Mark

I think of Clasic Pattern as it was first defined by 8178 back when he started this forum...pre Turnaround with engine limitations.
I think of SPA planes as the early part of "Classic Pattern" and the BPA planes as the later part of "Classic Pattern".

The attachment with the orange/white plane was a picture of Howard Thomb's Taurus with a mildly swept back wing to illustrate the fact that people were experimenting back then, and we still do somewhat in SPA, although not to that degree. I am not advocating putting a swept wing, putting a different wing or changine the airfoil on SPA-legal planes as a mod...that would be too great of a mod to make, and would NOT be SPA-legal. It was just an example of the fact that people like to experiment a little here and there. The allowed SPA mods, (generally called the "Duck Rule"..looks like a duck it IS a duck), state that the plane still must look like the original, and should not have major mods. BTW...I still remember Mr Thombs making a perfect landing directly out of a Split-S; it was cool to see...the plane flew great.

Asheville is on the outskirts of "SPA territory", and is not as well attended by the regulars as some of the other contests in the "heart" of the SPA core area, such as Atlanta or central Alabama. We have had a nice contest for the past two years, with lots of new Novice pilots, but to make a contest work, we need more of the Sportsmen, Experts, and Sr Experts. We may not continue, or the contest in Asheville may be every other year or something if we don't get enough attendance. Other than Florida, we are the farthest east of the contests, so I hope that we are getting known, and people will attend in spite of the gas prices.