Sailplane Grand Prix Newsletter 1 (12.04.2006)

Dear Delegates

The details of the remaining Qualifying Grand Prix events for 2006 are:

Please pass this information on to your competition pilots.

Thank you

Bob Henderson President, IGC

April 12th, 2006

Sailplane Grand Prix Newsletter 2 (31.03.2006)

Welcome to the first Sailplane Grand Prix Newsletter.

We plan to make this a regular feature – hopefully monthly – to keep everyone updated as to what is happening with the Grand Prix.

2nd FAI World Sailplane Grand Prix (WSGP) 2007

This Grand Prix will be held in New Zealand in December 2007. The choice of the site has yet to be confirmed by Gliding New Zealand but is expected to be either Omarama or Wanaka. Why is there a choice? Well, the race could easily be held at Omarama, but there is now more to the Grand Prix than just the race and we need to be sure that the public spectacle of the Grand Prix can be achieved.

Class The 2007 2nd FAI WSGP will be flown in the FAI 15M class.

Qualifying The pilots placing 1st and 2nd at each Qualifying Grand Prix (QGP) race during 2006 will automatically qualify for the 2nd FAI WSGP. This will give us 18 pilots. The extra 2 places (and any places created by withdrawals) will be filled in ranked order of all the 3rd placed pilots from all the 2006 QGP races. The ranking of these pilots will be taken from their positions on the IGC Ranking list at the end of the last day of the QGP race in Australia.

Other Air Sports Invitations have been extended to other Air Sports to join us at the 2nd FAI WSGP 2007 and to run their own competitions at the same time.

Qualifying Grand Prix Races 2006

Eight further QGP races are planned for 2006, starting with Slovakia in April and finishing with Australia and South Africa in December. The dates, locations and email contacts of these QGPs will be published on the IGC website and in a separate SGP Newsletter.

Entries Entries in the QGP races are open to all pilots who meet the minimum standards set out in the Grand Prix Rules. Pilots who have already flown in a QGP, but not qualified for the 2nd FAI WSGP, may enter as many other QGP races as they wish. The Organisers of each QGP are required to make at least five places available for foreign pilots. If, at the end of the registration deadline the minimum number of foreign pilots is not reached, the Organisers may allocate the vacant places to national pilots based on an entry procedure of their choosing. The total number of entries at a QGP may not exceed 20.

Scoring Scoring of the QGP for 2006 will be done using Place Scores with a maximum of 10 points for the winner, 8 for second and so on for those who finish. Outlanders score ‘0’. This was tried in Omarama and, while it is frustrating for pilots to see ‘zero’ after a hard days work, the safety benefits are significant – there is no pressure on pilots to try and fly the last 100metres further than someone else – so pilots unable to get home can concentrate on landing safely in a suitable airstrip or field. Organisers may also offer a bonus points for the first pilot rounding a nominated turn point.

Bureau Support The Bureau is determined that the “race” be presented in the same style and format every time we run a Grand Prix. To help Organisers produce consistent QGP races we are working on ensuring that someone experienced with the Grand Prix race is at each QGP event.

Media and Marketing Many of you have now seen the promotional DVD from the QGP race in New Zealand in January. The integration of marketing and graphics and imagery from inside and outside the sailplanes was impressive. Combined with a high quality and consistent format “race” we now have the opportunity to take gliding to the world and engage people with our sport.

Future Presentations of the Grand Prix Race We are determined that the focus for 2006 must now be to present the Grand Prix race to the gliding community so that it is understood and supported. It is anticipated that this should be achieved by using the Internet as the communication medium. For Grand Prix events in 2007 and beyond a wider presentation capability will be sought. We are in discussions with a number of organisations to see how this can best be achieved.

Logo We are also working on a logo – with the intention of having this ready to be used as part of the marketing for the 2nd FAI WSGP 2007.

IGC Bureau GP Expert Roland Stuck is the nominated Bureau “co-ordinator” for the Grand Prix. He will be working with all the Organisers for 2006 to assist them in preparing for their QGP races.

The Grand Prix is an exciting concept that has suddenly created significant traction with the media. We now have to harness this opportunity to give us the best chance to make this work for gliding and the gliding community.

