This might be a good idea for auto towing. We have 2800 ft of
straight runway at our gliderport. At 780 ft field elevation with a tow
vehicle like a V-8 Chevy Suburban or a V-8 pickup truck, we can get a
maximum of about 800ft AGL auto towing a 1-26, and maybe 475ft AGL
auto towing a 2-33 with two people in it. Except for the problem of the
wind causing a portion of the circle to be towing the glider downwind, a
circular runway would seem to be a good way to extend the runway length
indefinitely, and get more altitude for a given rope length.


This can actually be done on any normal glider field in the form of
towing up an down the runway. The towcar doesn't have a very big turning
radius, so no need for even a large (wide) field. And the glider is
already in the air when the towcar reaches the end of the field and can
make a much larger turn - kind of a teardrop reversal. The towcar can
also slow down a lot for the turn because the glider slingshots around
it. Like a waterskier who overtakes the boat turning.

This can be done several times back and forth and if the tow cable can
be lengthened/reeled out it could reach much higher altitudes than with
a winch launch. But it's rather crazy and a bit like below - better one
good straight setup unless you have a really loong field.
Of course very safe on a circular track if available


Isn't the circular runway standard float plane technique on small lakes?

Yea theoretically it is always discussed and for helos in confined areas
as well. In practice I find it doesn't work.
When do you need it? When you are loaded heavy. That means you use full
power to barely start climbing. The turning actually does use up that
little extra power every time I experimented with it - because you bank
quite a bit as space is tight. So setting up the departure in the
longest straight line possible has always been just as good if not
better and looks a lot more sane
Now, turning slightly into wind or to go over the lowest trees that are
off the straight departure is standard, but is far from spiralling