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:
Thank you to Molly (and Ozzy) this week for their help with reporting!
Ozzy Sniff test: Ozzy conducted a sniff test on all the buggies and his ratings are below. This test was performed by luring Ozzy near the buggies with a treat and then observing his response. An immediate run away is a thumbs down, one sniff is a thumbs up, and sustained interest is two thumbs up. Ozzy would also like to say that he is very appreciative to everyone who gave him pets today.
APEX?
SigNu ?
Pike ?
SigEp ?
CIA ??
Fringe ?
Spirit ?
Apex: Apex had a pretty smooth day with three buggies out. Seems like they’re working to qualify their returning buggies early to prepare for a potential newbuggy release?
CIA: In addition to some weird sounds from their buggies today, CIA seemed to be attempting a new kind of pass test. During their first roll of the day, two CIA buggies were racing up hill 1 and we noticed a super weird hill 2 swerve from one of CIA’s buggies – one went super wide outside of lines, one went the proper way. They fixed themselves going into freeroll but garnered a strict yell from the safety chair.
Fringe: Fringe had a relatively straight-forward day, other than a crash during their third roll of the day. While making the chute turn, one driver accidentally hit the outer bales. The driver was cleared quickly and both the driver and buggy are okay. The hatch popped off in the crash, but there was no visible damage. The second buggy safely stopped up by the transition flag and was safely extracted.
PiKA: PiKA had an uneventful day with the exception of a successful PiKApex pass test.
Robobuggy: Robobuggy had a slight brake incident in the beginning of the free roll – stopped around Westinghouse pond. After an extended pause (and some duct tape), NAND continued at walking pace, but was rolling fully autonomously.
SigEp: After scratching their first roll, SigEp came out strong – looking quite fast in the freeroll. Maybe they’re the ones to watch this raceday.
SigNu: SigNu scratched their first roll as well, but came in slowly and bagged once they started rolling. They seemed to be slightly wobbling but and needed a slight boost to get up to hill 3, but the (new) driver handled the chute like a champ and got through safely.
Spirit: Spirit is pushing forward strongly in their prep for raceday. We noticed a bit of sliding during their chute turns, but they seemed in control!
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
Thank you to Molly and Declan this week for their help with reporting! We also had a speed trap set up for rolls. See here for the data.
Apex: Out today with Solaris and their new buggy Scorch. Scorch has yet to be painted and the current chalk design is reminiscent of the iconic Bumper’s meme menagerie. Kids these days and their Tick-Talks! Rolls wise they made it around the course slow and steady with some strong efforts by their push team.
CIA: Equinox lost a wheel in the chute and spun into bales. Kingfisher drove through a stop flag but came to a stop in the chute just past Equinox. The remainder of their rolls seemed to go by without much issue. They showed some good speed but are certainly still looking to pick up more speed before race day.
DG: rolling with Insite today, clean and smooth throughout their rolls. Bagged and therefore not exceptionally fast but it’s cool to see Insite on the course. They had some of the longest hill 3s of the day, picking up the buggy deep in the chute, but some encouragement from the follow car driver helped the pushers power through to hill 4.
Fringe: Bumper and “Batman” were out today. Their new buggy is showing promising speed and is perhaps even more smooth and quiet than the typical Fringe buggy. Bumper however gave them some issues with trying to conduct a pass test due to its lack of speed. On the third and final roll of the day Bumper stopped in the free roll because the driver’s hands got too cold.
PiKA: On their second roll of the day a driver hit a grate quite hard and came to a stop in the chute. Driver seemed to be fine but Cliona did not roll the third time around. Otherwise PiKA showed some speed and purpose even with bagged buggies.
Robobuggy: Robobuggy had it’s first autonomous roll since 2019! They finally made it around the course with no interventions nor crashes. Video footage can be found here. Check out that chute turn!
SigEp: Kraken rolling well around the course with some fast pushers behind.
SigNu: Rolling clean and smooth, appeared to be one of the fastest on the course today as well.
