Thanks. My brainstorm was a thought about the couple low performance regional contests we've done. It's not unusual for a pilot to sometimes ask if we accept low performance pilots not just low performance gliders. Often this kind of a joking question but not always. The real goal in my mind is to try to get a bunch of gliders in the same class that all have semi close achieved speeds. This makes it more fun for the competitors in my opinion.

I was thinking of a formula that would consider glider handicap and pilot ability. Using the ranking list seemed like a natural way to judge pilot ability although that won't always be a sure bet.

We have usually used a 1.115 (Standard Austria SH-1) handicap as the cutoff for "Low Performance". I spit balled a formula that would allow anyone with 1.115 handicap or higher to participate and give the option for gliders as good as a Std Cirrus depending on ranking list. Formula i thought up is:

SSA Handicap - (Pilot Ranking *1.115/1000) = 1

So anyone up to National Champions can fly the "regular" low performance gliders. Higher performance than that it is a sliding scale until someone with a 0 ranking can compete in a Std. Cirrus.

I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this type of formula for defining a Sport Class subset.

Of course, if the new guy in the Cirrus wanted to, they could always fly against the ASW-27's and other higher performance gliders in the rest of sports class.