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Old July 2nd 06, 04:57 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Greg Arnold
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Posts: 251
Default Some observations on the effect of U.S. glider handicaps on SCNationals

Tony Verhulst wrote:
Listing the top ten scores and then listing the top club class finisher
in the field is not the best way to represent data, IMHO. A person more
skeptical as myself might say that you are pushing an "agenda". I've
looked at the data and come up with a different picture. The reason that
so few club class ships score well in sports class contests is that
there are so few club class ships entered.


Assume that the Club Class ships at the 2006 Sports Class Nationals we

SZD-55-1
304CZ
Standard Cirrus
ASK-14
Libelle
ASW-15

If I have added up the numbers correctly, the Club Class ships had an
average standing of 30th, while the other ships had an average standing
of 25th. Include the SZD-55-1 flown by a guest, and the average Club
Class standing is 27th. Eliminate the SZD-55-1 entirely, and the
average Club Class standing is 33th. Also eliminate the "outlier" (the
ASW-15 that came in 48th), and the average Club Class standing is 30th.

This suggests that the newer ships don't have much of an advantage.
When you take into account that most of the top pilots were not flying
Club Class ships, the Club Class ships appear fairly competitive.