Let’s Vote in a new Treasurer!

Posted on | by ben | 9 Comments on Let’s Vote in a new Treasurer!

After almost half a year without a Treasurer, it’s about time we vote one in and complete our team as we start looking ahead to the spring semester.

Thanks to the nominations from our last vote, Bryan Arsham, AEPi Alum from 2010 2008 and new Broadcaster as of last year, has offered tohelp us out. So now it’s our responsibility to show our confidence in his abilities and confirm his nomination.

Please comment below with you vote for or against his confirmation, and feel free to include any questions for him if you have any. Voting period through Monday Nov. 20th.

 

Mini-Raceday Results will be coming out with the rolls report later this week!

50th Anniversary at CMU Homecoming & By-Laws Amendments

Posted on | by ben

Homecoming Buggy Events

As Natalie mentioned in the last Rolls Report, Spirit Buggy Founder Matt Wagner will be returning to give his “Everything I learned, I learned from Buggy” Talk and we will also be bringing out the doughnuts and coffee for Saturday morning if it’s not too cold. So come by and say Hi!

Coffee & Doughnuts Tent

7:00 am @ Corner of Tech and Frew

Alternate (in case of cancellation): 9:00am @ Danforth Conference Room, CUC

Everything I learned, I learned from Buggy

9:30am @ Danforth Conference Room, CUC

 

By-Laws Amendments & Other updates

With the Rules Committee meetings well underway, teams are starting to get a chance to vote on some of the various changes with planned implementation slated for next semester for various procedural adjustments. So far, the Rules Committee has been starting off light making minor corrections to outdated rules and formalizing some of the existing practices. Here is a list of many of the new rules or adjustments that have been discussed and/or voted on:

  • Autonomous Buggy – Robobuggy has officially been added to the regular roll order by a unanimous vote of the chairmen and will be working on new sections and definitions to help define their place in the sport for the years to come.
  • Drop Test – The chairmen have voted to include a minor revision requiring each buggy/driver combination to be tested each morning that combination intends to roll.
  • Speed Restrictions for New Drivers – Something that has already been in practice for the last several years, Sweepstakes will be formalizing their first roll speed limits.
    • Veteran Drivers would be required to be speed limited for their first (1) roll of each semester.
    • New Drivers would be required to be speed limited for their first 3 or 4 rolls (TBD).
    • Once New Drivers reach their carry-over limit (8 for fall) they would be considered “experienced” and would only require a single speed limited roll for the following term.
  • Optional Follow Car – During Freeroll practices, teams would have the option to forgo their follow car and instead have a member of their team with an extraction kit remain with sweepstakes at the top of the hill and ride with the safety chair in the event of an incident. The chairmen voted to approve this amendment and will begin implementation starting this spring.

Mini Raceday

Teams will be competing in mini-raceday this Saturday for one of 4 top spots. Awards will be given to the top times for Men’s and Women’s, Freeroll and Backhill times. In the event that rolls are cancelled Saturday, Sunday is the fall-back plan.

Rolls Report: Oct. 28 – Happy Halloween!

Posted on | by Natalie McGuier | 2 Comments on Rolls Report: Oct. 28 – Happy Halloween!

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.

Continue reading →

Rolls Report: Oct. 14 & 15 – Parents weekend and other fun things

Posted on | by Natalie McGuier | 5 Comments on Rolls Report: Oct. 14 & 15 – Parents weekend and other fun things

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.

Continue reading →

Rolls Report: Oct 7 – Rolls are on a 10 minute delay…

Posted on | by Natalie McGuier | 3 Comments on Rolls Report: Oct 7 – Rolls are on a 10 minute delay…

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 →

Rolls Report: Sept 30 & Oct 1- First Weekend of Rolls!!

Posted on | by Natalie McGuier | 12 Comments on Rolls Report: Sept 30 & Oct 1- First Weekend of Rolls!!

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 →

Fall Kickoff and BAA Officer’s meeting notes

Posted on | by ben | 2 Comments on Fall Kickoff and BAA Officer’s meeting notes

Treasurer

We are still looking for one after the last election cycle. We will be reaching out to those who were nominated last year, but if you or someone you know has an interest in being an active BAA officer to help support everything that we do, please let us know. More info on this will be posted in the coming weeks.

Updates from campus

Sweepstakes has landed on a start date for fall rolls finding a balance between the various marathons/charity runs/other road closures. Weather permitting, first rolls will be September 30th, a bit later than usual, but will avoid some challenges and costs that past Sweepstakes have dealt with.

Many teams still need to complete capes, but they’ve still got two weeks to fit them all in. During capes, we saw the reveal of a new buggy from SDC named Inferno sporting a slightly darker red than their standby workhorse Rage. From first look, Inferno follows the form factor trends of their last few builds, so we can’t wait to see how it performs on the course, and with senior and veteran A-team driver Annie Black potentially behind the helm, we have some great expectations.

At the end of last year, the incoming Sweepstakes committee expressed an interest in a full rules committee to clear up some rules that have been modified over the years and also update procedural matters to align with the modern format/changes that haven’t been formally written down.

During Orientation, Sweepstakes held another iteration of “What is Buggy” to introduce the freshmen to our beloved sport. Several teams participated and brought out a buggy to show off on the cut drawing eyes and interest from passersby.

Notes from the last committee meeting

Some time ago, BAA HQ had our Fall meeting and caught up with each other and our projects so here’s a quick update on our progress and plans going forward.

