Wow great answers - Well done
Handling - That control harmony, feel, force, responsiveness, hands down the RV. Glasairs go fast but are not great for acro or STOL as mentioned. I just want to say Glasairs are great planes, but it's a totally different mission. RV's are what VAF coin as "Total Performance", doing many things well with out compromising: Acro, STOL, Fast X-C, Payload, Range, Ease of maintenance... blaa, blaa, blaaa.
Safety - Sorry I know people (glass-builders) hate this or are unaware, but composite is not great for crashworthiness. Why? It is stiff and strong and fails abruptly, verses metal that deforms and bends, absorbing energy.
Under the safety banner STALL SPEED - RV's have relatively slow approach and stall speeds. If you ever need to land off-field, trust me the RV is the plane you want to be in, verse any Glasair. Speed verse kinetic energy is a square root function. A Glasair II TD/FG stalls at 73mph/63kts; the RV-8 stalls @ 51mph (solo) / 58 mph (gross). Assume the Glasair II spec of 73mph is at gross wt., (73/58)^2 = 58.4% more kinetic energy!
I also believe the older Glasairs had a wet wing center section. Fuel in the cockpit? Not good if I'm correct. RV's have wing tanks in a sealed leading edge. Is the RV crash proof? No, its a small plane and there's not a lot of structure, however with slow stall, metal monocoque structure, they do seem to do well in accidents. In typical things like a hard landing, damage is often limited to just the gear legs, which are an easy bolt in replacement.
Performance?
If you have your Glasair I or II FG or TD all tuned-up, it should be faster than a RV-8 or RV-8A for the same HP? The book says @ 180HP
Glasair FT or TD 228 mph / 198 kts top speed
RV-8 or RV-8A approx 214 mph / 186 kts top speed
Looking at this years Airventure Race where RV's and Glasairs, RV-8's posted a 235mph and 224mph and Glasair I's and II's, 248mph and 240mph. So you see about 16 or 17 mph difference.
I'll say RV's tend to make vans published figures, some don't but more meet or exceed Van's book values. I've found Glasair's are much slower than expected some times, withstanding the fine racers above. May be they are older, have fixed props that are not ideal? RV's may have the latest Hartzell Blended prop and new cowl mods?
You can look in the race circuit (not reno but the 2 hour X-C races), RV's do well, especially the Glasair I TD. The Glasair II has a wider/taller fuselage, so the Glasair I should be a little faster. From the Airventure race the Glasair II may lose about 8 mph to the Glasair I.
As I understand it, RV's beat the heck out of similar Glasairs in dog fights. The Glasair wing bleeds more speed when pulling G's, and low stall is an advantage for the RV. In dog fights, turning and maintaining energy is key. I've not done acro in a Glasair, but I have it on good authority they are not as fun to do loops and rolls in. Sure a Pro flying a Glasair III is fun to watch at the show, but I'm talking about mere mortals flying acro for fun. RV's are fun to fly and make you think you are better than your really are, very docile and forgiving.
Last, I find RV's have a more comfortable seating position. Preference really, but there is more room in the RV's on a long flight. Compare RV-6/7 and Glasair II. The RV-8 has fwd and rear cargo areas. Glasair speed comes from the shallow fuselage and small frontal area. You basically have to sit with your legs stretched out in front of you, leaning or laying back. In a RV you more or less sit in a normal upright position with feet lower than hip. The rear seat seater in RV-4/8 may have legs stretched out more, but in the side-by-side RV's or front seat of the RV-8, you sit in a comfortable position. Also the bubble is better visibility. Other wise ITS ALL GOOD.
![Big grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)