[Herb Sanders] Did you guys see the article in Vans RV newsletter where the two rotary powered (Powersport) RV8s flew up to Oregon to do some comparison performance testing?  Van’s people designed a test where all four RV8s were weighed, filled with fuel, and flew together in a max climb to 8000’ and also flew on a group cross country to a point 80 miles away at 8500’, WOT and 2500 prop rpm. (all four planes had constant speed props). The factory flew their io360 fadec 180 hp RV8 and the IO360 200 hp RV8A vs the powersport powered RV8s with MT props. The rotaries were faster by 2/3 knots than the 8 and by 12 or so knots than the 8A, and they also won the climb contest, but they weighed more, burned more fuel, and made about 10 dec more noise in flyovers at 1000 ft.

Read the article if you get a chance – it was fairly done and reported.  The two military paint jobs look great.  Herb Sanders