[Warning: starts on-topic but heads for a trip through the weeds]

Earlier, Don Johnstone wrote:

I understand what you are saying Bill but a safety
cockpit will only go so far...

Exactly; I agree with both of you to some degree.

I'm of a mind that the window of impact energies that any reasonably
cost- and weight-effective structure can protect the pilot from is
relatively narrow. Or at least it's narrower than a lot of folks
realize. As you say, real-world crashes are essentially a crap shoot.
Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances.

Furthermore, virtually everything you can do to improve crashworthiness
increases weight, And everything you do to increase weight increases
speed and impact energy. It's all a bunch of trade-offs.

One interesting tangent to this issue is that there is a clear
competitive advantage to small, light fuselages with small cockpits.
Such a fuselage hung from a set of wings is going to have less drag and
better performance than a larger, heavier fuselage on the same wings.

In the context of the current competitive environment, pilots generally
buy their own ships, and pay their own way in contests. They tend to
choose ships that they feel comfortable in, and they do their own
cost/benefit and risk/benefit analyses regarding what they fly and how
they fly it.

However, you don't have to look too far to see an alternate future in
which this is not the case. Suppose, for a moment, that it becomes
fashionable to gamble on the outcome of certain soaring contests.
Prizes and incentives are offered for winning. Competitive performance
becomes not just a matter of pride and prestive, but of serious
financial gain. Serious racing sailplanes get smaller and lighter.
Comfort and crashworthiness yields to performance. Pilots are hired
guns, and though they obviously have some voice in matters of safety,
it is not a loud voice against the background of finances, sponsorship,
media coverage, and commercial patronage. In order to call yourself a
national champion or even a national contender, you'd have to rise to
an entirely new level of risk exposure.

Let me be the first to admit that this is a pretty out-there vision of
the future of contest soaring. I do not think it is likely we'll see it
come to pass. I do not wear that kind of tinfoil beanie.
However, I do think it merits some thinking on. What would such a
future mean for the rest of the soaring world? More media attention?
More money and participation? More regulation and restriction?

Thanks, and best regards to all

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com/hp-24