黑料正能量

At 黑料正能量 students anticipate the听Spring Carnival(opens in new window) and century-old annual听Sweepstakes(opens in new window) race by spending months building sleek, carbon-fiber buggies to push a driver around the hills behind campus.

Sam Radziwon had an idea akin to long-ago races: The mechanical engineering senior built a wooden buggy, named Balsa, which will roll in an exhibition race Friday morning.

Two years ago, Radziwon served as chair for听, an independent student organization founded in 1969 that participates competitively in a variety of campus traditions听and co-curricular activities like Booth and Buggy. After working with lumber and sheets of plywood to build a booth, he started to consider how to build a buggy out of similar material. Last year, as a junior, he served as head mechanic for Fringe, and kept the idea of building a wooden buggy at the back of his mind. 鈥淚t started as a joke: I鈥檒l build my own buggy, it鈥檒l fit me, I鈥檒l make it out of wood because I understand Booth,鈥� he said. 鈥淔ast-forward to this year, and one night I thought, let鈥檚 do it.鈥�

How it works

will participate in the competition this year, with some fielding multiple buggies.

Balsa features a top-loading design for the driver to climb into, with a hatch that hinges to close and a feet-first position for the driver. To support the increased amount of weight from the wooden structure, the buggy uses a 26-inch bike tire and fork in the front, compared to the usual buggy wheels that are about six inches in diameter. Radziwon鈥檚 creation is the first feet-first design to meet race requirements since 1998.

Typical buggies have brakes that are attached to the steering, but the wooden buggy uses movable brake handles that Radziwon holds in his hands.

鈥淭his bike fork still has the handle bars on it, and down at the bottom, I am steering with my feet,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his takes a lot more turning force than any other buggy.鈥�

Radziwon is 5 feet, 9 inches tall, compared to the typical buggy driver who is closer to just 5 feet in height.

鈥淚 have to wear a chest protector underneath my harness, which cuts out a little more room,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty tight.鈥�

黑料正能量 12 Fringe alumni will be recruited as pushers to keep it moving along the course, where a typical buggy only takes five.

In the听 before the widespread adoption of carbon fiber, the cars were made of wood and other materials, said Elizabeth Koch, 黑料正能量鈥檚 director of听Student Involvement and Traditions(opens in new window) in the听Division of Student Affairs(opens in new window).

鈥淭hese old, archival buggies didn鈥檛 look the way they look now, so it is an homage and it is new, all at the same time,鈥� she said.

Balsa will take part in the race in an exhibition heat to gather data on this type of vehicle as it traverses the 鈥渂ack hills鈥� of the course, Koch said.

鈥淚t won鈥檛 likely be competing against anybody else, it will be rolling on its own, in its own glory,鈥� she said.

Fielding other peoples鈥� reactions

Now serving as president of Fringe, Radziwon started building the buggy in the fall, and as he told more people his plan, they reacted with surprise.

鈥淣ot horror, but something close,鈥� he joked, adding that he has been able to prove the idea could work. 鈥淓very time I鈥檇 hit a different milestone, they鈥檇 be a little bit incredulous.鈥�

Sam Istvan, a senior majoring in electrical and computer engineering who is serving as co-head booth chair for Fringe, helped Radziwon early on in the project, building the frame.

鈥淧eople are astonished by it whenever they see it because Buggy is already confusing enough,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hen this is a wooden block with bike wheels.鈥�

Tiegan Duncan, a junior studying mechanical engineering and chair of the听 Buggy team, noticed Radziwon building the wooden buggy since the two groups鈥� shops are next to each other.

鈥淗e explained the concept to me, then I instantly decided 鈥� he had to let me help,鈥� Duncan said.

Because of the two shops鈥� proximity, Duncan helped with several parts of the build, including the custom metal brake mounts and Radziwon鈥檚 steering design.

鈥淗e鈥檚 jammed in there with his arms, so we were trying to think of how he could control the steering,鈥� Duncan said.

Taking to the course

Balsa will start at the Edward Manning Bigelow monument, just beyond halfway in the full 0.8-mile course where a typical buggy would be gaining momentum in 鈥渇reeroll.鈥� During this portion of the course, buggies can reach speeds of up to 40 mph.

鈥淚鈥檇 be genuinely amazed if it even gets close to half that speed,鈥� Radziwon said.

As an engineer, Radziwon did a mathematical analysis to estimate how the wooden buggy would perform, but plenty of variables on the course make it difficult to know how those numbers would translate to the trial run.

鈥淭he biggest concern most people had was how to stop this much weight moving that quickly,鈥� he said, but using bicycle parts allows him to stop all three wheels individually at once. 鈥淚t has parts designed to take this realm of force.鈥�

The morning of the wooden buggy鈥檚 practice roll before Sweepstakes, Duncan made sure Radziwon was awake at 4 a.m., eventually calling his roommate to wake him up, and, once on the course, took part in pushing the wooden buggy.

鈥淚t looked good,鈥� Duncan said. 鈥淗e pretty much held a decent line for where the drivers usually are, given the fact that he couldn鈥檛 start where they usually start. Then he made the turn, which we had lots of confidence in.鈥�

Koch witnessed Balsa鈥檚 practice roll, and the students鈥� reactions to its success.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much joy 鈥� the students after they made it around the corner, they were jumping up and down,鈥� Koch said. 鈥淭he joy on their faces was amazing.鈥�

On Saturday, as Duncan manages the Apex team and pushes other buggies on race day, they said they look forward to seeing the wooden buggy take the course with everyone watching.

鈥淎pparently, we鈥檙e getting engineering degrees, but my major is Buggy. My major is putting these tiny women into carbon fiber torpedoes on wheels and throwing them headfirst down hills,鈥� Duncan joked. 鈥淏uggy is one of the big reasons I鈥檓 happy I went to Carnegie Mellon.鈥