Bob Henderson
President, IGC
March 31st, 2006

Sailplane Grand Prix Newsletter 3 (23.08.2006)

Dear Colleagues,

With Three Qualifying Grand Prix events now completed, the pilots qualified to fly in the 2007 World Sailplane Grand Prix are:

• Ben Flewett, New Zealand
• Giorgio Galetto, Italy,
• Herbert Weiss, Germany
• Petr Krejcirik, Czech Republic
• Vladimir Panafutin Russia,
• Tim McAllister, USA.

My congratulations to these qualifiers.

Some statistics: if we include the current QGP at the Hahnweide, pilots from 16 nations have entered in these four events, including a number of female competitors, and a total of 60 pilots have now flown a Grand Prix in 2006.

The details of the remaining Qualifying Grand Prix events for 2006 are:

Bob Henderson President,
IGC August 23rd, 2006.

Check out dates and results of the events, list of qualified pilots, rules etc at http://www.fai.org/gliding/sgp

Sailplane Grand Prix Newsletter 4 (03.09.2006)

Dear Colleagues,

with the Hahnweide Grand Prix completed, the pilots qualified to fly in the 2007 World sailplane Grand Prix after four Qualifying Grand prix Events are now:

• Ben Flewett, New Zealand
• Giorgio Galetto, Italy
• Herber Weiss, Germany
• Petr Krejcirik, Czech Republic
• Vladimir Panafutin, Russia
• Tim McAllister, USA
• Uli Schwenk, Germany
• Tassilo Bode, Germany.

The French and United Kingdom Qualifying events are now underway, with a total of 29 pilots flying in these two events.

This means that there are now 89 competitors that have been involved in the QGP in 2006.

The South African Grand Prix will be held in Bloemfontein from the 3rd December to the 9th of December. This QGP will be flown in the 15m Class. Riaan Bezzuidenhout is the contact person at rbez@mweb.co.za.

The final QGP for 2006 will be held in Gawler, Australia, from the 30th of December to the 6th of January, 2007. This QGP will be flown in the Standard Class, and the contact person is Terry Cubley at cubley@netconnect.com.au.

Bob Henderson
President, FAI Gliding
September 3rd, 2006

Sailplane Grand Prix Newsletter 5 (14.11.2006)

Dear Colleagues

With the naming of the Sailplane Grand Prix (SGP) now resolved, I am pleased to be able to confirm that the SGP Final, in New Zealand in December 2007, will be the

"2007 FAI World Series - Gliding"

And talking of New Zealand - the countdown is really on for next year.

The event planned for Omarama has unfortunately been cancelled. The date and place of the GP final will be announced later.

With six qualifying events completed, the list of qualified pilots is now:

• Ben Flewett, New Zealand
• Giorgio Galetto, Italy
• Herbert Weiss, Germany
• Petr Kreicirik, Czech Republik
• Victor, Panafutin, Russia
• Tim McAllister, USA
• Uli Schwenk, Germany
• Tassilo Bodo, Germany
• Mario Kiessling, Germany
• Didier Hauss, France
• Peter Harvey, UK
• Phil Jones, UK

I congratulate a number of pilots on this list for their tenacity. Having missed a 1st or 2nd placing in one qualifying SGP, they have turned around and flown in another event to ensure they qualify for the final. Well done!

Remeber there are two qualifying SGP events still to be held in 2006:

• The South African qualifying SGP, Bloemfontein, 3rd to the 9th of Dec, in the 15m Class. Riaan Bezuidenhout is the contact person at rbez@mweb.co.za .
• The Autralian qualifying SGP, Gawler, 30th of Dec to 6th of Jan, 2007, in the Standard Class. Terry Cubley is the contact person at cubley@netconnect.com.au .

SGP 2007 - We are looking forward to filling the gap in SGP events in 2007 (from Februaty to November) with four additional qualifying SGP events, flown at Northern Hemisphere venues. Our plan is that Air Sports Ltd will cover these four events using their telemetry downloaded into the Internet. The winner from each of these four additional qualifying SGP events will have automatic entry to the Final in New Zealand in December 2007.

