Regional Racing (US) - Snailplane still in the lead

Dan Sazhin and his SGS 1-26 are still holding onto first place in the GCUP South contest - although he does have a big DG 808B flown by Chris Ungermann munching on his tail feathers. Still a few months to go - we'll have to see if skill and courage can prevail over technology and $$$.

http://designtekk.com/GCUP2/gc_home.php

Ken Kochanski
GCUP Webmaster

On Wednesday, August 28, 2013 2:59:34 PM UTC-6, KiloKilo wrote:
Dan Sazhin and his SGS 1-26 are still holding onto first place in the GCUP South contest - although he does have a big DG 808B flown by Chris Ungermann munching on his tail feathers. Still a few months to go - we'll have to see if skill and courage can prevail over technology and $$$.



http://designtekk.com/GCUP2/gc_home.php



Ken Kochanski

GCUP Webmaster

not to mention he is going into the last day of the 1-26 championships with a slight lead over fellow Blairstown pilot Ron Schwartz.

Skywalker vs. Obi Wan ... somebody should make a movie ... :-)


On Thursday, August 29, 2013 12:03:21 AM UTC-4, Tony wrote:
On Wednesday, August 28, 2013 2:59:34 PM UTC-6, KiloKilo wrote:

Dan Sazhin and his SGS 1-26 are still holding onto first place in the GCUP South contest - although he does have a big DG 808B flown by Chris Ungermann munching on his tail feathers. Still a few months to go - we'll have to see if skill and courage can prevail over technology and $$$.







http://designtekk.com/GCUP2/gc_home.php







Ken Kochanski



GCUP Webmaster



not to mention he is going into the last day of the 1-26 championships with a slight lead over fellow Blairstown pilot Ron Schwartz.

The G-Cup is a great way to get pilots in the Atlantic area together. Anybody can participate and join the friendly competition on a club and individual level. We are all grateful to the organizers and volunteers.

Its not perfect but its fun and that's what is all about. It is hard to keep a level playing field.Problems include the fact that some airports are advantaged, water ballast and ability to use the best days despite a working schedule to name a few.
The big one is the huge spread of handicaps and what happens on a strong day. A competent 1-26 driver on a strong day is hard to beat. The handicapped speeds of a high performance glider required to compete become absurd really quickly.
So courage and skill vs technology ? Its more complicated than that, but it makes things interesting.
Dan is hot this year and deserves a high finish, but there are still a few other pilots like P3, JW and 3M to name a few, who will give him a run for it.

D

Agree the 1-26 handicap is generous - but snail-planes typically get whipped soundly in handicapped meets.

I think Dan is flying his 26 flat out 110% of the time ... I think the rest of us have a more comfortable journey - and don't push that hard - thanks to the evolution of sailplane design and technology.

So I'm not saying we glass drivers don't fly with courage and skill - I'm just saying 50:1(technology)keeps us out of a lot of trouble.

Besides 'Skill and Courage vs Technology and $$$$' reads a lot better ..

:-)

DG 808B
Wingspan: 18.00 m (59 ft 1 in)
Powerplant: 1 × Solo, 40 kW (ca. 53 hp)
Maximum speed: 270 km/h (170 mph)
Maximum glide ratio: 50 (51.5 with winglets)
Rate of sink: 0.5 m/s (98 ft/min)

vs

SGS 1-26
Wingspan: 40 ft 0 in (12.2 m)
Maximum speed: 114 mph (182 km/h)
Maximum glide ratio: 23 at 53 mph (84 km/h)
Rate of sink: 174 ft/min (0.88 m/s)

It would certainly be interesting to see the results if these two pilots would trade gliders and then fly against each other in the same Gcup contest.........

On Thursday, August 29, 2013 8:40:20 PM UTC-4, 27pilot wrote:
It would certainly be interesting to see the results if these two pilots would trade gliders and then fly against each other in the same Gcup contest.........


That would be a hoot! And potentially embarrassing

Point is the 1-26 handicap is 1.6, the DG's is 0.88. Put that 1-26 on a ridge or a cloud-street and a HP glass ship can't go fast enough.