Originally Posted by
2walla
I wouldnt increase the displacement. You are looking for ingenuity and engineering acumen.. A clipped wing quickie 500 racer, os 46 with a pipe and and a properly trimmed glider as a delivery system is probably the norm? I would think you would want to make things more interesting..most of last years stuff looked like they focused too much thought on the speed plane not the delivery system though. With the 16000 rpm limit the planes should all be within a few mph of each other so making the delivery system stay airborne the longest is the real challenge. How many exceeded the three minutes?
Both teams had exceeded 3 minutes in practice. On the day of the contest with 30mph winds, the teams struggled keeping the gliders close. The Black team (flying wing glider) was able to reach 3 minutes. The orange team was unable to reach 3 minutes at the contest with their best time being about 2:30. It was interesting because the Orange plane was a little larger and slower but was able to turn better. on the course they were both very close. it did come down to the glider time and the black teams planes being lighter so they were able to climb higher in the 10 second climb portion.