Race Day 2013 Comments....

[Elmo Zoneball]

Might as well get the chatter rolling.....

I'll start with something I saw on the videostream Friday that I could NOT believe happened, so I've reviewed the tape a second time.(CMU tv)

At the 13:15 mark of the Day One video, a buggy is approaching the monument, and it appears the flaggers were not even aware a buggy was on the course. Several flaggers can be seen in the in the middle of the road as the lead truck approaches, apparently on their way to the assigned flagging locations. At no time is a target flag displayed to the driver of the buggy so the driver had an aiming point (that's the whole point of that flagger, isn't it?)

This is dangerous. How did the buggy get released to enter the course when the flaggers were not in position and ready to flag?

Somebody needs to review procedures, and see how this happened, because it will happen again, if something isn't fixed, and the day a driver gets confused because there's no flag, and ends up ramming the Monument base at 30+ mph head on, we can kiss the Sweepstakes goodbye.

You need a fail-safe procedure, such that buggies cannot be released to roll unless ALL of the flaggers and other safety related personnel are in position and ready and aware a buggy is entering the course.

I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone or any org; but the system is broken, and it needs to be fixed before somebody gets hurt.

That said, my compliments to whomever the driver was, because she(?) managed to drive the right line despite there being no flag at all.

[aepibuggy]

Alright, I'll add my comments.

First of all, a HUGE Thank You/Congratulations to cmuTV. This was, by far, the best buggy coverage I've seen. They did a TREMENDOUS job, with the picture-in-picture showing the non-leading buggies, an excellent job of replays, and some genuinely interesting/funny/informative/well-scored packages. The only complaints I had were the lack of sound for the first hour on Friday (which are really just technical difficulties), and not showing drops (which only really matter when someone fails anyway, so it's a very minor complaint). I would gladly take this coverage every year. You've set the bar high, cmuTV.

In response to Elmo...I hesitate to judge what happened based on the video. Yes, I just praised cmuTV for their coverage, but the roll you're referring to was a timing exhibition that got moved up 10 minutes (it went off at 7:50). The lack of a megaphone at hill 1, and general confusion at the beginning, can easily explain why flaggers almost got run over. And while it may not have looked like flaggers were there to flag the buggy, the cameras were still going through their tests, and it was hard to really tell what was going on at that point.

As for rolls themselves...A couple of comments. First of all, congrats to my team, AEPi, for making their first Finals ever (even if it was a result of multiple DQs). Also congrats to CIA, for cracking Men's Top 5 (after the Spirit A reroll and Fringe A's pushbar DQ), as well as Women's Top 5. Very impressive. A big run for SDC A as well, putting up a 2:05 when I was sure that no one would crack 2:08 in the cold. Likewise, great runs by SigEp and Pika. And Apex!

Sweepstakes...Well, there's been a lot of complaining over the semester about how Sweepstakes has handled rolls, and it looks like it came to a head this weekend. From what I've heard, SAE A's women's reroll was a result of not hearing the start of their heat because of a lack of a megaphone at the starting line. There was also a lot of (unnecessary) confusion over the Women's Finals, leading to CIA getting their own heat at the end. I know some people are very upset about that. Finally, the SigEp fire safety DQ...I'd like to hear from someone more official about what actually happened there, and why SigEp only got their C and D teams DQed. I know what I've heard, and it definitely seems like I haven't heard the whole story, so I'd like to get a little more clarity on the situation before I weigh in.

All in all though, a great Raceday for spectators. Lots of excitement, some close heats, and some teams performing well beyond expectations.

[cmuTV]

First of all, a HUGE Thank You/Congratulations to cmuTV. This was, by far, the best buggy coverage I've seen. They did a TREMENDOUS job, with the picture-in-picture showing the non-leading buggies, an excellent job of replays, and some genuinely interesting/funny/informative/well-scored packages.

Thanks for the feedback! The picture in picture was in direct response to requests to show the non-leading buggies. We're always looking for ways we can better serve the Buggy community with our coverage, so if anyone here has other ideas for things we can do next year we're all ears. The audio issue was just down to some technical hiccups with the audio feed from the broadcast booth. Not showing drops was a conscious decision we made in order to give more time for broadcaster banter and video packages between heats but I'm interested to see how Buggy alums feel about that decision.

