Infiniglider Challenge: Formula I

[Reverie Planetarian]

Infinigliders are nothing new, and they aren't going away if version 0.21 is any indicator. I didn't think there could be any way to make them interesting or entertaining, at least until I saw this video from KSP YouTuber Danny2462:

That's it. Right there. A rocket sled, a probe body, two canards, and a decoupler. It's so simple...and so very, very hard to control, but look at that performance. It accelerates incredibly fast, and demands a delicate touch from a pilot.

Oh, this seems like a fun way to make infinigliders entertaining again.

Welcome to Formula I, an infiniglider racing challenge with a few design rules-it wouldn't be much of a formula series without having a formula to follow, after all. Having a bazillion canards surrounding a capsule is right out in here. Here's how a Formula I racer may be constructed:

• Every Formula I racer must be unmanned for reasons that will become obvious in this inaugural event.
  
• A Formula I racer may only be constructed with a maximum of four flight surfaces and four control surfaces. For the sake of Formula I, canards and fins are counted as flight surfaces. You may use any amount of struts or girders necessary to move things around to optimize the behavior of your racer.
  
• Only stock parts may be used, and only their stock values may be used.
  
• Jet/rocket sleds may to be used to launch your Formula I racer. They may have no flight surfaces of their own and may not take off from the runway with you attached. If they lift off, you must decouple from them immediately. Use whatever launch methods you deem necessary-just don't let them leave the ground with you!
  
• Your Formula I racer may have no thrusters of its own, nor may it have any pilot aids aside from ASAS. I'm not sure they'd help you go as fast as possible, either.
  

Here's how a Formula I race works: it's a pure time trial. Your time is measured by your mission clock, just about nothing else, from start to finish, and the best time wins. There isn't even any landing-that's why there's no manned entrants allowed. You finish as fast as possible: by smacking into the goal area.

For a first event to try the concept out, I have lined up one that's really simple, and very short. I've tried it and finished it in a shade under one minute and 36 seconds.

This is simple: take off from the Space Center's runway, fly all the way over the island containing the airfield, then turn around, fly back to the Space Center, then crash land in it or as near to it as possible. Whacking it into any building or structure in the Space Center will shave ten seconds off your time, and crash landing on the runway will take fifteen seconds off your time.

I want photographic proof that you flew over and past the island at some point, then mission details where and when you made impact. The rule of thumb is that you should hit somewhere inside the Space Center or as reasonably near to its middle as possible. All entrants will be ranked by time adjusted for accuracy bonuses.

That's it, really. Good luck, and go fast!

Edited August 21, 2013 by Reverie Planetarian