XP-55 "Ascender"
AEC:
The Ascender sits in the 285-305 range for the duration of the race, it has just the right combination of acceleration and energy retention to be a mediocre racer. The cooling system on this aircraft is marketably worse than in previous versions of the game and I consistently over heated in the H4 hair pin. Simply reducing throttle to 100% was not enough so I went to 89% to cool the engine faster. The Ascender is a little drifty, it tends to sway from side to side in lateral course corrections and also loses a little bit of speed in those adjustments. I think the cooling algorithm for this aircraft was set for 100% prop pitch and 50% cowl flap, which isn't bad, but that 100% prop pitch forces the engine to overheat far sooner than it should.
MEC:
The ascender can easily become 10-15 mph faster than the AEC tests by simply reducing prop pitch to 90%. This will not only reduce strain on the engine (so it overheats slower) but itll also allow the pilot to use less radiator%, set to 10%. The combination of 90% and 10% fixed all cooling issues. The ascender is otherwise a good "Plan A" racer and can easily take the tightest of turns with little consequence.
Fun Facts:
The XP-55 was originally supposed to use a Pratt & Whitney X-1800 24 cylinder H engine but after that project failed the designers switched to the allusion V-1710-95 V 12. This engine was meant to produce up to 2200 HP but after extensive static testing the actual engine never came close to reaching this number and the project was scrapped.