The Green Speed Cup is a closed circuit race similar to the Green Flight Challenge, but with a more free-style approach to how each team flies the course. As reported yesterday, the first day’s competition was won by Markus Scherdel, test pilot for Solar Impulse. The second day’s competition was a complete turnaround of day one’s results, with Wolfgang Uhlig taking the crown and Markus sliding to fourth place. Most interesting, the Diamond DA40 TDI, a four-seat Diesel-powered aircraft flown by Daniel Hirth, took second place. A longer event than day one, the task required pilots to fly from Strausberg down the longest leg of a scalene triangle to Klix, a village in Saxony. From there, they turned northwest to Finsterw Heinri and then sped north back to Strausberg to complete the 326.4 kilometer (202.4 mile) course. Uhlig’s winning S10VT toured the triangle at 163.4 kilometers per hour (101.3 mph) while consuming a total of 202.8 kilowatt-hours of energy, achieving …
The Green Speed Cup – Year Two
How economically can we fly, even with current technology? In its second year, the Green Speed Cup is an attempt to answer that question, provide some sporting competition and allow scientific research into the manner in which the greenest aircraft operate. Organizer Stemme’s newsletter explains the GSC, “Is a competition for any kind of two-seated aircraft. The target of the GSC is to fly as fast as possible while minimizing the consumption of fossil fuel energy. It is a direct comparison of technologies, machines, materials and the capabilities of the pilots. “The competition should help to find new ways and practical solutions for saving energy during powered flights. The aircraft that flies with the best ratio of fuel-consumption per distance and speed will win the competition. “The GSC also provides a database for scientific research for fuel efficient flying, done by the University of Dresden, Germany. So the GSC is challenge and fun for the pilots and a contribution to …