We flew in formation with each other for roughly 1150 nautical miles with both loaded at almost exactly the same gross weights. The answer is.... neither.
Speed is more a measure of clean aerodynamics than HP. Joe's KR and mine cruised very nicely together. I don't think either of us ever ran at full throttle more than a few minutes to catch the other guy if we got separated. On average, Joe's Corvair burns roughly 3/4 gal less per hour than my O-200. Otherwise, there was little difference in performance. Maybe Joe will chime in if his observations were any different from mine. Joe has the new wing, which didn't exist when my KR was built. But he's dragging 3 wheels through the air, while I have two somewhat larger mains and a tailwheel. Both of our planes are a host of compromises, but end up being virtually identical in performance. I don't recall that we ever compared manifold pressures, which would have revealed throttle settings for a given altitude, but I don't think either of us really considered racing. We were just enjoying the flying. If speed is your goal, having adequate HP is important, but you also need to accomplish two other tasks. 1) build it light. & 2) clean up the aerodynamics. FWIW, my KR is 37 mph faster than it was when I first started flying it some 17 years ago. A small portion of that was accomplished when I replaced the C-85 with the O-200. However, the vast majority of the speed increase was accomplished over a number of years of working on the aerodynamics. Every time I have torn my plane apart for improvements, it has come out of the hangar performing better and flying faster. You titled your post "The better engine". So what makes for a better engine? Clearly there were 4 different choices of "better engines" at the gathering. Jabiru, VW, Corvair, and Continental. Every owner would willingly tell you why their engine was the better engine for their aircraft. I could tell you why my Continental is the superior engine, but it would only qualify as such by my definitions. You will have to balance that choice for yourself with your priorities. Cost, reliability, HP, fuel burn, weight, ease of maintenance, parts availability, and other thoughts are all factors in your engine choice. Put those in the order of priority for you and your better engine will become clear. While my choice is clear to me, I generally try not to be a bigot about the engines. -Jeff Scott Los Alamos, NM > Jeff and Joe, > I was curious. When you two were flying together. Who had to pull back on the > throttle so you wouldn't pull away. Was it that O-200 or that mighty Corvair? > > Paul Visk > Belleville Il > 618 406 4705
