This was an eventful weekend out on the buggy course! After two weeks off for Fall Break, the teams returned and wow- we had a lot going on. A team making its season debut, freshly painted Hill 1 lines, mechanical failures in the chute, Buggy Halloween costumes, and a rogue police car causing a very concerning incident on the course.

• We need to lead with a scary situation from Saturday- and this is no fault of anyone in the CMU community. About halfway through the day, during CIA’s roll, a City of Pittsburgh police SUV drove around the barricades and entered the course. We’ve since learned there was an alarm triggered near Panther Hollow, two cars responded. One of the cars followed protocol and stopped at the Schenley Drive barricade to alert the students they needed to enter. The other car ignored any signs or barricades, drove onto the grass to avoid them, and then came back onto the road and passed within feet of Roadrunner just prior to the chute turn. Very fortunately, the driver of Roadrunner saw the car, stayed along the curb to avoid it, and then coasted/braked towards the Schenley Bridge. Her pushbar hit the barricade as she was coming to a stop.
  
  Meanwhile on the course, the police car proceed towards the monument and paused. Stop flags were thrown, although not quite soon enough for Kingfisher as she proceeded through the chute without incident. The stop flag did cause Bungarus Krait (who was rolling with CIA to get additional rolls) to brake and spin to a stop. Then, the police car continued to drive towards the building near Panther Hollow, met up with his fellow car, cleared the alarm, and then drove away. They did not check in with anyone on the course. But, Sweepstakes has the offending car’s number, and EMS and Sweeps are following up. Let’s be clear, (as far as I could see) this officer did not follow proper protocol and could have caused a serious injury. Sweepstakes conducted a thorough debrief of all witnesses and the BAA offered assistance in any way we could.

• More Pittsburgh news now- the Panther Hollow bridge is now closed to traffic. The City inspected this bridge recently and deemed it unsafe. For those keeping track, this brings the number of closed bridges in Schenley Park to two. Only one left before we realize our goal of the buggy course being closed to traffic indefinitely!
  

No cars go, but bikes and joggers could

• On a lighter note, we saw some excellent Halloween costumes on buggies this weekend. Head over to the gallery to check them out! You can see my personal favorite on the right. A really iconic costume for SDC’s Vice, sporting a very precise painter’s tape wrap. We’d expect nothing less.

• Two more notes: Sweeps ensured we had new start lines and Hill 2 zones for Mini-Raceday- a few photos in our Sunday gallery. And Sigma Nu returned to the course!

The new start lines, ready for Mini Raceday!

• Apex. Apex now has 4 buggies with appearances this year as Molotov made its debut this weekend, rolling both days. Scorch also cosplayed as the Batmobile this weekend, other than that we don’t have much to report- this weekend, that is a good sign.

Molotov

• CIA. The incident with the police car wasn’t CIA’s only incident unfortunately. On Sunday, Goldfinch’s driver seemed to miss the transition flag and hit the left curb. The driver was quickly checked and cleared (a testament to its safe design) but Goldfinch was done for the day after that.

Emperor with her crown slightly askew

• DG. Delta Gamma wasn’t on the course this weekend- but! We have heard the rumor that they didn’t make it out because they are focusing on their first-ever build.

• Fringe. A very quiet day for Fringe with no incidents. A few interesting costumes, and Burnout made it around the course this time after some earlier problems in prior weekends.

Blackbird is watching you

• SDC. SDC was out with 3 buggies each day. Some interesting costumes for sure. On Saturday, the Minion lost its rear hatch turning into the chute and it came to a rest right on their line. Stop flags were thrown and the next buggy came to a stop. On Sunday, their lines seemed to get a little spooky, going very far outside and then power sliding back in. Bane in particular got reeeeally close to the outside bales before recovering.

Finding Avarice

• SigNu. The brothers of Sigma Nu return! Bungarus Krait got as many rolls as they could on an abbreviated Saturday, rolling with Fringe and CIA one time each. Were it not for the police car incident, they would’ve had the most credited rolls on the day.

Bungarus Krait

• Spirit. Kingpin emerged for the first time this season, and then quickly had a major problem in the chute, losing a wheel towards the end of the chute turn. Sparks were flying as the axle made contact with the asphalt. They made a quick repair though as Kingpin was out Sunday along with their other three active buggies. A rare 4 buggy appearance during a normal day of rolls for Spirit.

All 4 Spirit buggies past the finish