Bwog is receiving reports from Blue and White alumnus James Wiliams that a car crashed into the front of Indus Valley, located on the southeast corner of 100th and Broadway. Police have already begun dismantling the car.

Standby for more pictures and details as they come in.   

UPDATE 3:45 PM: Bwog just returned from the scene of the crash with more pictures but very little info.  The NYPD on site were very unhelpful and didn’t respond to Bwog’s questions but with a brusque “Stay on the sidewalk, dammit.”  More pictures after the jump.

UPDATE 5:56 PM: The local Fox affiliate just reported on the story, saying that 9 people were hurt.

Photo by Anish Bramhandkar

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Bwog will admit to a slight fascination with the Society of Automotive Engineers. We’ve swooned over their homemade car, we’ve felt their pain as their ABC allocation shrunk, and today, we shared in their elation when tipster Jonathan Battat informed us that SAE placed 67th (the team’s highest ranking to date) at the Formula SAE competition in Michigan. 2008′s FSAE was also the first in which the CU team completed every event. 

Pictures from the event are available here, here, and here. Congrats, engineers! 

As is customary before any break, we’ve re-posted our peregrination pointers list in hopes that you will have the quickest, safest, cheapest, most comfortable ride home. And if you have a travel secret that doesn’t appear on the list, email bwog@columbia.edu. Sharing is caring.

How to decide upon the lesser of the three evils: train, bus or car?

* “I’m going to Western Massachusetts, and booked a train two weeks ago to get there (already most days were filled up) and am booking a Greyhound bus today to get back. I figure the roads will be worse on Thursday�making Amtrak convenient�but not so bad in the middle of the day on Sunday, making the bus more flexible and economical.”

* “If you live in Philly or its environs, any Chinatown bus during holiday season will be packed with everyone you went to high school with. NJ Transit, though a foul, foul beast, is a less awkward experience. I plan to take a very early (7:14) train on Thurs. morning, which will get me into 30th Street at 9:30 am. I hear Thurs. morning NJ Transit trains are pretty empty.”

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Bwog noticed a circle of six or so boys standing around a homemade car, which is currently parked on Low plaza. The car is the project of the Columbia Society of Automotive Engineers who will compete in a major race next week in Detroit against 140 other teams.

Members of the SAE stood proudly around their creation and bragged to Bwog that the car goes from 0-60 in 3.5 seconds and can reach a speed of 120 mph. “Though you wouldn’t want to drive it that fast,” one SAEer warned. The car’s not street legal, but the team half-seriously speculated that maybe some fenders and a bumper or two would do the trick.

You can watch videos (thanks to a handy Helmet Cam) of the SAE taking it out for a test drive here and after the jump

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