Spirit: Had some mechanical issues at the top of the hill, but seemed to be the fastest team in the freeroll by a good margin. They rolled their buggies tight enough to have some close foot races on the backhills. Very excited to see Zuke and KPs new paint jobs and to see how this team performs on race day!
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
Thank you to Connor this week for your help with reporting!
Apex: The red squad showed up with a relatively small crew compared to their turnout so far this year. On Saturday, Firefly & Molotov each got 3 rolls before Apex packed up for the day. These rolls included pass tests for both buggies and qualified a new driver in Molotov and a returning in Firefly. On Sunday, the team put a bit some focus into qualifying a new driver in Phoenix. They still need a pass test and a handful of rolls to qualify Solaris, Phoenix and a potential new build that we’re hoping to see after spring break. Last years, new build Nova remains in the garage and we can only assume it won’t be rolling any time soon.
CIA: CIA staged from the bottom of the hill one starting their raceday prep early this year. They rolled 3 buggies on Saturday, Emperor, Equinox and Road Runner. Their first 3 rolls saw the team complete pass test for all of those buggies. On Sunday, we saw Kingfisher, Equinox, and Roadrunner for some additional rolls. Roadrunner, Kingfisher and Equinox are now all qualified for raceday for CIA. They have 2 more drivers that need qualifying, and with one driver taking over Emperor from another this semester, we can speculate that there may be a new buggy coming from the CIA garage.
DG: DG is now rolling Insite, Fringe’s build from 2003. We last saw this buggy roll in a raceday with Apex in 2012, and it definitely needs some tuning. Even though it only had 1 bag, it kept crawling to a stop before Panther hollow. One of 2 new drivers for DG this year successfully completed 4 rolls before DG went home for the day. We are all hoping that they manage to get the additional 11 rolls + pass test that they need in time for raceday.
Fringe: On Saturday, Fringe came out with a handful of people and only Bumper. They’ve rolled 4 buggies this year but only Bumper is close to qualifying, with their driver needing just a pass test. On Sunday, we saw Bumper out again, and Baltic made its semester debut, getting five and four rolls respectively. Getting Baltic, Burnout and Blind Faith qualified requires a pass test and at least 6 rolls for each. Plus with Fringe, we have to imagine a new buggy is on its way that needs 10 rolls plus a pass test.
PiKA: Despite having seven driver/buggy combos caped this year, PiKA has only rolled Banshee so far this semester. They were only out Sunday this week, with a relatively issue-less day, other than a small vision issue in their first roll around the course. They only got three rolls in this weekend, and will still need a few more + pass test in order to be qualified for raceday.
Robobuggy: NAND got 2 rolls on Saturday and 3 on Sunday, seemed like a relatively easy day for the team.
SigEp: SigEp was only out on Sunday this weekend, rolling a new driver in Kraken and a returning driver in Barracuda. They seem to be making steady progress towards qualifying both in time for raceday, and had no big issues!
SigNu: The resurgence continues as Sig Nu was out Saturday with 2 buggies for the first time in years. The team rolled either Jager or krait on a given roll. Neither buggy was going particularly fast, but with new drivers in each that was probably a smart move. On one driver’s first ever roll in Krait, she came through Schenley park on the left side of the double yellow line. Luckily she found her way back to the correct side of the road before the transition and successfully finished the course. Her line improved significantly as the day went on. We were happy to see the team out two days in a row, rolling only Jager on Sunday. They continue to take things a little slow, which seems to be a good idea given the number of accidents and issues we’ve seen with new drivers on the course across all teams this year.
Spirit: The reigning women’s champion was by far the most regimented team on this weekend. On Saturday rolled 3 buggies, Zuke, KP and Seraph, and on Sunday we saw the same 3 and Inviscid. The team was by far the fastest over the very slow weekend, but that wasn’t saying much as they rolled max 3 windows. The team was timing and mixing up lineups on hills looking ahead to find their best combinations for raceday. Spirit has now qualified all of their buggies and drivers, the first team to do so. Those buggies are Inviscid, Kingpin, Zuke, and Seraph.
