You can't argue with success. And if you do, hundreds of Icaro Laminar pilots will come out and shut you up by showing you the top of the thermal. Certainly we all know that the Laminar has shown its formidable capabilities under the guidance of Manfred Ruhmer. But what about the average pilot like you and me? Do we have a defensible position? Come along as we review the new Laminar MR 2000 and see where things stand. You'll discover some improvements over a glider that was already pretty good (the Laminar ST). You'll also see what makes this glider work as we catalog its high and low points. In the past few years Icaro has written the rules on handling and performance, so let's see how they have progressed. LAMINAR GENERAL My flying on the MR 2000 consisted of a fun flight from Wallaby to Quest Air as a warm-up for the second Florida meet this year. Then I flew it in the meet in a variety of gentle and challenging conditions. Thermals blossomed or boomed, winds wafted or howled. I believe my 15 hours on the glider provided ample experience and insights. The model I flew was the 14 (155 square feet) with a round base tube and stock setup. First we'll offer a general description of the glider. To those familiar with the Laminar line, there is nothing new in outward appearance. It has the same sleek curvaceous outline made possible by the fiberglass tips and the clean topless configuration. There is a sprog and a tip strut on each side of the glider, both of which are cable supported for sturdiness. There are four undersurface battens and eleven curved upper battens which are spring-loaded, of course. The glider features a removable kickstand keel which eases setup and easy-to-apply tip wand cams. Naturally the MR 2000 comes with faired uprights and a Mylar sail is the normal skin. MR 2000 DETAILS Let's get a little closer to see what makes this glider special. If you have an engineering eye, you will see a few very nice ideas. If you don't, take the word of a well-known pilot/designer/repairman (not flying Laminars) who said, "now that's the right way to build a frame." Everything from sleeves to bolt placement is done with simplicity and economy of material which pays a bonus. The MR 2000 is the lightest topless glider available in its size range. This fact accounts for consideration if you carry your glider further than from your truck to an immediate takeoff. One small example of the above point is the crossbar-to-leading edge junction. There is one steel plate that wraps around the leading edge. A single bolt behind the leading edge holds the crossbar, the lower wires, the sprog support cable and the sprog lever arm itself. Other manufacturers take several bolts and brackets to accomplish the same thing. The control bar corner fittings and crossbar haul back attachment is about the simplest in the business. There are fewer parts on the lower corner than any other glider I've investigated. Only one pin and a bolt hold all the wires and the base tube bracket. The crossbar haulback attachment is a small stud which accepts a keyhole tang on the haulback strap. This arrangement is so minimalized and clean that you don't really need a pad at this potentially sail-damaging spot. Here's a call for other manufacturers to emulate Icaro's clever engineering. But for all the fine points, we must mention that there are some items that can be rethought. Two come to mind: first, the corner brackets don't allow the base tube to fold. Consequently you have to remove the base tube from both ends. Fortunately Icaro supplies PIP (push) pins at these points to hurry the process. But with neither end attached you have to wiggle the bar a bit to get the first holes lined up. The second criticism is the sprog and fixed tip arrangements. Icaro made the choice to pack the sprogs inside the sail, so you have to pull them out, place them on a plug and then put two loops on their end during setup. You must do this with the crossbar haulback attached part way. The tips also require a bit of fiddling to thread them under a strap and plug them in the leading edge. All this process takes patience, but I found that by the end of the meet my familiarization with the routine quickened my setup considerably. Even so, the setup on the MR 2000 involves more steps (and time) than most gliders. Other than these points, the Laminar sets up like most other gliders. The tip wands with the cam levers are easy to apply. Battens are easy to put in and can actually be all pulled out or inserted with the crossbar hauled back due to the very loose sail with VG off. Combined with the kickstand, this attribute makes batten operation easy. The spring inserts are easy to apply and only the tip batten employs a string for the necessary high batten tension. The Laminars come equipped with the original Gerolf Connection. This device is a little crossbeam supported on a standoff above the keel. It lightens handling by simulating a higher hang point. The one on the MR 2000 is a nice design that automatically swivels nearly parallel to the keel if you forget to do so when packing up. The MR 2000 crossbar is a rectangular carbon affair. It gets plenty of movement from the VG system to produce a very tight glider with the VG full on and very loose VG off. In this sense it is similar to the Litespeed. The VG line requires about three good pulls from full off to full on. The pull force is medium compared to other designs. Finally, we should mention the optional carbon faired belly base tube. This Icaro offering is one of the nicer ones with round sections when you normally hold the bar in flight. I find this round section easier on the hands than an airfoil shape. SAIL DETAILS The sail work on a Laminar is one of the secrets to the glider's success legacy. Over the years I have observed Manfred experimenting with planforms, sail layout, internal webs and certainly batten profiles. He is constantly searching out the optimum arrangement for all these items. Here are some of the items you can immediately notice on the MR 2000. The upper surface cloth layout has a seam from tip to