So much to do; so few FR remaining...

[Elmo Zoneball]

It appears to me that there are only 5 weekends of FR left before race day weekend this year. That's a total of ten days of FR.

The Saturday of Spring Break typically does not have enough orgs to participate, so I'm guessing that one will be cancelled, leaving 9 FRs. Typical Pittsburgh early Spring weather usually wipes out a something like a quarter of FRs, so that's another 2-3 days lost, leaving 6-7 FRs before race Day.

Is that enough??

It seems as though there is going to be a mad scramble by orgs that all need to do Spring passing tests, plus mandatory minimum rolls for each driver...... plus everybody who wants to fine tune their buggies, and try their latest technological improvements.

Without getting too quantitative. my sense is things are going to be unusually tight schedule-wise this year. I can't recall a year when there were literally no second semester FRs until mid-March.

My guess is some orgs ought to be standing on their panic buttons about now... or am I being too pessimistic?

[Zatchmo]

I agree with you, this is going to be tight as hell, especially for the teams with new buggies. The unfortunate part is there wasn't much else Sweepstakes Committee could have done differently - sure, they could have pushed harder for the teams to cape early (despite the perpetually wet sidewalks), the weather just wouldn't cooperate every weekend though. And with so few teams on the course generally, hoping for more than a day of Spring break rolls is a lot.

You are correct, Saturday is already cancelled while Sunday is on as the first day of rolls. I think the dedicated teams will get a big jump start this Sunday (weather gods permitting) while some smaller teams won't make it out. This puts those teams in a real bad spot while making sure no one worries about the Raceday favorites getting scrubbed. Then again, the chairmen as a whole tend to rubber-stamp exemptions for teams that don't hit their roll minimums anyway, so it's probably a moot point. I'm mostly wondering how this could influence problems during rolls and raceday - a long break, pressure to get up to speed, and warm weather could really challenge drivers on the course.

[DeVos]

I'm not sure that I would be standing on the panic button yet. For any buggy/driver that carries rolls over from the fall, three solid days of rolls should be enough to qualify. Assuming that they attempt pass tests starting on the second day, there should be no reason a competent team should have trouble getting qualified. Even a new buggy should be done qualifying in four decent days (five if there are mechanical issues one day). If an organization didn't come out in the fall or is trying to get a new driver all fifteen of her(his) rolls in the spring, I'll grant you that it could be close, but I have less sympathy for those scenarios.

I believe that the 2007-8 year had very few spring rolls and many teams didn't finish qualifying. From what I remember, Sweepstakes granted exemptions to every returning driver and new drivers as long as they had pass tests completed. The difference there was that there were a couple of rolls early in the season and then it rained almost every weekend between spring break and Truck Weekend (one day of Truck may have been rained out too).

Fewer days of rolls may mean some ulcers for the chairs of each org, but I think at this point they should be merely concerned rather than in full panic mode.

[Elmo Zoneball]

I tend to agree that the teams that were out in the Fall racking up rolls will have little trouble "getting back up to speed" in the Spring, even with only 5 weeks of FRs.

But teams that didn't bother rolling in the Fall have put all their eggs in one shrinking Easter basket. I suspect they are in for some "interesting" times between now an Race Day.

The bottom line is, unless you have all your technology and mechanical issues completely squared away, a team is crazy to not get out in the Fall and get the required check box items checked off before Thanksgiving. Trying to do it all in the Spring and have weather conspire like it has this year is asking for an EPIC FAIL.

[Elmo Zoneball]

Okay, now down to 4 weeks/8 FRs at best. I'll bet the notorious Spring Pittsburgh weather takes away at least 2 of the 8 potentially available remaining FR dates.

Any orgs with sweating palms?

[mrusso]

I'm pretty sure I'm getting the DTs from Roll Report withdrawal.

[Elmo Zoneball]

I'm pretty sure I'm getting the DTs from Roll Report withdrawal.

Aren't we all?

(One of the reasons for creating this thread is because we don't have anything else to talk about... )

[Jerry]

For those of you going through withdrawal, here's the buggy news I can provide.

New buggies confirmed and caped so far:

CIA's #19 buggy, caped before spring break, a forward trike, still unpainted.
SDC's new buggy, caped today, Malice mk.IV, bright yellow, is not Addiction.

Alleged new buggies yet to debut:

Fringe's NBXIII
PiKA's RD2013
SigEp's new buggy
ROTC Shrek overhaul

Less substantial rumors I keep hearing:

AEPi build (maybe for next year)
SAE build (maybe for next year)
KapSig Apache overhaul
Spirit is working on "something"

No guarantees on 100% accuracy as I am (unfortunately) neither omniscient nor clairvoyant. I'm just happy to see forum activity again!

[Elmo Zoneball]

Jerry,

Thank you for posting the lastest Buggy intell/gossip report.


And, to keep boredom at bay, would anyone care to chime in with a "course report" -- the latest on the condition of the road surface -- pot-holes cracks, ravines, cliffs, and what have you.

It looked pretty bad last year, and I'm guessing the Pittsburgh winter has probably made it worse.


Also, for whomever else wanders into this thread, please feel free to share any other news, rumors, scuttlebutt, and innuendo related to Sweepstakes, whilst we wait, bored out of our minds, for an actual FR to happen.

[abordick]

The new pika buggy will be glorious. A reverse trike with a new wheel configuration sure to crush any hope for the trophy.