Spring is almost here, and Saturday this week at least felt like it! We had 10 organizations rolling with numerous buggies, including 4 new builds and a few old ones we hadn’t seen in a while. Very limited incidents made for a smooth and busy day- read on!

Fringe’s fleet with NB2025

• Saturday was back to great weather, 55F at the start and it warmed up to T-shirt weather by the end of rolls. There were many new drivers and new buggies, see the details in our team synopses. Sunday weather was looking iffy but the teams came out, and then during drops the rain rolled in, ending the day early.
  

Spirit finishing a roll

• After a long winter break, chores were more challenging than usual. The bollards that mark the bike lanes were especially stubborn, needing a clamp to remove some of them. Thankfully, that didn’t extend to other obstacles on the course- no cars needed towing. There was only one reported external incident, a brief break to allow CMU PD through the course. They followed the proper procedures (unlike certain other city organizations in the past).

SDC with an apt motto

• All 10 orgs that we expect to see on Raceday were on the course this weekend. 30 buggies were rolling around the course (counting robots), the most in quite a while. Many were working to start shedding bags and getting pass tests as soon as they were allowed.
  

Robobuggy returned to rolling in the early dawn light

• Apex. Apex brought out a new buggy called Helios this weekend. (Quick history note: Helios (1995) is the name of the most successful Pioneers buggy, an org last seen on the course in 2011. Pioneers is something of a spiritual progenitor of Apex, an independent org that handed off some of their resources to Apex when they were starting out. Oh, and if you want to hear more history like this, may I recommend Chute the Sh*t!) We also like to see the shell looking at least a little bit different than their other buggies, showing some experimentation. In other news, Solaris brakes were too tight, causing one early stop, and 2 of Apex’s drivers completed their Pass test / driving safety requirement.

Say hello to Helios!

• CIA. 5 CIA buggies were rolling this weekend, including the return of Goldfinch after a crash in the fall, and the new buggy for 2025- Starling! Starling was still sporting the fresh buggy “shrink wrap” look, and looks like another iteration on the Goldfinch design, with the curved handle and steeper-angled pushbar. Other news on CIA’s rolls were mostly clean, we heard Goldfinch did have some steering issues that weren’t serious.

Starling has all the tech

• DG. Despite reports of a build, we did not see a new buggy from DG this weekend. Insite rolled around the course twice with their newer driver.

Insite

• Fringe. Fringe also had 5 buggies on the course, including a new buggy! Their build for 2025, (shown in the intro photo) looks very similar to the recent other buggies built. We didn’t get many good photos, we will be on the lookout next weekend! No incidents to report.

Blueshift

• PiKA. 1 roll credited for Raptor. If anyone has info to share as to why only 1 – post in the comments!

Photos of Pike buggies were hard to come by this week

• SAE. There were many rumors that SAE was close to debuting a new build this year. They did not this weekend, but we continue to hear they are very close to caping. Barbie returned to the course for 3 rolls on Saturday.

Barbie returns

• SDC. Another new buggy debuted for SDC- Paranoia! This buggy looks right at home with the current fleet, and sports what looked like a matte black finish, but closer examination looks like tape. SDC, we are still waiting to see Gluttony on the course! No incidents reported from their end, continuing to roll efficiently, all 4 buggies nabbed 3 rolls each. 3 of their drivers completed their pass test or equivalent safe driving check.

SDC’s fleet, Paranoia in the front

• SigEp. Sig Ep is working on qualifying three buggies this year, bringing out Barracuda for the first time this school year to join Kraken and Hydra. Kraken made a wrong turn before the monument and did not get a credited roll for the weekend.

Barracuda returned after not rolling in the Fall

• SigNu. SigNu rolled 2 buggies this week, both Krait and Jaeger were out together for the first time this year. No reports of any incidents with them making it around the course.

Flying Krait

• Spirit. One of the unique aspects of Spirit is how they repaint their buggies every year. They started earlier this year- with Kingpin sporting a new paint job this weekend. All 4 of their active buggies were rolling this weekend, and by accounts were rolling smoothly.

Kingpin II