Most numerous sailplane type and model in the world?

At 16:19 06 February 2011, Tim wrote:
Look at F1 Motor Racing, it exists, but is just the "tip of the spear"
for auto racing - the best, the most technolgical, the msot expensive,
etc. There is a place for the best, and I can't wait to see the
Concordia fly and race.

BUT, most auto racing is done in various entry level classes that are
alive because they have continually adapted to changing values and
needs within auto racing. The soaring "powers that be" need to start
thinking and acting "strategically" when considering how to preserve,
let alone GROW our sport of glider racing.

Probably the most popular and fastest growing class of club sports car
racing is the Spec Miata class, which is just about what it sounds like.
The cars are readily available, cheap, a blast to drive, and the allowed
modifications for racing are minimal.

The most popular one-class glider racing must still be the 1-26
Association, and their annual Championship competitions. These days the
World Class holds their US naitonal along with the 1-26s, and it's really
sort of embarrassing. The 1-26s field 20 to 30 racers, and the PW-5s have
about half a dozen.

Jim Beckman

On Sat, 5 Feb 2011 18:41:27 -0800 (PST), Tim Taylor
wrote:



I think we tried to talk the IGC into using the LS-4 as the single
glider for the World Class. You can see how well that worked out;
there are nearly as many PW-5's around as LS-4's, Not! Logic is not
something that happens at IGC meetings,

This argument is quite a bit unfair. I have been in IGC meetings as a
journalist or as a deputy delegate for my country.
Logic is at the center of all discussions, and there are always
advocates for the different opinions.
In the history of World Class creation, the deciding factor was that
the discussions concluded a "new design" would be necessary, to avoid
tying the class to a single manufacturer, allowing licensees and
home-biulders to build their own.

The class failed, despite academic studies which predicted the
production in thousands.

aldo cernezzi