Posted for "John W. Cox" <johnwcox@pacificnw.com>:

 Adam, Of the 29 flying RV-10's, I know of none of them claiming a
 service ceiling of 24,000 feet.  Come to think if it, none of them have
 posted maintaining 18,000.
 
 Last summer, three tried to make documented cross country cruise numbers
 from KUAO to KOSH.  Randy DeBauw, N610RV had an aileron miss rig which
 slowed him down a few knots. He does have a Lancair panel and built-in
 Mountain High O2. Randy is returning from 29 Palms to Portland today.
 Maybe he hit 18,000. The VANS boys presented their numbers at OSH '2005.
 Vic Syracuse with N64VC is running an IO-540 that is claiming 310 hp.
 His would be the only comparable to use in settling the marketing hype.
 Contact him at vic.syracuse@s1.com to get the Facts. Stick with knots
 and stay away from the VANS mph reference for comparison. Vic is running
 a three blade MT and has one year of documented flying as of this week.
 The specs you reference are for an aircraft with stripped interior.  The
 Empty weight is not valid. The ES is substantially faster, flies higher,
 carries more fuel and is nicer to look at inside and out. It can be
 turboed and pressurized.  The RV-10 has much more useable passenger room
 and is slightly cheaper to complete. Most of the guys are seeing a build
 time of around 1800 (Fast Build) to 2000 (Slow Build) and 24 months to
 completion. Tim Olson, N104CD placed three Cheltons in his after I
 showed him Jim Hergert's N6XE.  His finish cost was $169,000+ and he did
 his own paint and instrument panel. Final empty weight was 1683lbs.
 
 The RV-10 cowl was designed and is built to prohibit installation of
 Angle Valve engines in an effort to stop Hot Rodding.
 
 90% of the RV-10s are staying with the IO-540 with no more than 260hp
 and won't see 185kts accept in a high speed descent.  It is not their
 mission.
 
 John Cox - KUAO