that being said, any limit in imac has never worked. the engine limit came and went, the 10% limit was ignored/unenforced, and again, there is talk of a new limit. the problem is that every limit has two things in common - one, they have no basis in logic, and two, they suit the agenda of person proposing it. take a 20" prop diameter - a 29% AW Edge, with a BME 50 and guided by a high end radio can compete. Against what? A .60 size GP Extra with a low end four channel radio? Does that level the playing field? Of course not. There is no way to make this work, and that is one of the reasons that mini mac failed - it is simply impossible to come up with rational methodology for a cut-off.
Good points. There are 4 other reasons in my post above that IMO are more relevant to Mini-mac being successful. I was around when it was proposed introduced and fielded - all with very little support. Agreed however, the line in the sand for size is going to be difficult to draw - why not use the Pattern size rule? seems to work for them - the point here is that a logical size limit could be agreed upon and enforced if WE as a SIG decide to support it - something that didnt happen with Mini-mac. And again, it has to be a workable format, not an additional class that cant physically be supported - thus the everyone flies together in the standard classes and the breakout happens after the points are tallied - great idea, wish it were mine.
as for the bigger flies better garbage...the point that aresti is trying to make, and that i will echo, is that skill does not increase with wingpsan. wingspan don't mean squat when the pilot overrotates his snaps, misses points, has varying roll rates, go 90 over in a spin entry, or a litany of other things that are peculiar to the pilot's skill, regardless of what he is flying. to suggest that a 35% airplane has a fighting chance against a 40% airplane is absurb - like the 35% pilot is the underdog. but you want to really see people go nuts? show up at an imac contest with a scale inspired pattern plane - suddenly no one cares about wingspan, but they hoot and holler cause the pattern plane flies so good....
different people, same rhetoric.
now here we diverge... Aresti's point that you echo was never debated - if you suck you suck no argument. If you think you're not at a disadvantage with a 35% flying against a 40%, one of two things is apparent here - either you fly 40% and dont want to admit the advantage, or you've never flown a 40% that was set up right. The difference there is minor enough that it can be overcome with a great deal of practice - but when you drop to 25%, there is no amount of practice that will make that airplane competetive (see definition above please) I think you missed my point that if the skill sets between 2 pilots are close, the better pilot could lose simply because the other guys airplane made wind corrections easier because it was bigger. Garbage? Interesting, if its garbage how come 99% of Unlimited flies 40%? How come Pattern folks want to lift thier size restriction? Why dont we see the cheaper small airplanes at our contests?
But enough is enough, if you cant see my point by now, there is no use wasting time typing. <sigh>
Whatever, you're right, it'll never work.
Roger