A few more words about boring the spectators, especially the casual ones: the distance we fly it is an additional detriment to spectator interest; masters and F3a sequences have so many elements in each maneuver that the casual spectator is pretty clueless about what they are watching. Personal experience has demonstrated that the casual spectator will ‘oooh and aaah’ for a 40% Extra getting thrown around (lower, closer, much noisier) and completely ignore precision aerobatics being flown in the background (and at 150m we are pretty far in the background), but when the Extra lands I can fly a nice 4 or 8 point roll down the runway for a smattering of applause :-)
My daughter has become an enthusiastic NASCAR fan, thanks to her boyfriend, but she loves the ‘ambiance’, especially the noise and the smell and, of course, the speed.
Pattern has lost the ‘wow’ factor at least as far as spectator appeal goes...