On Jun 23, 7:35*pm, Tim wrote:

P.S. - For people who like flying all AT's, really racing your fellow
pilots side-by-side, and understanding a simplifed rule system - get
your local contest organizer to run a Grand Prix Format race! Its a
lot of fun, stays pretty simple and is understandable. Why there has
not been more buy-in from the American soaring community I do not know
- but I do know the fierceness of the opposition to this style of
racing runs very deep here in the States.

It seems to me that a Grand Prix format requires identical gliders for
all participants. Where are you going to find 20-50 identical ( or at
least equal handicap ) gliders for all the pilots ?

Now if the SSA were to buy a fleet of (insert favorite super ship
here) and hire college co-eds as crew to drive the fleet from one
contest site to the next, I bet we could have a very active Grand Prix
circuit :-)

Frankly the rules don't really seem that complicated to me, but I am
not trying to analyse them, just fly them. One thing that soaring
should do in my opinion is change the time cycle for rule changes.
Keep the rules constant for 3 or 4 years, then change them. That
would reduce the constant whiplash of new rules every year.

Todd
3S