I'm also interested to know what people thought of the broadcasters. Due to some miscommunication between us and WRCT the broadcasters were not contacted until a couple of weeks before the races and did not have as much time as usual to prepare. I'm curious to see if you guys felt that impacted their performance.

Finally, we did audio on the course a little bit differently this year; WRCT and our production truck received separate audio feeds. This meant that at some points WRCT's speakers were playing different audio than the jumbotron speakers. Did this bother anyone?
Overall I was really happy with how our coverage and Sweepstakes as a whole went and I'm looking forward to hearing more feedback from the Buggy community so we can keep improving for next year.

Luke Davis
President, cmuTV

[hvincent]

just passing along some stuff that was just said in #cmubuggy:

15:45 < IHeardTheyUseWre> so for some reason I can't post on the forum
15:45 < IHeardTheyUseWre> but I wanted to comment on the flagging/exhibition thing
15:45 < IHeardTheyUseWre> basically, the exhibition heats weren't being paid attention to too much by the orgs
15:46 < IHeardTheyUseWre> flaggers didn't even know what team the exhibition was going to be, we were just like "it's not mine"
15:46 < IHeardTheyUseWre> spirit's flaggers (who you can see in the video)
15:46 < IHeardTheyUseWre> were late to the hills
15:46 < IHeardTheyUseWre> and didn't get there before buggies were away
15:47 < IHeardTheyUseWre> but the reason that no-one was flagging for them at the top chute falls on sweepstakes
15:47 < IHeardTheyUseWre> who didn't announce that exhibitions were starting over the zello
15:47 < IHeardTheyUseWre> (the walkie-talkie app used this year)
15:47 < IHeardTheyUseWre> messages that I have are
15:48 < IHeardTheyUseWre> 7:42am "EMS can you confirm that you are on the course"
15:48 <@hvincent> so i'm not really in a position to address any of this, but do you want me to copypaste this to the relevant forum thread?
15:48 < IHeardTheyUseWre> 7"Five minutes until the first women's heat"
15:48 < IHeardTheyUseWre> 7:55*
15:48 < IHeardTheyUseWre> yeah
15:48 < IHeardTheyUseWre> that would be nice
15:49 < IHeardTheyUseWre> CIA flagged the chute turn
15:49 < IHeardTheyUseWre> if you want to include that
15:49 < IHeardTheyUseWre> My username is IHeardYouUseWrenches
15:50 < IHeardTheyUseWre> IHeardTheyUseWrenches* rather

[SigNuSi]

the SigEp fire safety DQ...I'd like to hear from someone more official about what actually happened there, and why SigEp only got their C and D teams DQed. I know what I've heard, and it definitely seems like I haven't heard the whole story, so I'd like to get a little more clarity on the situation before I weigh in.

Seconded -- surprised that a former SDC mechanic hasn't spammed the board about this yet (or is CMUbuggy passe now)

Oh and for cmuTV -- were you guys unable to tap into the starter's megaphone line this year? It was really hard to hear the starter's calls over the simulcast. Otherwise excellent job, I'll refrain on speaking about the commentators.

Finally -- SDC by 5 seconds? Running a 2:04 on cold and windy day?

[nbonaddio]

Apex uber alles.

McCue gets the gas face.

[cmuTV]

Oh and for cmuTV -- were you guys unable to tap into the starter's megaphone line this year? It was really hard to hear the starter's calls over the simulcast.

The starter's megaphone never actually has any kind of audio output, so we tried getting the start audio from the camera closest to the starting line but it did not sound great. Definitely something to keep in mind for next year.
Your restraint on commenting on the commentators is duly noted.

[shafeeq]

After the first couple of heats, WRCT saved things by scrounging up a mic, and the timing company's amplifier for the beep had a spare mic input. The radio club guy just stood next to the speaker and his broadcast picked up everything fine. In past years, there was a (WRCT or CMUtv) guy holding a mic in front of the starter, which also sounded fine.

If the timing company brings the same equipment next year, it apparently does have a line out, so you could potentially pick it up from there.

[McCue]

McCue gets the gas face.

Another gas face victim.

[McCue]

Do we have a definitive final times thing anywhere yet?