tip which allows shaping of the sail for cleaner, tighter conformity to the ideal shape. The tip panel is separate to allow broadseaming (removing a wedge) in that area for a 3-dimensional compound curve. In the root area reinforcing strips fan out to distribute the load in this high-stretch area. In the MR 2000's tip trailing edge, there is an enclosed Spectra line that is held by a tiny jam cleat near the fifth batten in from the tip. This line may not affect performance initially, but over the years the tip area of many gliders develops flutter. This line will eliminate such an undesirable occurrence. A good glider is a keeper, so little touches like this are welcome. The internal shear webs on the glider are many and well planned to control the lower surface, especially outboard where many gliders suffer lower surface droop at lower angles of attack. Both Wills wing and Icaro claim to have invented shear webs (they both owe a debt to paragliders) for hang gliders. Whoever is right, the fact is Icaro has long used them with a high degree of skill and success. Controlling the lower surface of a flex wing hang glider has been found to be very important for both high-speed performance and pitch stability. MR 2000 HANDLING Let's put the glider through its paces. To illuminate its handling comparison, we'll talk a little history. The original Laminar (with a kingpost) was perhaps the sweetest handling high performance glider you could throw around the sky. It would initiate a turn very easily even at slow speeds and not overbank or oscillate significantly. Then when Icaro went topless (ST), they pumped in more anhedral to overcome the tighter sail and frame. This glider would oscillate at times and earned a reputation as being difficult to tow. With the MR 2000, the designers worked on handling a bit and removed some of the ST adverse effects. The roll initiation is still pretty sweet, and the oscillation tendency is greatly reduced. I would currently assess its ease of towing as similar to the Litespeed which is medium as far as advanced gliders go. But before I knew this I had only anecdotal information as to the Laminar's towability. So I was alert and wary on my first tow. As luck would have it I encountered a powerful thermal about 100 feet up that rocked the Dragonfly tug and flung me way out of whack. Can you say lockout? For the first time in my towing career I let go of the base tube and reached for the upright to pull my body over-way over. It worked and I was soon back on track (my next move would have been to hit the release). After that experience I was never worried about towing the Laminar. Certainly I couldn't relax on tow like you can in a beginner glider, but I had no trouble staying with the tug. Remember, in meets we tow in the most active part of the day. Handling is important, but some pilots trade off a bit of their maneuverability for other performance factors. With the Laminar 2000 you have a lot of good handling to start with. That's money in the bank. Takeoff with the Laminar 2000 is brainless if your muscle memory has been implanted with the correct hang gliding technique. Part of this ease of operation is fostered by the light weight and good balance (slightly tail heavy). When conditions aren't turbulent the owner's manual suggests using a bit of VG application in order to tighten the side cables. Landing is an equal peach. On one frustrating (read embarrassing and expensive) day of the competition it took me three tows to get on course. Both times I was able to control my height with diving turns, dodge trees, gliders and carts to land very near the takeoff point. The glider's behavior was confidence inspiring whenever the ground got close. I attribute this matter to the good directional stability, the forgiving tips (lower tendency to stall a wing) and the loose sail with VG off. I never had less than a good landing on the glider which says more about the glider than my skill, for landing in the middle of the day always presents occasional unpredictabilities-errant gusts and wayward winds. In general, the consensus is that the MR 2000 is easy to land when compared to other gliders in its class. MR 2000 PERFORMANCE The glider has already garnered a reputation, starting with its 1, 2, 3 placement in last year's World Meet. Of course, Manfred was first, followed by two Brazilians, Andre Wolf and Pedro Matos. Perhaps they had tricked-out gliders, but what about the average MR 2000 out there? There were plenty of them in the two Florida meets and they acquitted themselves well. Pilot skill makes a big difference of course, but MR 2000s could be seen joining the top of the stack, inhabiting the lead gaggle and crossing the goal line early. In not so vague terms, the glider appears to be one of the top all-around performers available. The stock glider may not be quite so fast as the Litespeed because the sprogs don't lower, but we typically only use the very high speed regime when diving to goal. I liked thermaling the MR 2000 very much because little high-siding was required and gentle nudges could coax it into a slightly displaced circle to keep inhabiting the best core area. In strong lift (1000 FPM on the averager) or weak blobs I found I could stay with the better gliders in climb. This phase of flying is a major part of the success of soaring flight. In conclusion, I don't think any pilot will be disappointed with the MR 2000's performance. This series of gliders has always been at or near the top of the performance pyramid and there's no reason the current offering should not be right there with the best. We really need to say no more about the MR 2000's prospects for it has already been successful on the international scene. As yet, it hasn't dominated the U.S. market, but there is new energy in the importing company and we are seeing a renewed interest in the glider. If you like light weight, good handling and top performance, you should arrange to demo a Laminar MR 2000. The new U.S. distributor is Indasky owned and operated by Rich Burton, a familiar name on the competition circuit.