It's worse/better, even, than UH details. In my admittedly personal experience, there's very little if any difference in performance between the D2/ASW 28/LS 8 and the previous generation ASW 24, a design that goes back more than TWENTY-FIVE years! The caveat, of course, would be "with the right winglets", for which UH has a lot of responsibility (his winglets are on my 24 and many others).

In addition to claimed incrementally higher performance, what the later designs offered were optional 18m wingtips (although I'm not sure how many owners opted for these), more crashworthy cockpits (in the case of the D2 and LS 8; the ASW 24's already outstanding design was the basis for the ASW 27, ASW 28, and ASG 29 fuselages) and perhaps a bit easier, though not necessarily better, thermaling.

But when you look back over the preceding decades, the advances in performance have been minuscule. Is this because the technology ceased to advance, or because of lack of demand, or--in a sort of chicken-and-the-egg fashion--both?

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.