Mach-buster. Oooh, I like it, Bruce. That is a good list of events.
You and I already had the discussion about the random elements (thermals, wind, motor failure) and I agree that luck played too big a factor in the last contest (and a few before that).
I also agree with you that we should cut back or eliminate the "artificial" constraints (e.g each tube must be 2x the length of another, number of different diameters, number of fins, etc.)
I do think that there should be some limit on stability margin, though. As was pointed out in a recent Apogee newsletter, "calibers of margin" may not be the correct metric when the body tube varies in diameter, but there should be some sort of limit.
Even more, I think there should be some (fairly high) limit on landing speed. Maybe event 6 will take care of that and ensure that everybody puts in at least some sort of recovery device.
Now that that's out of the way.... I have a few question about your events:
A) What speed do you want to define as Mach 1?
B) Do you have a total impulse limit, or is it flyer's choice?
B) For events 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 it's clear that the flight must break Mach 1 to count. What about events 4 and 5? Do they need to break Mach 1 on those flights, or just be capable of Mach 1 on the other events? If they don't need to reach Mach 1 on those events, someone could just stick in a 1/4A engine, dribble off the end of the rod and win closest-landing-to-the-pad.
C) Event 1: how do you define "first to reach Mach 1"? Shortest time from ignition, or lowest altitude? Similar question for event 7.
D) Events 1, 2, and 7: These could be tricky for the judge. The other results like max speed, max altitude, apogee time, landing speed, and landing distance all show up as a single number in the post-flight report. Time to a certain speed and amount of time spent above speed would require carefully looking at the 2D sim results or the graph, and would be error-prone and time-consuming for the judge.
E) What do you want to use for wind to get rid of the luck factor? No wind at all? Calm (0-2 mph), with the lowest variability? Fixed wind speed defined for each event? Fixed wind speed for all competitors, but the speed is not revealed to the contestants?
I think you've got great idea here. I'd love to see it fleshed out and turned into a real contest.