Bids for 2007 and 2008 - We have already requested bids for a Sailplane Grand Prix series in 2008. The addition of four SGP events in 2007 may cause some potential bidders for 2008 to review their plans. We are, therefore, extending the time period for bids for both 2007 and 2008.

Please forward bids for SGP events for 2007 and for 2008 to Eric Mozer at emozer@deltamold.com by the 31st of December.

Please remeber, when preparing your bid, that the successful hosting of a SGP event will depend on a combination of factors. These include those normally associated with a gliding competition (local infrastructure, access to airspace and predictable weather conditions) but also require additional factors that will be successful in attracting and holding the interest of media, sponsors and the public.

Media Support for the SGP - The FAI Executive Board is in negotiations for the delivery of media support for the SGP events along with the other FAI airsport events. This media support may well provide a significant opportunity to bring sponsorship into the IGC to cover SGP events. Please note there is no plan to include the WGC events in this media support agreement.

Check out dates and results of the events, list of qualified pilots, rules etc. at http://www.fai.org/gliding/sgp.

Sailplane Grand Prix Newsletter 6 (12.07.2007)

Dear Friends

Time moves on and we are now 5-and-a-half months from the Final of the first series of IGC Sailplane events using the grand prix race.

Unfortunately two of the qualified pilots are not able to get to Omarama to enjoy flying the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Erwin Sommer (Germany) has accepted one of the vacant positions and "Mannie" McLaughlan (South Africa) has been offered the second vacant position.

We have realized that we need a cut-off date for changes in the pilot list otherwise the logistics of getting pilots and aircraft to New Zealand will become very difficult. The last day that places will be offered to those who finished in 3rd place at a qualifying GP race will be 19th July.

Following discussions with the FAI it has been agreed that this Category One event will run from the 19th to the 28th of December. Christmas Day and Boxing Day (the 25th and 26th) are pre-designated rest days and the 27th and 28th of December are reserve days.

The preparations of Omarama are swinging into action. Pilots need to contact Peter Newport (peter.newport@airsports.co.nz) to coordinate their gliders travel and accommodation.

With the delays we have had in 2007 it is not viable to plan further GP races this year. We are now planning to run a series of qualifying GP races in 2008 plus a Final, probably at the end of 2008.

The details for this series are being worked out by the Bureau now and will follow the proposals put forward to the Plenary meeting this year.

Best Regards

Bob Henderson
President, IGC
July 12th, 2007

Updated Pilot List as at 1st July 2007

* To be confirmed.

Sailplane Grand Prix Newsletter 7 (03.11.2007)

Call for Bids for Qualifying GP Races in 2008/2009

The IGC Bureau has confirmed the timetable for the next round of the FAI World Sailplane GP events. The next round will start with Qualifying GPs from January 2008 to May 2009, with the final in the last half of 2009. This will ensure that the 3rd FAI World Sailplane GP Final does not conflict with the 2009 World Air Games, being held in June 2009.

Interested Countries are invited to lodge bids for the Qualifying GP races. The following protocols apply:

• There will be a maximum of 9 Qualifying GPs races in this round.

The following protocols will apply to the 3rd World Sailplane GP Final:

• There will be a maximum of 20 pilots in the Final.
• The 1st and 2nd placed pilots from each Qualifying GP qualify for the Final.
• The current GP Champion automatically qualifies for the Final.
• The host of Final is permitted to nominate one pilot to fly in the Final.
• If we have not attained the maximum number of pilots after following the above procedures, additional pilots will be selected according to the IGC ranking list.

The Organisation that submits the Bid will be responsible to the IGC for all preparation, organisation and hosting requirements for the GP. External assistance and organisations may be used to provide specialist services to the Bidding organisation.

Please lodge your Bids with Eric Mozer emozer@deltamold.com no later than Monday 31st December 2007 (please use the attached bid application). Also attached are the venue specifications for potential applicants and Sailplane GP guidelines.

The Bureau will determine the successful Bids and announce the venues and dates on the 31st of January 2008.

Requests for Bids for the 3rd FAI World Sailplane GP Final 2009 will be sent out in a separate invitation.

Best Regards

Bob Henderson
President, IGC
November 3rd, 2007