Progress

  • Krishan has been making some great progress and should have fixed the account sign-up issue that we were having. If you’ve been waiting to sign up give it a try now and let us know if you run into any issues.
  • As we did last year, we are planning to release a kickoff/wrap-up  newsletter before the start of fall rolls (which now has a date) to all members.
  • Fall rolls reports will continue this semester and we are looking to add some new reporters to further expand on the weekend events. If you are in the area and come out to rolls, let us know and we would be more than happy to include any notes you might have!
  • Because of the vital role that cmuTV plays in Raceday, we’ve been talking with a few of their alums and are starting to organize a alumni support group specifically for them. Given how busy the group gets in the spring with their numerous shows, any support we can send their way will come back as support for us.

Next Steps

  • We are continuing to make a push to reach out to possible new teams and following up with the outreach that was started by last year’s sweepstakes. Along those lines, we are working to compile a list of available buggies that new teams could rent, please shoot us a message if you know of some in the area.
  • Priority for the website is cleaning up some security issues and cleaning up some of the underlying architecture. If you spot any issues please shoot us a message or post a comment. Thanks to those of you who continue to send us these notes!
  • There has been talk of doing a short mid-season newsletter this year as a recap of the fall and make some predictions for the spring, so keep an eye right here for more info on that. If you would be interested in helping, or have a topic that you want covered, don’t hesitate to let us know.

Events

  • Homecoming – CMU is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the merger between Carnegie Tech and Mellon College of Science this year.
    • Tom is preparing a special version of his History of Buggy Presentation for homecoming this year.
    • We are also planning to have our doughnut and coffee tent out for rolls that weekend, so come by and say hi if you’re in town!
  • Carnival – We are starting to make plans for Carnival this year and will again be looking for volunteers to help keep things running and up-to-date through the races. The officers will be busy managing other BAA tasks, so we are looking to find some leads to help us just during that weekend.
  • Local Meetups – We’ve attempted these to some success over the years, but we would love to have more Buggy Alumni meetups in other areas. The BAA has large concentrations in New York and Silicon Valley and will be making some outreach to those chapters, but if you are interested and would go to a local meetup, we’d love to hear from you and provide whatever support your area might need.

BAA Summer Meeting Notes

Posted on | by ben | 2 Comments on BAA Summer Meeting Notes

Hello all you Buggy Fans! It’s about time we shared with yinz what we’ve been up to and what we’re planning for next year. Since our last post like this was quite a while ago, this’ll be a bit of a recap of last year and then also our plans going into the 2017-2018 season.

Summary of 2016-2017 Season:

Continuing of primary goals and expansion new projects during Rolls.

  • Rolls Reports went well this year while increasing the average number of contributors. Thanks to these additional hands, we were frequently able to add more detail and information to these reports.
  • Timing Systems exploded this year as we are now up to at least 4 or 5 different ones. Ben Brown has continued his initial speed trap system and added a version 2.o into the mix. Mark Estes worked on applying his soap box networked timing system to the odd shape of the course to some success. Shafeeq and Tom Wood also continue their camera and stopwatch traps that have helped confirm some of the success from the automated systems.

On Raceday we experimented with some new strategies to varying success.

  • We brought on and mixed in some new broadcasters with our regulars and heard many positive remarks on our picks.
  • Team interviews were attempted, but due to the reduced heat schedule, we were unable to fit them in.
  • The BAA had our own team of volunteers for the races this year which generally went well, despite a bit of disorganization.
  • The Table and Tent for the BAA at the top of the hill was useful if also a bit disorganized.
  • Sweepstakes came up significantly short on their fundraising this year and we were able to step in and cover the costs of one of the Jumbotrons as well as the additional camera that was used on the course this year.

Plans for 2017-2018 Season:

We have some ambitious goals for the upcoming season. Some more administrative, others that we hope will improve the buggy experience for everyone.

  • Our membership period will be adjusted to line up with CMU’s fiscal calendar. For the transition, anyone that donated after This year’s raceday will still be considered a member through this season. All memberships going forward will end at the end of June.
  • Work is already begun on revamping this site and updating some of its tools to the more recent versions. Our current focuses will be:
    • Security Updates
    • Making the site more mobile friendly
    • Better usability for Raceday
    • Fixing and consolidating logins
    • Finding a better long-term solution for our gallery hosting
  • We have a somewhat disorganized google drive folder that we will be cleaning up so we can more easily find & search all of its great information.
  • Last year’s Sweepstakes committee did a great job reaching out to potential groups that would be willing to support a buggy team and we plan to follow up on the list that they generated to get an idea of what challenges they run into the most.
  • Externally, we have some goals for the larger CMU and Pittsburgh Communities.
    • Most of what we are looking to do is increase awareness of buggy and potentially interest.
    • We will be working with students and the administration on the best methods for this outreach.
    • In the larger Pittsburgh community, we will be reaching out to local news and radio programs, which we used to be covered by in years past.
  • Raceday itself is its own beast where we have some specific goals for 2018.
    • We will be talking with cmuTV and work with them closely to find ways of displaying our speed trap data as live as possible on the feed.
    • Reading off the pusher names has been a great addition to the broadcast, but we are working to find a way of introducing them more directly prior to the race starting that will not adversely affect the timing.
    • As the primary people affected by any changes, everything will be run past the current students with a focus on taking their input and interests above our own.

Current Projects

Over the summer we don’t usually have much going on. Aside from the previously mentioned website upgrades that are being looked into, we do have a Raceday Recap newsletter in the works that we plan to release before the start of Rolls this year. If you have any desire to contribute, please email aileen@cmubuggy.org for more information.

We will be meeting again in August just before Volunteer forum and will post an update on our progress so far. Summers are often slow, but we are optimistic with our new team.