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
Connor Hayes
Sweeps + BAA
BAA Announcements:
Congratulations to this year’s funded grants! Full descriptions can be found here.
Additionally, our raceday 2023 tshirt group order form is open! Customers will have to pay for it themselves and get is shipped to their homes before race day. Shirt is $26 dollars and features a special drawing on the back. Can be ordered anytime between now and midnight est March 15th. Thank you deeply to Linna for all of her work on this!
Today’s rolls report is brought to you by a very special guest reporter – Sabrina Wang! Thank you Sabrina for this super engaging minute-by-minute writeup of an especially eventful rolls.
7 teams out, first rolls is scheduled for 7:03 with Fringe at the start of the roll order. Fringe scratches and CIA is cleared at 7:06, rolling 4 buggies. Roadrunner, Kingfisher, Equinox, and Emperor. CIA does a (successful?) pass test for Emperor, passing Equinox, on their first roll.
Apex is rolling a fleet of 3 buggies today, Solaris, Phoenix, and Molotov.
Sigep rolling Baracuda and Kraken today.
SDC has 2 buggies out today, Avarice and Vanity.
During their first roll, Avarice successfully makes it around the course but Vanity doesn’t make the chute turn, almost hits the schenley bridge barricade, and is stopped before it runs into a parked car on the other side of the barricade. Driver is ok and extracted.
While we wait for rolls to be back on, brief shout out to the one woman fringe-cia-apex-spirit-sigep flagging coalition, by a Fringe chute flagger! Spirit next, rolling Kingpin, Sereph, Zuko, and Inviscid, all going fast and taking the chute turn with a tight line. (Spirit is the only team I was in the chute for so I can’t comment on anyone else’s line).
PiKA goes, rolling 1 buggy, Banshee, with 1 bag. The PiKA buggy/driver is doing fine but the follow car driver/passenger not so much. Someone in the PiKA follow car threw up onto the street in the chute, while the follow car was still driving, leaving 3 long wet spots through and past the chute turn.
Rolls are on hold while sweepstakes comes to investigate the vomit in the chute…
Rolls continue to be on hold while the drivers come down to inspect the vomit in the chute and the cones around it….
Driver party in the chute!
For your perusal while we wait for rolls to be on again:
Credits to Anishwar from Spirit.
At around 8:15 rolls are back on, with Fringe rolling 1 buggy, Blind Faith.
After the transition flag and just before the monument, Blind Faith clips the curb and comes to a stop. The driver is ok but by the time the incident is addressed and resolved, it’s 8:30 and sweeps calls it for the day.
To summarize, 1 full pass of the roll order today, 2 (3 if you count the vomit in the chute) incidents out of 7 rolls today. As always shout out to sweeps and everyone else who showed up for all your hard work and for dealing with all the incidents today (vomit related and otherwise)!
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
First rolls wouldn’t be first rolls without a bit of a delay and some angry people trying to get onto the course,
Apex: Apex had a pretty uneventful weekend, with 3 drivers out on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. On Sunday, they were one of the few teams to do hill 1s, getting an early start on some raceday pusher training!
CIA: CIA started the weekend with quite a statement as the only team with four buggies on the course. On Sunday, they trimmed down to only two buggies out, but had successful pass tests for both those drives – the first team to fully qualify for RD23!
DG: Saturday was DG’s first time out for the year, and they had two drivers out but only one driving. Insite was appropriately bagged, moving quite slowly through the chute and requiring multiple pushes to help make it through.
Robobuggy: Saturday was also robobuggy’s first time out for the year, and unfortunately they weren’t able to make their full way around the course because of a slight delay in sweeping mud off the course. Sunday brought some better luck, and they made it around the course once with time to spare!
Fringe: Fringe started spring rolls out with just a little bit of biker drama leading to an angry reddit post on /r/cmu about entitled cmu students. Sunday brought a little bit more peace for the team, with two drivers out alternating rolls around the course.
