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So, last weekend, during Carnegie Mellon's annual Spring Carnival, my buggy team CIA ("Carnegie Involvement Association") participated in the annual buggy races, officially named Sweepstakes. For those who haven't seen my previous threads on the subject, a buggy race is like a cross between a relay race and a high-tech soapbox derby. The buggy, which is made of carbon fiber composite and is driven by a very small girl, is the baton. There are five runners (called pushers). The first two pushers push the buggy up the first hill, it then rolls for a bit over a half mile downhill in a section called the freeroll where it usually accelerates to over 30mph. It takes a hairpin turn, called the chute, where it is then pushed up a second hill by the final 3 pushers. Carnegie Mellon has been doing this since 1920, and the sport acquired its current track configuration in 1928. So it's been going on for a very long time. My team, CIA, was founded in 1970. (Buggy is intramural.)
My team won first place for womens, and third place for mens. We beat the second-place time for womens by over 5 seconds and we were only .6 seconds slower than the first-place mens team. This is our best showing in over 30 years. In fact it's the first time we've been in the top 3 in either category in over 30 years. When I joined, we were a bottom rung team. We had (mostly) old/bad buggies, slow pushers, and awful wheels. But what we did have were some brilliant engineers, and we've worked hard, and 4 years later, we're the top team on the course. It's incredible. I'm extremely happy. I honestly joined the team because it's the team with the reputation for being fun rather than being competitive, and I care a lot more about having fun and learning than winning. But we won anyway. I'm thrilled.
Here are our buggies:
Older buggies
From left to right: Freyja (built 2010), Firebird (2004), Quasar (2002), Mirage (2000), Conquest (1992).
These buggies are all retired now, but could still theoretically roll. In the back you can see the fiberglass shells for Black Magic which set the course record in the 80s (a record which has long since been broken), and A Streetcar Named Desire which was one of the team's first buggies from the 70s. There's a relatively recent buggy missing here, Renaissance, built in 2009, because she (buggies are referred to as females, like ships
) is out in California with the alumnus who designed her and his wife, who was also a CIA member.
Newer buggies
Equinox (built 2015), Ascension (2011), Icarus (2014), Impulse (2013), Orca (2012). Ascension is out of order because she was one of the A buggies this year. Despite being a bit older, her driver is extremely skilled and makes up for the fact that it is not as good as some of our newer ones.
I pushed for our D-team, in other words our least competitive team (A, B, and C come before it). It is generally made up of mechanics who just feel like pushing that year, such as myself. As is CIA tradition, we pushed in suits, but despite that we actually put up a fairly respectable time. We weren't slow, just slow-er. I'm pleased.
Immediately after our win, alumni we hadn't heard from in a very long time were calling and messaging trying to donate and get swag and shirts
. And the alumni who came to watch the races, some of whom graduated decades ago, were practically tearful with happiness. They told us that we made them extremely proud--it was really great.
My team won first place for womens, and third place for mens. We beat the second-place time for womens by over 5 seconds and we were only .6 seconds slower than the first-place mens team. This is our best showing in over 30 years. In fact it's the first time we've been in the top 3 in either category in over 30 years. When I joined, we were a bottom rung team. We had (mostly) old/bad buggies, slow pushers, and awful wheels. But what we did have were some brilliant engineers, and we've worked hard, and 4 years later, we're the top team on the course. It's incredible. I'm extremely happy. I honestly joined the team because it's the team with the reputation for being fun rather than being competitive, and I care a lot more about having fun and learning than winning. But we won anyway. I'm thrilled.
Here are our buggies:
Older buggies
From left to right: Freyja (built 2010), Firebird (2004), Quasar (2002), Mirage (2000), Conquest (1992).
These buggies are all retired now, but could still theoretically roll. In the back you can see the fiberglass shells for Black Magic which set the course record in the 80s (a record which has long since been broken), and A Streetcar Named Desire which was one of the team's first buggies from the 70s. There's a relatively recent buggy missing here, Renaissance, built in 2009, because she (buggies are referred to as females, like ships
) is out in California with the alumnus who designed her and his wife, who was also a CIA member.Newer buggies
Equinox (built 2015), Ascension (2011), Icarus (2014), Impulse (2013), Orca (2012). Ascension is out of order because she was one of the A buggies this year. Despite being a bit older, her driver is extremely skilled and makes up for the fact that it is not as good as some of our newer ones.
I pushed for our D-team, in other words our least competitive team (A, B, and C come before it). It is generally made up of mechanics who just feel like pushing that year, such as myself. As is CIA tradition, we pushed in suits, but despite that we actually put up a fairly respectable time. We weren't slow, just slow-er. I'm pleased.
Immediately after our win, alumni we hadn't heard from in a very long time were calling and messaging trying to donate and get swag and shirts
. And the alumni who came to watch the races, some of whom graduated decades ago, were practically tearful with happiness. They told us that we made them extremely proud--it was really great.
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