Changing the subject just a little I realise... How far do you guys in North America travel for a typical competition?? And are they typically one day events or over a whole weekend?

Most competitions here in the UK are one day events. This means that unless you can get by on very little sleep, there is only a certain radius you can travel to make the day worth while. For me, the furthest I tend to travel for a one day competition is about 190miles - any more than that and you have a very, very early start and when you get there you are exhausted after a long drive so don't perform as well. And after a long day you still have a long drive back home.

We have a few two - three day comps, but not many. Those I am prepared to travel a bit further for but then you have overnight accomodation to consider which requires not only more advanced planning, but another £50-£90 ($80 - $150) on the weekend per night, depending on where you stay.

Fuel costs for me are significant, but fortunately not prohibitive. I'll get maybe 300miles on a tank of fuel - that's about £50 ($90) which makes it an expensive weekend, but that's what I signed up for when I decided to go to comps.

All in all I guess this is an expensive hobby! The planes are expensive, and you have to travel around a lot which in this day and age is expensive! I've been to the USA on many occasions (loved it each time) and you are right - it is big!! We view a whole country in the same way you would view a medium sized state, the whole of the UK is about the same size as Florida. So it's rather meaningless to compare the fuel prices from one country to the next, as there are so many other factors to consider. If we are going to get into that game, consider this - a YS160 in the UK will cost you $840!!!!

(That's not to say we don't think we get screwed on fuel duty and taxes. Get this - we pay v.a.t. on the duty we pay on fuel - we get taxed on the tax we pay!! But that is a political argument and probably has no place here... ;-))

James