SigEp: SigEp had some new people out this weekend, which lead to a little bit of confusion with a pusher who didn’t realize that he had to pick up the buggy from hill 3 even if it stopped partway through the chute. Other than that, a relatively chill weekend for SigEp.
SDC: SDC got three rolls in each for Avarice and Inferno on Saturday. Unfortunately, in it’s first roll around the course, a new driver in Havoc turned into the chute early and hit the curb. Sweepstakes is working with the team to understand what happened and what we can do to prevent accidents of this type moving forward. Sunday was a lot more smooth for the team, with Avarice and Inferno out once again with four and five rolls respectively.
Spirit: Spirit had an easy day Saturday, with three rolls for each of their buggies. On Sunday, they were doing full hill 1st, and had one hill two pusher get slightly injured, but they seemed okay while being checked out by EMS.
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
Hello Everyone and Welcome to the Mini Raceday Special rolls report. This fall semester has flown by, meaning we are getting super close to the 99th raceday this Spring. And I know what you’re thinking “Wait, Connor you blithering idiot, 2022 was raceday 100!” Well in 2022 we celebrated 100 years of buggy but raceday 2024 will be the 100th race due to years lost to COVID-19 and WW2. There is a reason I am spending so much time on this. We here at BAA headquarters are planning to create a big celebration for the 100th Raceday like we were planning for the 100th year of buggy. We are looking for you to make this celebration of CMU’s greatest tradition the best it can be. If you’re an absolute buggy nerd like me (looking at you Bordick) email admin@cmubuggy.org to get involved.
Apex: Apex is going strong this semester with all of their drivers at max carryover in at least one buggy! There seems to be heavy turnout for their team, and continued buggy enthusiasm.
CIA: CIA had a pretty easy weekend as well! Nothing much of note happened other than some alumni visits.
Fringe: Fringe seems to really be taking this semester slow and steady, with only two driver/buggy combos out on Saturday and one on Sunday. Rumor has it that we may be seeing a new Fringe buggy out on the course
PiKA: Other than having some big wheels on Raptor for the first time in years, nothing of note from PiKA this weekend.
SDC: Saturday was thankfully an easy day for SDC. They seem to be practicing raceday countdowns with Inferno, but nothing else too out of the ordinary. SDC’s Vanity had a tough day on Sunday, starting with some deer in their way and later clipping the bales and losing a left rear wheel.
SigEp: Saturday was a pretty uneventful day for SigEp. But early on in the day on Sunday, one of SigEp’s buggies braked for a deer near the Westinghouse pond. The buggy fishtailed but the driver and buggy were both fine, and continued the course after being checked out by EMS. They also seemed to have a missing transition flagger for their first few rolls of the day, but luckily other teams were able to hop in to help out.
SigNu: SigNu debuted their new buggy Jager this weekend! They were taking things slow on Saturday (and only had one roll around the course), but we are all excited to see them out in the coming weeks.
Spirit: Spirit was doing full hill 1’s this weekend! The first team to do so this semester.
BAA Announcements
A shoutout and thank you to everyone involved in the buggy networking event last week! Special thanks to Diya, Sydney, Linna, Bethany, Connor, all of our presenters, and of course Sweepstakes!
Homecoming will be October 28-29! We are looking for volunteers helping with setup, at the BAA table, and during our breakfast Saturday morning. Please reach out to admin@cmubuggy.org for more information and to get involved!
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
The one day of rolls this week started with a parked car on the course that couldn’t be towed2 followed by a 10 minute delay due to a truck coming onto the course to pick up a crane from the Scaife construction.
Apex: New driver in Pheonix came to a controlled stop during their first roll due to some wildlife on the course. They were pushed up into the chute and finished the roll safely. The rest of the day went quite smoothly for Apex, it was exciting to see a large group out again!
CIA: 4 out of 6 of CIA’s caped driver/buggy combos are already at max carryover for the semester. Nothing else to note for them! Smooth day with some full hill 2 push-offs.
Fringe: Fringe seems to be continuing to take things slow this year, with only two buggies out this weekend. Rumors of a new build are floating around, but we are yet to see anything out on the course just yet!
