Originally Posted by Zulu Alpha
Interestingly, the CAP10C, which is often referred to as having a carbon fiber main spar, is actually still a wooden spar but with some carbon fiber on part of the top and bottom of the spar to add a bit of strength. I wonder if a 10B spar can be converted to a 10C by just adding the carbon fiber.
Actually, the entire spar caps are carbon from tip-to-tip. The spar caps are produced by bonding together a stack of several carbon strips, and shaping them in a huge press to match the dihedral of the wing. The caps are indeed connected by plywood webs and entirely enclosed by wood, but the major load bearing elements are carbon. Apex evaluated the possibilite of a compeletely carbon wing, but found the weight/strength relationship disappointing. The 10C wing design is a very clever fusion of wood and carbon, so no, you can't make one by gluing a few bits of carbon to a B wing! The carbon wing is much stronger than the original wood design, at least 50%. The limit load factors are the same as the original wood wing so the additional strength provides a very significant safety margin, which was one of the main design goals.
...being two seats side by side has more drag than many single seaters.
You have clearly never flown one. The CAP 10 is a slippery aeroplane. The challenge in some sequences is not drag, but lack of thrust at low speed compared to an aeroplane with constant speed propeller.
A CAP10 - B or C - should have no problem flying a sequence designed around the performance level of a Stampe, which is still supposed to be the base aircraft for BAeA intermediate sequences. However, over time competition sequences tend to be designed to match the characteristics of the competing types, regardless of the nominal "base" type. I suspect if there were any Stampes or Cap10s competing at intermediate then the sequences would gradually reflect that.