BAA's next big project

[shafeeq]

If we had to race at night then I suppose fitting night vision goggles or headlights or whatever else you need into the buggy just becomes part of what you have to do. I'm told "freerolls" at night used to be done in the 60's

But, if the goal is to show students buggy in action, I wonder what it would take to can get the homecoming freerolls or mini-raceday moved to daylight. Or even just an exhibition using a part of the course or the parking lot.

[abordick]

NVG's don't work well for events like that. The peripheral vision is terrible and the blooming effects from the streetlights/flashlights/etc would be blinding. Plus, they would be hard to fit on that face down, prone position.

[TommyK]

Just stay away from the hay bales...or, with this infinite budget we find something to replace the haybales...
.

I feel the haybales are being maligned in this thread and that's not cool. Haybales are very selfless, giving up a life of comfort and freedom in the country to serve buggy in the miserable and gray city of Pittsburgh. Freezing at night, being rained on constantly, developing strange fungal growths and being forced to shelter the homeless. We should be lauding their tireless efforts to protect drivers from harm not villifying them for being 'anti-course dryer'.

That being said how about selling ad-space on them to companies interested in hiring CMU grads? Use the profit for a course-drier towed blimp-cam? Are those LNG tanks on the turbine dryer?

[TommyK]

Maybe out of BAA's scope but holy shit it would be cool: Circular Loom Technology

[lemuroid]

Rather than light the course, why not attach lights to the buggies. Works pretty well for cars.

I have done night mt bike races where a minimum wattage / output required. Modern lighting systems for bikes are more than capable to light the way for a buggy.

[mldarm]

A few thoughts that came up post-race at PHI:

* Progressive barriers in the chute (ie denser material the closer a buggy gets to the curb)

* Robotic buggies, with a minimum weight (for safety, like robotic camel jockeys)

* Buggy Dome (a perennial favorite)

* Outside safety certification for buggys and equipment

* A company that produces "good" (not great), safe buggys

There are alcohol-laced thoughts behind these ideas, but you get the picture. Extremely cost prohibitive, but could improve the safety of the sport.

[pdesiderio]

Has there ever been any attempt to create a buggy specific machine shop, because I think that would be a cool resource for teams to have, especially new orgs. Not sure how the liability thing would work, but there are other student shops so it is do-able. I also I have to imagine that some orgs wouldn't want to use a public resource like that, or else they might make their secret axle stub technology public knowledge.

[Zatchmo]

Has there ever been any attempt to create a buggy specific machine shop, because I think that would be a cool resource for teams to have, especially new orgs.

Yes, but we call it Roboclub for funding reasons.

[ipmcc]

One thing not listed here yet might be for BAA to take some lead in improving road conditions. This might be part PR -- lobbying the city, etc. -- but it could definitely also be bringing organization, sobriety, research and money to the mostly-ghetto patching jobs people are doing now. From what I've seen, NASCAR is able to patch big-assed potholes in the tracks with a bucket of some composite goo and a big torch in like 10-15 minutes. Then again, they have infinite money. Then again, they need it to hold up to 200mph speeds and the weight of real cars. Just a thought.

[Jmohin]

quickrete/bondo/sand can make the road SUPER smooth when done right. It does not, however, weather well, so by the time it gets to the next raceday it's usually in worse shape than the road itself.

In all honesty, BAA's "next big project" should be a lobbying maelstrom to get the city to re-pave the chute and back hill.
It's just too bad to patch at this point.