With the last weekend before Spring Break, mother nature decided to play a cruel trick on teams. Sunday rolls were cancelled early in the week due to expected temperatures in the low 20s, but teams decided to brave the upper 20s on Saturday to get some practice in. Unfortunately, teams couldn’t get as many trips through the roll order as they probably hoped. Scratches, stops, and snow led to a short, cold day of rolls for 8 racing orgs (and 1 robot).
It was a “proper pushing attire is a winter coat” kind of morning.
Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow last week, which can only mean one thing – Buggy is back! While you were preparing to watch the Chiefs battle the 49ers, or Usher’s Halftime Show, or Super Bowl Commercials, or Taylor Swift, buggy organizations were waking up early and ringing in the Spring semester with some Rolls! The plan was for 2 days, but a last-minute rainstorm on Saturday morning caused Rolls to be cancelled. But things cleared up for Sunday, allowing for 7 organizations to come out and get well on their way to qualification for Raceday 2024.
No shadows and a bunch of flags means that Buggy is back!
This weekend was Homecoming at CMU. Alumni who were back on campus got to see the CMU football team take home the 37th annual Academic Bowl, taste the various chilis at the 20th Annual CMU Chili Cook-Off, and attend the official grand opening of the new Scaife Hall. But most importantly, they were able to fill up on donuts and coffee courtesy of the BAA at Rolls! It was a full weekend of Rolls, with 7 orgs out each day and a lot of time to roll, leading to over 120 individual rolls across the 9 total organizations. It wasn’t without hiccups though, as the near-freezing temperatures saw a couple of buggy parts littering the course and one – well, two – very close calls with a bicyclist.
The one buggy we could ALL probably fit (well, other than Limo)
This week, we set the clocks back and the buggies forward, as Saturday was Mini-Raceday! The shortest day of Rolls of the year saw a lot of excitement, as 8 orgs were out doing full Hill 1s and getting some times. Sunday saw a smaller crowd, as several orgs decided to get the extra hour of sleep instead of more Fall rolls, leading to a Rolls session that actually ended early.
Red sky in the morning, Buggy drivers take warning… that it’s Mini-Raceday!
It was Halloween weekend at the corner of Tech & Frew, which meant a very important thing: Buggy Costumes! Of course, it also meant that there were Halloween parties Saturday night, and as is pretty common, party nights mean tired* students that don’t want to wake up for Rolls at 4am the next day. Because of that, there was no quorum for Sunday rolls, leaving us with just 1 day of Rolls this weekend.
Heavy fog rolled in to Pittsburgh this weekend, but even that wasn’t enough to stop CMU students from showing up for both days of rolls. Overall, it was a pretty quiet weekend of rolls, with teams that have been out taking it a bit easier this weekend. But it did include the return to the course for a couple of teams, and one new “organization”?
I’m pretty sure I remember the Cathedral being taller than that
If rain on your wedding day is a sign of good luck, what does it mean if there’s Buggy on your wedding day? With the Great Race on Sunday, there was only 1 day of Rolls this weekend. But with 6 teams on the course, even some more wildlife and vehicular traffic couldn’t stop rolls for too long and teams got a fair number of clean rolls in.
Shana Tova to those who celebrate! This weekend marked the start of not only Year 5784 on the Hebrew calendar, but Year 103 on the Buggy calendar! That’s right – We’re back for the 2023-2024 Buggy Season! And what a weekend it was. It was a mix of new and returning this weekend – new and returning students, new and returning teams, new and returning wildlife, and new and returning road hazards.
As is tradition, this rolls report will be a very light report, acting as an appetizer for the raceday preview. If you’d like to see the thorough report, it’s not too late to sign up to be a member of the BAA! This year’s beautiful report (props to the fabulous Linna Griffin) contains the full set of times from truck weekend, sassy predictions, team descriptions, and more buggy goodness.
Additionally, the prelim truck auction is now LIVE! The Finals Lead Truck Auction will be in person at Buggy Bash, Friday 7PM in the Schatz Dining Room. Huge thank you to Wade Gordon for getting this set up for us this year.
All that being said, please see below for some wonderful guest chute reporting done by the Cook on Saturday of truck weekend:
Fringe: Nothing notable other than rolling a new buggy called Barbie, passing another buggy in the second roll
DG: Both rolls required pusher assist to make it to the driveway, scratched 3rd and 4th round
CIA: rolling four buggies, consistently quick on all and saving fastest roll for Roadrunner in 4th round – 3rd fastest chute time of the day.
Apex: Rolling two buggies consistently, mid-pack for speeds, no incidents
SigEp: Worked up to speed and completed a pass test on 2nd round, and broke off the 2nd fastest chute time of day for Kraken in round 4.
SDC: Modest speeds (for SDC) but the big news is that Avarice experienced a loss of the left rear wheel and spindle in front of the 3rd window on Hill 3, with a loud scraping noise due to axle-ground braking. Interestingly the buggy’s usual fairly loud rattling changed cadence over the black strip mid-chute, gaining the attention of this observer, and the wheel parted company some 10 seconds later.
Spirit: Spirit turned in their fastest roll on the first buggy of the 1st round despite a lurid chute turn. Unfortunately all three stablemates were stopped in the transition due to the second buggy having some sort of reported fairing failure, out of view of this observer. All three were cleared from the course without injury or further incident after a painful 15-minute delay. Rounds 2 and 3 went without incident although also without the pace shown in the first roll, and without fairings.
SigNu: SigNu showed good pace in all three rolls with Jaeger, turning in the fastest chute time of the day and 3 of the top 6. No incidents other than a very wide line in round 2 that was well-controlled after a trip to the bales looked like a distinct possibility.
PiKA: PiKA had an eventful day with an unforced wild slide and recovery near the transition flag with Cleo on the second roll. This observer feared an unpleasant trip to the monument was possible, but Cleo continued only to show a similar but not as severe instability mid-chute. Banshee also completed its 3rd round without a rear hatch.
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
Thank you to Veronica for her guest reporting this weekend (and for her boyfriend for taking photos)!
The windy Sunday morning started with Robobuggy walking the course.
Apex: Apex brought out three buggies Solaris, Molotov, and a double bagged Scorch their newest buggy, incognito in white. They seemed ready for raceday, showing off a strong hill 1 and 2 transition.
CIA: CIA looked fast (I blinked and the follow car was gone!) with four unbagged buggies, Equinox, Kingfisher, Roadrunner, and Emperor.
DG: DG brought out Insite and executed a pass test with some help from Zuke.
Fringe: Fringe brought out Bumper and Burnout which needed 5 bags to slow it down! They also brought out Batman, looking impressive with its black wheel covers. Baltic emerged later in the day, steered by Burnout’s intended driver.
PiKA: PiKA came out with Banshee, Raptor, and Cleona. They seemed to struggle with their tent (as always) which kept being knocked over in the wind, but it seems like it was all worthwhile for them as Cleona needs only one more roll to qualify.
SDC: We were happy to see SDC back out on the course after a tumultuous few weeks. They had Avarice and Inferno out today, practicing smooth passes for both buggies via strategic hill 2 push-offs.
SigEp: Sigep brought out Kraken, followed by Barracuda with a strong hill 2 push off.
SigNu: SigNu emerged for the second round of rolls with Jager and Krait, with Krait picking up speed on its second go around the course.
Spirit: Spirit brought out Seraph, Inviscid, and Zuke which needed four bags to slow it down. Spirit hustled as always, somehow managing to squeeze in several rolls throughout the morning and sending off their buggies with strong hill 2 push-offs.
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
