Grand Prix Racing for the Rest of Us

This is a cropped but close translation of part of an article published  March 27, 2013 in the OLC Magazine in German, followed by my comments. The original article is posted at the following link.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/segelflugszene/cmsnews.html?month=072013&news=970#970

“The argument can be made that traditional glider racing rules are such that spectator interest and involvement is near zero. Complex rules that are not relatable by the lay person and technical details that take substantial time to sort out delay daily racing results for hours if not until the next morning. Whoever comes home first from a contest flight is most likely not involved in the decision regarding the day’s winner. The OLC Glider Race remedies this situation completely. The pilot that crosses the finish line first wins the day! Actually, the winners can be celebrated after the third glider lands. Adding to the excitement is the fact that the contest can be followed on the ground viewing satellite-driven reports of glider positions.”

After this intro, the article goes on describing the rules of the first planned race at the Wasserkuppe in Germany, Standard Class only, max. of 20 participants. Here is an abbreviated translation of the rules, which are stated to be close to the Sailplane Grand Prix:

Class Definition:  Standard Class only, max. mass 525 kg (1,155 lbs)

Participants: Up to 2 pilots per glider, max number of gliders is 20

Contest Flights:  Minimum task distance of 100 km.  Max flight time around 3 hours is planned.  All starts are regatta-style, height and speed limited.  Life-tracking of glider progress is planned.  Winners are declared immediately after third-place finisher is determined.

Contest Rules:  (from what I understand, they will be following mostly the Grand Prix rules that are also published under the above link).

Turnpoints:  according to approved list.  (turnpoint radius or sector is not stated)

Start:  Aero-tow to 2,000’, grid is determined by lottery. Start line is 2.5 km long, altitude limited (CD discretion), speed limited to 86 knots.

Finish and Landing:  Steering turnpoint 3 mi from finish line, turn is altitude limited. Finish line is 500 m long, perpendicular to course line from steering turnpoint, has to be overflown at a minimum of 600’.  Rolling finishes get a 5 min penalty.

Scoring:  Flight has to be uploaded immediately to OLC, flight to be scored using SeeYou Competition.

My comments: considering all the discussions we had this off-season regarding US contest rules, Club and Sports Class and how to make racing more exciting, this “mini Grand Prix” could be a good option for invigorating glider contests. The first concern would be the one-class mandate that is implied. Given the high number of 15m and Standard Class gliders in this country, considerations of combining the classes would be valid.  The concept would possibly also work well for non-sanctioned weekend contests with a 2 or 3 day duration or for club events.

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