Not to burst your bubble, but who cares about the "design intentions" of Bruce Tharp? I know full well about the wing design and what it is for. But, the fact is, sheeting the leading edge does a lot to get rid of one characteristic that alot of people dont like about the Four Star to begin with... the tendency to float forever on landing, BECAUSE of all that low speed lift. That, coupled with taking one bay out of each wing will make this plane land exactly where you want it every time, instead of floating halfway down the runway. As far as the design goes, the "design intentions" never included cowlings, enlarged and counterbalanced control surfaces, main gear relocated out to the wings, shaped wingtips, etc., but we do those mods all the time now, dont we! Besides all that, if you go to Bruce's website and read his description of the Venture 60, it states that the leading edge is not sheeted primarily to reduce weight and speed build time, and that the turbulator spar design "MAY" increase low speed lift and handling.