Classes are back in session, the (so far, mild) winter is moving right along, teams are presumably hard at work in their garages getting into the meat of their 2012 builds. For alumni who aren’t taking classes, mostly stay inside, and don’t get to build buggies anymore this can be a bit of a slow time. Once it gets going though, it all happens real fast, so we’re doing a bit of thinking ahead now.
For starters, the rolls schedule for this semester has been updated and can now be perused on the front page. The first weekend of rolls is tentatively Feb. 4th and 5th which is just under 3 weeks away. This of course is always at the mercy of the Pittsburgh weather; recent actual first days of rolls have been later:
- 2009 – Feb 28th
- 2010 – March 14th
- 2011 – Feb 19th
Here at the BAA headquarters, we’re shaking off the off-season rust and setting up for what we want to do this spring. We’ll be posting more details on each of these, but to just to set the stage …
- Sponsorships for Jumbotrons — Those 15′ screens don’t come cheap, and our lead-truck auction raises just a piece of the funds needed. Surely our network of alumni know companies that might want to have an ad next to the screen, right?
- Timing system — For the past two years we’ve supported Sweepstakes’ upgrade to digital photofinish timing on raceday, first with cash then with manpower and know-how. We need to consider whether we can help improve the system further and make sure we’re spreading and documenting the knowledge of how to operate it.
- Succession plan — The BAA committee is likely to see some turnover soon so we need to be looking to recruit new talent and get a workable policy in place for leadership changes and division of labor.
- Website improvements — This is always on my list. I’ve got some things in the works. Anyone else is free to help or point out bugs.
- Now is the time to suggest things that the BAA could or should be doing to make buggy bigger and better, do it!
As if all of that wasn’t enough for the first post of 2o12, AEPi alum and BAA member Bryan Arsham just posted a couple of buggy-themed covers that ought to keep you in the buggy spirit through the long dark nights until rolls start. Without further ado … Continue reading
Last rolls of the semester, temps close to 60, and plans to do another live broadcast from the chute … I was excited for rolls this Sunday. And then I woke up at 10:30. Oops. My sincere apologies to anyone who tried to watch the live stream. After working out the technical details last week, we uncovered and even larger weakness: the human factor. For what it’s worth, I paid my penance with a solid hangover. Luckily Zack Waldman has my back so we’ve got a rolls report.
Rolls on Saturday have been canceled on account of wintery temperatures, but Sunday is still on, and it’ll be the last day of rolls.
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.
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.