Pin

Observations (Saturday Gallery)

The following data is a compilation of the laser-based system and the video-based system we have reported data from in the past. SDC, PiKA, Spirit, Fringe, and CIA are all, unsurprisingly, at the top of the pack. We’ll let you pour over the numbers though.

Remember, for a final wrap up of how the teams are looking before Raceday, pay your dues and check out the Raceday Preview!

Team	Buggy	Monument (mph)	Steps (mph)	Jumbotron (mph)	Loss (%)
Apex	Ember		28.5	21.6	24%
Apex	Ember	26.3	27.6
Apex	Kyle		31.8	26
Apex	Kyle		32	25.4	21%
Apex	Kyle	30.6	32
Apex	Phoenix		30	24.8	17%
Apex	Phoenix		30.8	25.1	18%
CIA	Emperor		30.7	26.6	13%
CIA	Emperor	29.2	30.4	26.4	13%
CIA	Emperor		31	26.8	13%
CIA	Equinox		34.1	29.2	14%
CIA	Equinox	34	35.3	29.5	16%
CIA	Equinox		36.1	29.7	18%
CIA	Impulse		32.2	26	19%
CIA	Impulse	29.9	31.3	25.5	18%
CIA	Impulse		31	25	19%
CIA	Orca		32.9	27.5	16%
CIA	Orca	31.1	32	27.5	14%
CIA	Orca		31.7	26.4	17%
CIA	Tempest		34.8	29.5	15%
CIA	Tempest		35.7	28.9	19%
CIA	Tempest		34.7	29.5	15%
Fringe	Bissa?		28.7	22.4	22%
Fringe	Bissa?		32.9	25.4	23%
Fringe	Bissa?		35.3	28.2	20%
Fringe	Bolt		33.5	27	19%
Fringe	Bolt		29.6	25.4	14%
Fringe	Bolt	32.5	34.7	27.5	21%
Fringe	Boson			28.2
Fringe	Boson		31	26	16%
Fringe	Boson		36.1	28.9	20%
Fringe	NB17		36.1	28.4	21%
Fringe	NB17			29.2
Fringe	NB17	33.2	34.8	28.9	17%
PhiDelt	Emily	27.3	28.6	23.5
PhiDelt	Emily		25.6	21.1	18%
PhiDelt	Emily	26.6	27.9	20.5	26%
PiKA	Banshee	33.4	34.5	29.5	14%
PiKA	Banshee	35.5	36.8	29.7
PiKA	Banshee	34.5	35.7	28.4	20%
PiKA	Cliodhna	34.7		27.3
PiKA	Cliodhna	32.6	34.2	27.7	19%
PiKA	Cliodhna	33.2	34.7	27	22%
PiKA	Raptor	30	31.8	23.9	25%
PiKA	Raptor	30.7	32.2	26.2
PiKA	Raptor	33		28
SAE	Lucy		34.1	27	21%
SAE	Lucy		33.5	26.8	20%
SAE	Lucy		32.7	25.4	23%
SDC	Avarice	32.3	33.3	28.2	15%
SDC	Avarice	31.5		27.5
SDC	Avarice		33.6	28.4	16%
SDC	Avarice	34.4	35.5
SDC	Bane	35.2	36.1	30.6	15%
SDC	Bane		33.1	28.2	15%
SDC	Bane	32.1	33.3	28.2	15%
SDC	Bane?	32.2
SDC	Havoc	33.8		26.2
SDC	Havoc		32.9	27.7	16%
SDC	Havoc	31.4	32.4	26.2	19%
SDC	Malice	34.5	35.3	29.5	16%
SDC	Malice	35.7		30.3
SDC	Malice		36.6	30.8	16%
SDC	Malice	33.4	34.2	28.7	16%
SDC	Rage	30.8	31.7	26.4	17%
SigEp	Barracuda	33.9		27.3
SigEp	Beyonce			21.8
SigEp	Beyonce	27.3	28.7
SigEp	Beyonce	29.4	31	25.4	18%
SigEp	Beyonce	29.7	31	24.8	20%
SigEp	Beyonce	28.7	29.7
SigEp	Kraken		29.1	23.7	19%
SigEp	Kraken	29.3	30.7	24.6	20%
SigEp	Kraken	27.9	29.1	23.7	19%
SigNu	Krait	33.5	35.3	27.7	22%
SigNu	Krait		34.5	28.4	18%
Spirit	Inviscid		34.7	28.4	18%
Spirit	Inviscid		34.7	28.9	17%
Spirit	Inviscid	33.4	34.8	29.7	15%
Spirit	Kingpin		35.1	28.4	19%
Spirit	Kingpin	34	35.3	27.5	22%
Spirit	Kingpin	36	37.1	28.9	22%
Spirit	Zuke		34.5	27.3	21%
Spirit	Zuke	28.5	29.7	23.7	20%
Spirit	Zuke!	35	36.8	27.5	25%

See you on Friday for prelims!

Rolls Report Contributors:
Shafeeq
Natalie M.

Can you believe it, Buggy fans? Raceday 2017 is a mere week away! Much like our buggies, time seems to be speeding up as we approach the pinnacle of buggy-lover activities. Every org but one was out and getting in those last few rolls before Truck Weekend. Though, it seems that several teams are waiting on their duct tape orders to arrive. Ethan G (report writer and radioman extraordinaire) amassed quite the collection of hatches and various buggy bits that came loose in the chute.

If you arrived at rolls before 6:30 on Saturday, you’d have seen about 100 vehicles on the course as EMS borrowed our closed roads to do some training for their drivers. Rolls scheduled to start earlier this weekend were delayed on Saturday by course works and confusion on the roads as we scrambled to get the flaggers to their positions before their buggies were rolling. There was a little chaos and many teams were not prepared as Sweepstakes called for first roll.

Triple Buggy Spin – The major incident on the course this weekend occurred Sunday during a joint PhiDelt and Apex Roll. After passing Panther Hollow bridge and the transition flaggers the driver of the lead PhiDelt buggy felt, or heard something that upset her enough to put on the brakes. After applying the brakes the buggy went into a spin and came to a stop in the middle of the roadway. Unfortunately they were being closely followed by 2 Apex buggies ‘Ember’ and ‘Kyle’. Upon seeing stop flags Ember applied the brakes and pulled left, spinning around and coming to a stop against the sidewalk. ‘Kyle’ seeing this attempted to steer to a wide right of the pileup and applied the brakes as she headed towards the monument. ‘Kyle’ at this point also spun around and came to a stop leaving 3 buggies facing the wrong direction just upstream of the monument. EMS cleared all the drivers for be pushed through but this very unexpected turn of events results in a significant rolls slow-down.

In Attendance 

Org	Saturday	Sunday
Apex	Phoenix	Kyle, Ember
CIA	Orca, Tempest, Emperor	Orca, Impulse, Emperor
Fringe	Bolt, Bissa, Beacon, NB17, Boson	Boson, Bolt, NB17, Beacon
PhiDelt	Emily	Emily
PiKA	Banshee, Cliodhna	Banshee, Cliodhna, Raptor
SAE	Lucy
SDC	Malice, Havoc, Bane, Avarice, Rage	Malice, Havoc, Bane Avarice, Rage
SigEp	Kraken, Barracuda, Beyonce	Kraken, Barracuda, Beyonce
Spirit	Inviscid, Zuke, King Pin	Inviscid, Zuke, King Pin

Observations (Saturday Gallery | Sunday Gallery) Continue reading →