ORIGINAL: Lou Melancon
I do know that the real question is this.... "should we create a class and see if folks will come, or do we try the idea by flying some 'demo' competitions to see if there are enough participants to support it". I favor the latter. If you feel there is enough support for a Piped .60, retract class, develop a contest schedule and see if folks participate.
I believe this has been tried at a few contests. Steve Byrum could confirm that, if he would jump in here. IIRC, there was lots of noise made about pipes and retracts being a big sticking point for a lot of people. So one of the CD's made a special "hot rod" class for the later planes. Only a handful of people signed up for the class. So, when all was said and done, nothing happened due to lack of participation. This happens all the time, lots of people talk about it and then when the time comes to do it, only a small percentage actually show. I'm not slagging anyone, it's just the nature of people and group events like this. But it sure is tough to get something off the ground because of it.
As for the noise issue, there is no way to make a screaming piped 60 quiet. It is not possible to turn an 11" prop at 15k+ rpm without making a LOT of noise. This is part of why pattern went to big props and lower rpm as the noise limit came down. Simple physics says it can't be done.
Mark