PiKA: During their first roll of the day, Banshee came to a controlled stop due to some deer on the course. Other than that, it was smooth sailing for PiKA.
SDC: SDC started the day by sending two of their buggies down with about 8-10 bags. These were two new drivers who had tough times making it around the course last week, so, although they looked a little silly, it was still a good thing. Later in the day, Vanity lost a wheel in the chute, and the driver was extracted. EMS checked them out and everything was okay!
SigEp: SigEp continues to take it slow with just one buggy out on the course this weekend. No issues!
Spirit: Spirit had a strong day up until after their last roll of the day when one of their buggies began to have braking issues. The safety chair had a quick chat with the team and everything was settled.
Homecoming will be October 28-29! We could definitely use some volunteers helping with setup, at the BAA table, and during our breakfast Saturday morning. Please reach out to admin@cmubuggy.org for more information and to get involved!
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
TL;DR: Sweeps and teams are killing it, 12 driver/buggy combos already at max carryover! The rest of Pittsburgh (humans and wildlife), however, seems to have forgotten about buggy, as was clear by the multiple pedestrian/biker/deer incidents this weekend.
Apex: Apex had a smooth second day of rolls, but Saturday was definitely a lot more interesting. They had a huge group out to help (20+ people), and lots of enthusiasm! One of their new drivers in Pheonix already hit max carryover for fall rolls. However, on their second roll on Saturday, a car came up the hill from chute barricade. Solaris (the lead buggy) had been released from top of hill already, but the other buggies were held at the top of the hill. The car quickly exited at panther hollow and Maggie, and thanks to swift reactions from sweeps and radio club, the Solaris driver never even saw the car. On their fifth roll of the day, Solaris and Maggie came to a controlled stop after the stop flag due to a stop for the previous team later in the course. Thankfully no noteworthy incidents for Apex on Sunday.
CIA: CIA came in strong on Saturday, rolling up to four buggies at a time. The team was involved in two stops on Saturday. First was with Equinox, when the driver came to a controlled stop near the transition flag. Somehow, this buggy was passed by the safety car, but the driver seemed to be okay and safe. On their fourth roll of the day, Tempest came to a controlled stop in the chute due to a goggle issue. CIA was back on Sunday with only three buggies, but seemed to have a pretty smooth day.
Fringe: Fringe is taking it slow this year, bringing out only two buggies (and a small group) for both days of rolls this weekend. They had a pretty smooth weekend, other than one accidental pass on their second roll of the weekend.
PiKA: The safety chair was very on top of PiKA on Saturday, many spot safeties, and stopping them for a missing hatch attachment on at least one occasion. They had a pretty smooth day, with only two drivers out (both of which hit max carryover this weekend). On Sunday, one flagger threw a stop flag on the course during one of their rolls due to some geese on the road. Driver stopped successfully, and then finished the roll.
SDC: SDC had a smooth Saturday, but a couple of issues on Sunday. During one of their first rolls that day, the Avarice driver failed to turn into the chute, and hit one of the bridge barricades. The driver was checked out by EMS, and totally okay. Much later in the day, during it’s first roll, Bane stopped near the Panther Hollow bridge due to excessive vibration. The driver was fine, but chose not to continue rolling for the day.
SigEp: SigEp had a large group of people out on Saturday with just one buggy. Barracuda has a large carbon patch on one side, and rumor has it that they are working on a new buggy!
Spirit: Spirit had a super smooth weekend with 3 buggies out on Saturday, and 2 on Sunday. After this weekend, 3 out of their 5 caped drivers are already at max carryover for fall rolls.
BAA Announcements
A shoutout and thank you to everyone involved in the buggy networking event last week! Special thanks to Diya, Sydney, Linna, Bethany, Connor, all of our presenters, and of course Sweepstakes!
Homecoming will be October 28-29! We could definitely use some volunteers helping with setup, at the BAA table, and during our breakfast Saturday morning. Please reach out to admin@cmubuggy.org for more information and to get involved!
A super special thanks to the following people for their help:
