I had forgotten who put the competition on. I guess using a bipe or not would depend if there were wing span limits imposed in the design rules. There would be a set of aero tradeoffs that can be made based on the rules that should give a very clear design trend.

http://www.sae.org/students/ade99res.htm

is a picture of the open class winner. Four motors and lots of propwash will help. The aero layout is a perfect example of the ideal planform for the contest. Note the really big vertical tail to keep the nose going straight. They are ugly. I remember seeing somewhere the standard class had a one motor limit imposed.

To get more variation in the designs they need to make them fit into a box of a given size. It would get rid of that ridiculous tail boom angle.

http://www.db.erau.edu/campus/depart...ontest_98.html

http://home.cfl.rr.com/saeaeroeast/