Re: Words from the past about F1D rules change

From: <joshuawfinn_at_gmail.com>
Date: 21 May 2014 04:19:04 -0700

Nice words, but history shows them wrong. F1D was in its infancy then. Rising numbers were not caused by the rules change. As for the so-called rebuttal of Tom's concerns, all of his concerns came true: nearly 10" chords (10.5" in some cases), long motorsticks (16.5" on several winning models), and 21-22" props. Times were only lowered for a brief instant until participants started making bigger models.
  
 This is the issue at hand: rules changes do not increase participation, and anytime a rules change is made in the effort to reduce performance, the monetary cost per model rises. Under the 1.2 g rules, I was spending no more than $10/airplane. I fully expect that cost to double in a few years, and perhaps more than that if the new CF props begin to show a performance advantage.
  
 Increasing the participation in FF events across the board is a marketing problem. It is not a rules problem or a materials supply problem.
  
 -Joshua Finn

Received on Wed May 21 2014 - 04:19:05 CEST