IIRC, years ago Dave Stevenson would select his Sports Class mount based on the published handicap values...and the site of the next national contest. Single-value handicaps can't theoretically apply equally for all days even at one location but knowing the expected weather helps narrow things down.

The problem I saw a while back was what I perceived as a sense with some that Sports and/or Club Class should exclude not just higher-performance gliders but better pilots. But being able to fly against some of the best pilots in the country--whether you have a state-of-the-art glider or something less cutting edge--is hugely appealing to me even if the handicap values are somewhat imprecise. In this case, with declining participation being perhaps the biggest problem we face in competitive soaring, the perfect is the enemy of the good.

Chip Bearden