Hey VU,

I'm a newcomber, too. At my first event, the smallest plane there was 50cc. That being said, don't worry about it. The best part of my first contest was getting feedback from the judges, meeting other pilots, and seeing what other folks are doing. I'm a competitive person by nature so I really had to convince myself to simply compete against the standards as opposed to the other pilots there....it was more fun that way.

As for the event, some are very crowded and you may only fly twice in a day over two days and there may not be a lot of time for practice or open flying. From that standpoint, I'm not a big fan of the events because it's a three day deal for me plus all that goes into packing up the camping gear and planes and stuff and I only get in an hour or so of flying for the whole weekend. Your mileage at your local events may vary.

If you're into aerobatics, try it at least once with what you have and see if you like it. If you like the format of IMAC contests and want to be more competitive, you can upgrade to a bigger machine. Even though you aren't judged on the plane, you are judged on how you fly and IMO, it's easier to fly precision aerobatics with a large, purpose built machine.

Have fun!