The Need for Speed...
Hey Doug:
Good post. I'll try to address a few of your statements:
The new production Evo kit will have the carbon wing, with the span reduced by cutting the wing planform at the root. This will allow for the greatest reduction in area vs span. The plan is for 90SF, with a figure closer to 80SF being optimal for all-out speed (stall speed would not be considered in this equation). In the real world, we need to look at such things, so we will opt for a slightly larger wing area to keep approach speeds in a reasonable range.
This wing area reduction will allow the ship to accelerate a bit, but more importantly, it will allow higher IAS in mild turbulence, as would be seen in a descent from 17000MSL. I still think you gonna have to pull the big knob back a bit (sorry about that!), or get a thicker bottom cushion!
We will also have a tip extension available if it turns out that more wing area is better suited to your mission profile.
I hope we can make the wing so it can be retrofitted -- that has not been determined yet.
The retracts will be the key to a 200KIAS speed, while forced induction + higher cruise altitudes would be the key to higher KTAS. In either case, I'll wager the power required is gonna go up a bit.
If you have not done the math, 200KIAS at 1500MSL = 260KTAS. We're gonna have to look at the flutter margin *again* if we're gonna go that fast!
I disagree with the turbo addition -- it's less user and maintainence friendly compared to a blower (IMHO), and we can tune a blower to a certain altitude & RPM combo easy enough. We both fly supercharged ship on a regular basis -- wouldn't you think that setup would be easier to learn, with most pilots coming from the normally aspirated world?
My plan for 158 is to change pistons and add a blower at some point (either using a front drive as is done by Aero Superchargers out of Las Vegas or a rear drive used by another company out of Colorado, or maybe a Wipple-type unit developed by Tom at G3 Ignitions). We are, of course, talking about a highly specialized setup here -- not for low altitude work (below 10,000MSL) tho it will work there -- it is optimized for 15000-17999....or Reno...
Lucky for us: the CG of the ship is far enough forward to allow this added weight (forced induction).
More later!
Mark